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Old 09-18-2018, 08:51 PM   #15
photon
The new goggles also do nothing.
 
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Join Date: Oct 2001
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Falling for conspiracy theories is a natural human thing; if it wasn't then they wouldn't be as common and effective as they are.

If someone spends huge chunks of their time looking at videos and reading stuff by QAnon or other groups who create/promote/discuss/obsess over these theories, then it's going to influence how one thinks, period. No one is immune, we all want to fit in and the pressure to think how one's peers think is huge (hence the term peer pressure).

And the mind is almost designed to resist reasoned efforts to change the ideas, often evidence that something is wrong will have the opposite of the desired effect; they'll just dig in further.

Not saying there isn't something specific going on (i.e. mental illness or other life factors), just saying I don't think there necessarily has to be; people are vulnerable enough without having to bring in other factors.

As to what to do about it? I have no idea.. my sister dated a guy who was deep into some of this stuff. Thought the moon landings were fake, asked me about sealing his windows to protect against when the nuclear reactors had the problems in Japan, etc... We all just breathed a sigh of relief when she broke up with him.

EDIT: Yeah talking to a professional about what kind of strategy to take would be good. Ultimately you can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped, but I think they might recommend some kind of strategy that would involve decreasing the influence of that stuff in their life.. Get them out of the house and socialize more.. get together as a family more, etc. No overt attempts to talk them out of their positions, just increasing their connection to the real world to decrease their connection to crazy town.
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