Conspiracy and Me

I fell deep into the rabbit hole. I know what you’re thinking. You’re wondering what kind of moron gets sucked into COVID conspiracy theories. Well, as someone who fell way down the rabbit hole, I’m here to tell you it’s surprisingly easy. One minute you’re minding your own business, engulfing yourself in enriching podcasts, trying to better yourself, then before you know it, the people you have faith in have changed tack. You don’t notice it at first, you trust them, and they speak so rationally, but gradually a new narrative arises, you feel like you know more than the average Joe and this new narrative you seem to be hearing everywhere seems all too convincing, logical even.  Long story short, there was no way I was taking the COVID vaccine. I would never have called myself an anti-vaxxer though, as I still agreed to the use of certain ones and saw the value in them.

To be fair, for a long time now I have always been a little suspicious of mainstream narratives, especially concerning what happens in the US when we know that the CIA was proven to be up to some pretty wild stuff back in the day. I think you’ll find far more people than you might be led to believe have conspiratorial ideas on COVID, most are just smart enough to not say anything.

After COVID hit, several personal development “coaches”, “influencers” “health experts” yoga teachers (essentially the whole alternative wellness industry) began doing their own “research”. I think this started with the effectiveness of masks, or maybe questioning the accurate number of cases (which is a mind field). They would take studies out of context and create strong arguments for things like the effectiveness of masks. 

“Why do we love the idea that people might be secretly working together to control and organise the world? Because we don’t like to face the fact that our world runs on a combination of chaos, incompetence and confusion.

– Jonathan Cainer

As someone who takes their health seriously, especially when it comes to the use of pharmaceuticals, it didn’t take much to convince me to not want to take a vaccine I “didn’t need”, and for all intents and purposes that still stands true, but it’s not about me, it’s about those who can’t take it.

The likes of JP Sears will tell you that we just need to look after ourselves, build herd immunity, and the death rate is a mere 5% of the infection rate (he actually says 0.5% and won’t correct it for some unknown reason), and that 95% are over 70 years of age. These stats sound great and make sense until you realise only a tiny percentage of the world has been infected thus far, and to reach the ~70% required to achieve herd immunity would mean literally 100s of millions of people would die as a result (if we were to maintain the current ratio). Sure, the current dead may have numerous comorbidities which also sounds like a strong argument, but come to think of it, how many of us don’t?

I for one have been diagnosed with asthma. It hardly affects me, but it is still a comorbidity, and in countries like the UK, US, NZ, and Australia, all with obesity rates over 25% that comorbidity number becomes pretty damn high. This all but negates the “well they were going to die of something” argument.

“There’s a world of difference between truth and facts. Facts can obscure the truth.” ― Maya Angelou

As far as the argument for being healthy and you won’t get sick goes, he’s kind of right. But unfortunately, it’s pretty hard to convince billions of people to eat their veggies and go for a walk, when we can’t even convince them to stop smoking, drinking sugary drinks or eating fast food. I guess that’s why the WHO stick to “stay inside, wear a mask, wash your hands”.

Thankfully I started to question some of the narratives being pushed by the likes of JP Sears, Marcus Aubrey, Shaun Stevenson, and Kelly Brogan. This was tough, because they helped me grow as a person and I do owe each of them a great deal, and I often aspired to build something like they have or even work alongside them. Even mentioning their names here feels like I’m burning bridges that lead to dreams of working in their circles.

My concern went much further than I like to admit, and at one point I was very really considering the logistics of going sovereign. For those who don’t know, that essentially means handing in all governmental documentation and removing yourself from the “system”, more or less becoming your own authority and no longer identifying with the same system of law within the country you live as regular citizens.

Lucky for me I dared to discuss these ideas with my therapist who, without judgment listened to my concerns and later suggested I listen to the Conspirituality podcast. A podcast shining light on, and debunking many of the alt-right influencers on social media, including anti-vax material. Although I don’t agree entirely with all that is said, especially as they are so anti-spirituality, it definitely helped me step away from the edge.

It seems that maybe the system these influencers are trying to take down is creating something just as toxic and whether they like to admit it or not, their egos are getting the better of them. That, and the fact many of them have grown hugely in popularity since pre-covid. I’ve even noticed a trend in attractive influencers jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon in order to catch the “woke” crowd. Why would they do this? Because most are selling something, often supplements, which, might I add, ironically don’t require the same rigorous testing as the vaccines they so strongly oppose.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better”. – Maya Angelou

Here’s a question that I’m glad I had the rationale to ask myself: If these “spiritual gurus” really believe that they are eternal spiritual beings having a human experience, then why are they so worried about their physical bodies taking a vaccine? 

And if that’s not enough, ask yourself why we still aren’t seeing ID chips in vaccines, “benefits” to being vaccinated (i.e. you still can’t travel), people getting sick in droves from vaccine testing or lockdowns on “predicted” dates.

These influencers will have you blame the mainstream media (MSM) and the agenda “they” push. But that media is made up of average Joes like us, doing the best they can, unfortunately, it’s funded by large corporations focused on ad revenue which will have an impact on narratives,  but I genuinely think those in the system are doing the best they can to do right by the community. There is one thing I’d like to mention about MSM that does bother me, and that’s that they lead the audience to believe that if a “conspiracy theorist” believes one thing, they believe in all manners of conspiracy, I can assure you this is not the case, especially (and I really cannot iterate this enough) when it comes to the earth being flat, or that they all support Trump.

I’m not saying that the world is perfect and that you should believe everything you hear but if you ever find yourself invested heavily in a thought or idea as I was, maybe take a step back from it all, listen to the other sides case even if it's grating, try avoiding podcasts or social media for a while, catch your breath, go for a walk in the woods, pause and reflect. Keep in mind, that only a few months ago, not taking the vaccine was a hill I was willing to die on. Life a journey hey.

“The most fatal illusion is the settled point of view. Since life is growth and motion, a fixed point of view kills anybody who has one.” – Brooks Atkinson

Don’t get me wrong I am still wary of injecting something into my body but I’d like to think that now it’s from a healthy point of view. If I can I will avoid it, but I also understand that sometimes these things are necessary. I don’t regret the time I spent toying with these ideas, and if anything it really pointed out how flawed the system that we live in is. That these conspiratorial ideas don’t seem so hard to believe and at times make far more sense than the reality we live it.

In short, this is a cautionary tale of echo chambers, and sometimes you don’t even realise you are in one until you take a step back.

That being said, Carol Baskin killed her husband, jet fuel can’t melt steel beams and Epstein didn’t kill himself.

“Belief and Change: They’re different.
Knowledge changes all the time. When we engage with the world when we encounter data or new experiences, our knowledge changes.
But belief is what we call the things that stick around, particularly and especially in the face of changes in knowledge.
While more knowledge can change belief, it usually doesn’t. Belief is a cultural phenomenon, created in conjunction with the people around us.
The easy way to discern the two: “What would you need to see or learn to change your mind about that?” – Seth Godin