Like a large amount of people I have a Facebook account. Every now and again, a picture gets passed around usually for a laugh or asking for people to like the image so they can go to heaven or some other stuff like that. There are ones that I usually enjoy that are meant to spread proper information about the world or to tell us about new advancements in science. However, conspiracy pages/images get mixed in with some of these.
When I see stuff like this, I usually roll my eyes, do a few minutes of Google searching and debunk the conspiracy, by pasting my findings into the comments section of my friend's shared image encouraging them to stop believing everything they read/see/hear. (Snopes.com became one of my favorites sites because of this.)
However, due to recent developments with the Snowden incident, and with the scare of a new Syria War outbreak, I find people are believing more and more of the extremely idiotic conspiracies. One of which stated that the government has tiny cameras on every dollar bill. Usually stuff like that would be self evident in its bullshit, but people still freak out over it. And when you ask for citations, of course you get nothing, but a "The evidence is everywhere" line or a link to a blog. Someone on one image brought up a very important point:
"The comments are the best part of this page. Some bullshit meme of questionable validity gets posted, people with actual intellect look for a source or something credible to back it up while the tin-foil hat squad busts out shitty YouTube videos, forums, and blogs as "proof" (who also can't cite any credible source) and it all usually culminates with the admin making some condescending remark about how it's not his job to fact check everything he posts, like he's some sort of fucking Facebook Morpheus who can only show you the door.
Half of you people are the very sheep you claim to despise except that instead of the big, bad media you believe anything an idiot with a computer and MS Paint can post on the Internet. The government doesn't need fluoride in the water to make you stupid, it has Facebook."
So now my typical reaction of debunking these things and encouraging others to do their research when they come up on conspiracies like that is too much of a hassle. I now just facepalm and quietly let those people believe what they want. Though, I admit I find pleasure in them being extremely worried about what's in the water knowing that they'll still drink it no problem. Hypocrisy at its best.
So I ask you, people of the Escapist, what do you do when you are presented with conspiracies?
How do you react to people who believe them?
Do you believe any yourself?
When I see stuff like this, I usually roll my eyes, do a few minutes of Google searching and debunk the conspiracy, by pasting my findings into the comments section of my friend's shared image encouraging them to stop believing everything they read/see/hear. (Snopes.com became one of my favorites sites because of this.)
However, due to recent developments with the Snowden incident, and with the scare of a new Syria War outbreak, I find people are believing more and more of the extremely idiotic conspiracies. One of which stated that the government has tiny cameras on every dollar bill. Usually stuff like that would be self evident in its bullshit, but people still freak out over it. And when you ask for citations, of course you get nothing, but a "The evidence is everywhere" line or a link to a blog. Someone on one image brought up a very important point:
"The comments are the best part of this page. Some bullshit meme of questionable validity gets posted, people with actual intellect look for a source or something credible to back it up while the tin-foil hat squad busts out shitty YouTube videos, forums, and blogs as "proof" (who also can't cite any credible source) and it all usually culminates with the admin making some condescending remark about how it's not his job to fact check everything he posts, like he's some sort of fucking Facebook Morpheus who can only show you the door.
Half of you people are the very sheep you claim to despise except that instead of the big, bad media you believe anything an idiot with a computer and MS Paint can post on the Internet. The government doesn't need fluoride in the water to make you stupid, it has Facebook."
So now my typical reaction of debunking these things and encouraging others to do their research when they come up on conspiracies like that is too much of a hassle. I now just facepalm and quietly let those people believe what they want. Though, I admit I find pleasure in them being extremely worried about what's in the water knowing that they'll still drink it no problem. Hypocrisy at its best.
So I ask you, people of the Escapist, what do you do when you are presented with conspiracies?
How do you react to people who believe them?
Do you believe any yourself?
