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Friends/family are getting destroyed by Covid conspiracies its pissing me off

2 points by dazhbog ↗ HN
Hi, I just got off the phone with my family after debating/shouting about how irresponsible they are believing and sharing conspiracies.

In the past I explicitly told them to only read research papers for touchy subjects (Does it have a DOI? Good.) but I cant blame them, that they always seem to fall back to easily digestible YouTube videos and sensationalist news articles.

In the past it was harmless debates like, is raw garlic good? How good? In this call they threw things like big pharma, Bill Gates and mandatory masks/vaccines activism crap. (At least no vaccine nanobots)

I tried to send them some articles to get them to read some legit research sources. But then after I hit some paywalls, even for covid research :(, I came to the HN community to ask for any suggestions.

Question: Any thoughts, or links for material (other than teaching them to use sci-hub) that will let them keep up to date with research?

Thanks

9 comments

[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 34.5 ms ] thread
xen2xen1
Giving them legit sources does nothing. They don't want legit sources, they WANT conspiracies. People turn to end of the world stuff in times of tumult, and now is no different. The left is doing it, the right is doing it, it's part of uncertain times. They need comfort, not facts.

Sorry for not answering your question.

auslegung
This is the best answer so far. See Last Week Tonight’s response to COVID conspiracies, very helpful for situations like this https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0b_eHBZLM6U
soganess
LWT is great and all, but I thought that whole segment, even through the tongue-locked-in-cheek filter, was incredibly patronizing.

The parent touched on the idea that conspiracy theorist don't want facts. I couldn't agree more. How do you expect to get through to someone who has a framework that insulates them from those type of fact?

I'm likely being overly influenced by this recent RI talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80dwLniVwVw

I would take it further and ask, can you clearly nail down the specific reason driving that person's desire to be fooled? Can you then engage with those fears/concerns/whatever to the point where it starts a real dialogue? Getting there seems like the real groundwork one needs when attempting to redirect a conspiracy theorist. But that is a lot of legwork, like many conversations, and sometimes we don't want to do it. I know I sure as shit don't.

It sort of reminds me of the old software development wisdom about getting to bottom of what is driving someone's specific feature request.

xen2xen1
I'd say work at the fear behind it (the world isn't ending), with both facts and reassurance? Hard road to hoe.
rman666
Maybe you should sound interested and ask your family to send you some of the things they’ve been watching, reading and listening to. Then you can research it and tell them why they are wrong. This way you’ll better understand their perspective.
linsomniac
Try the ol' "You aren't interesting enough for Bill Gates to want to microchip you" line? :-) Of course, this is coming from the guy who's MIL last holiday season barely restrained herself from choking me at dinner one night...
lol636363
People believe first then look for proofs.

I know people who still refuse to believe that the earth is spehere. Especially, when religon is involved they won't even believe their own eyes. Someone actually said that the way universe appear is because God is testing us.

But you can convince them by making them feel good and hit on their emotions. It feels dirty salesy marketing bs. But apparently it works on us.

I have been telling some conspiracy theories to help some friends. I don't think they believe me, i wish i can make cool videos. The theory I say is that COVID19 is made by government to save money on social security. Wearing masks is messing up the government plans so that's why they are so against it. Etc.