Ask the Agony Uncle: Secret to dealing with conspiracy theorists
Do you have a friend who’s sharing QAnon links on social media and believes there’s a link between 5G and the coronavirus? Darren Levin says one strategy might help them see reason.
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Darren Levin has spent his life making bad decisions so you can make better ones. Ask away!
This week’s question is:
My friend is a pretty normal bloke, but lately he’s been sharing longwinded rants and conspiracy theories. The other day he posted a link to a QAnon video in our footy group WhatsApp. He’s become alienated from his family and we’re all really worried. How do I get him to take off the tinfoil hat? Peter, 37
Dear Peter,
Conspiracy theorists are everywhere these days, and they’ve really diversified their offering. Remember the good old days when it was just that one friend who was convinced 9/11 was an “inside job”? Now it’s Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, George Soros and the lizard people teaming up for a vaccine that’s distributed into our brains through 5G towers.
The fact your friend has embraced this kind of thinking is really no surprise.
These are uncertain times. There’s this global pandemic you may’ve heard of called COVID-19, which seems like it’ll last as long as Home And Away has.
Your friend is probably feeling quite vulnerable and looking for answers, which he’s finding in all the wrong places – like the eighth page of Google, sub-sub Reddit threads and “chef” Pete Evans’ Facebook page.
The only way to combat conspiracy theories is with cold hard facts, which is easier said than done in a post-fact world.
I know it’s tempting to invite your friend over for a delicious truth sandwich, but you need to be a bit smarter than that.
Every conspiracy theorist wants to feel like they’re in the know, so start sending them factual articles but package them up like leaked government documents.
You can imagine the excitement building as you email to him the top secret dossier and he downloads it.
“Hi mate. Thought you might like this secret government document that categorically proves 5G and coronavirus are unrelated. Don’t share this with anyone!”
Little do they know you’ve just copy/pasted a regular article into a template you’ve found on the internet. It’s a strategy I like to call the Trojan horse of truth.
Have you got a tricky question or burning issue for Smarty Pants Darren Levin to solve?
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Originally published as Ask the Agony Uncle: Secret to dealing with conspiracy theorists