Opinion: Conspiracy theories have run amok; can education save us?

Question: Who would ever believe Ever Green, the ship that blocked the Suez Canal (March 23-29), was a human trafficking vessel connected to Hillary Clinton because its radio call sign, H3RC, contained Hillary’s initials, HRC? 

Answer: QAnon followers, who also believed Donald Trump was under assault by Satan worshippers.

Ispos online polling reveals — as reported June 5-6 by Peggy Noonan, conservative columnist for The Wall Street Journal — that 15-20% of Americans actually believe the government, media and financial worlds are controlled by Satan-worshipping pedophiles.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), plus Fox News hosts Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, promoted Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic deworming drug for cattle, horses and pigs, as an alternative to the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Result: Overdose poisoning of humans, not animals (Des Moines Register, Aug. 29).

Six conspiracy theories about voting irregularities in America’s Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election — trumped up by Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell, Kayleigh McEnany, Traci Specht and Harry Formanek — were irrefutably debunked by GOP Attorney General Bill Barr and 63 post-election court cases (CBS News, Jan. 15). One-hundred percent of America’s 3,006 county and 50 state auditors concur with Barr and the judicial system.

Who would ever develop the delusion of a paranoid mind? Recent polls show that more than 50% of Americans believe in one conspiracy or another (Louisiana State University, Feb., 2020).

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed: “Our media habits are driving this country to the edge of suicide …  it’s time for civic self-reflection … (and) we have to become better consumers of information” (Jan. 6).

There are now more than 59 million anti-vaccine activists hooked on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. The target audience of their conspiracy message is geared to Black Americans.

Research by the Center for Countering Digital Hate reveals that more than 65% of the anti-vaccine content is attributed to 12 people — called the Disinformation Dozen — and five organizations. These actors, and others who are promoting anti-feminism to science-based denial, are predominantly trolling disinformation via social media. While Facebook, Google and Twitter have policies in place to prevent the spread of misinformation, CCDH claims the companies have failed to act on 95% of the COVID vaccination fiction reported to them (The Guardian, July 17).

Asbjorn Dyrendal, world-renowned expert on Satanism and conspiracy culture, notes conspiracy theorists tend to have a little less education, belong to a political organization or religious group, often use intuition (vs. fact) when making decisions, are more narcissistic and paranoid, and usually obtain their dis- and mis-information from social media (Feb. 12, Neuroscience).

Social media platforms are structured with mathematical algorithms to give more information based upon the reader’s most recent search. Therefore, it becomes an echo chamber that keeps giving more and more one-sided posts to further indoctrinate the brain into its wacko thinking.

Numerous health-care providers are witnessing the grave dangers of social media rearing its ugly conspiracy head, causing needless COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths. Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, to name a few, are just as responsible as gullible people who have developed a serious behavioral issue — Conspiracy Theory Addiction — that is causing long-term psychological and pathological harm.

Meanwhile, we’ve got to manage the social media animal we permitted to get out of the cage that has taken dangerous control with unfounded conspiracies and other harm to individuals and families. As a start, it wouldn’t hurt for critical thinking and logical reasoning courses to be offered in all K-12 and post-secondary institutions so people will learn how to discern fact from fiction and truth from conspiracy nonsense.

Steve Corbin is an emeritus professor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.

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