Is long COVID a scam?, page-29

I could quote a few on the right - but won’t as I don’t want to encourage them

my view on conspiracy theories - they are usually an indication of lack of information and trust. In the absence of either people will find alternatives because as humans we tend to need a sense of security. That’s what animism was about. And religion. The first called on the spirits and ancestors to help out and to manage psychological safety. The later was just a different version with lots more rules around it to try to manage the unruly.

what has changed though is that we have almost too much information and much of it conflicts because any person can promulgate any view and have it reach others

because the definition of “expert “ is muddled as a result, because we see corruption or misdemeanours or untrustworthy behaviour across so many so called authority figures and institutions and because , despite the abundance of information it is not always accurate, decipherable or in context conspiracy theories are to be expected and i regard them as normal behaviour although unhelpful

those who simply label others as conspiracy nutters are working at a very surface and disrespectful level. If they were as smart as they think they are they’d be a lot more conscious of these underlying issues and far less dismissive. Sometimes in a conspiracy theory is a germ of truth as well.

that doesn’t mean accepting misinformation but it does mean engaging judiciously. I recall one mentioned person getting worked up themselves over the “australia is a business “ conspiracy. They did not go to the source of the theory, didn’t have anywhere near enough understanding or knowledge to either know how to check it or what to check. They have also fallen into traps of believing things from people and preaching their gospel.

we are all prone to it. Anyone who thinks they know everything is an idiot. And anyone dismisses out of hand others who don’t agree with them is an arse