Hi.
A little colour in the middle of the cold.
I don't know about where you live, but, where I hang my toque, the windchills are consistently flirting dangerously close to the -40 mark right now.
When it gets this cold, which we get at least a taste of every winter, the warmth that a few grocery store posies can bring into the house is always welcome. A bit of a pick-me-up at a time when one is definitely needed.
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So, over the past few weeks, we've gotten to take a peek into the mindset of a few different people who were, but are no longer, buried so far down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories they became incapable of any kind of critical thinking.
In watching their recent interviews it becomes obvious that fear drives all of it. In all of the cases I've seen so far, their journeys into the abyss of lies started with a little tidbit of misinformation they happened across on some form of social media. A thread. Something that, if you squint your eyes just right and dim the lights enough could be interpreted as truth. Just believable enough to meet them where they were in the moment they saw it.
They then dug a bit deeper, consulting like-minded friends and family, who, in turn, referred them to more of the same, only worse. The more they clicked on the crazy, the more insanity the algorithms fed them. The more they were fed, the more gluttonous they became. An addiction.
At this point, they were already conditioned to mistrust legitimate news, constantly being told it was "fake." So, the only sources of information they trusted came from fringe-riding believers in everything nonsensical.
Through these sources, they were introduced to the idea that Anderson Cooper ate babies, Jewish space lasers were the real culprits that started the wildfires in California, and that somehow, Joe Biden was going to steal all of the children, oh, and that JFK didn't really die, but if he did it was somehow the Clintons that were responsible.
The list of utter garbage goes on and on, one thing crazier than what preceded it.
At the core of all of it is what bothers me the most.
Over and over, when you hear the believers and ex-believers speak, the belly of this particular beast is fed by racism and the fear that drives it. The thought that somehow what was rightfully theirs was going to be, somehow, taken away. The thought of the changing demographic, the changing religious landscape, the realization that the world is changing, that intolerance is no longer going to be tolerated, that we are, with a huge amount of work, at the precipice of real equality.
The fear of no longer being among the group of people with all of the say, with all of the power. The fear of the loss of privilege.
Those who believe the crazy, those most afraid of the evolving demographics, seem to be the first to shout from the rooftops how racism, religious discrimination, sexism, gender bias, hell, that any inequality of any kind simply doesn't exist.
My question to those who believe this.
If it doesn't exist, what exactly are you afraid of?
If you don't want to admit to the fear, what makes you so angry about everybody being treated the same? What upsets you so much about having people of colour, of different religions, different gender identities, and different sexual identities being elected into positions in government? If it doesn't exist, why aren't you embracing the long-overdue changes, all of them?
In the interviews I've seen, the now ex-believers are looking back and trying to figure out how they fell for it to begin with. They are trying to sort out in their own minds how they let this happen. They are embarrassed.
So, why bring this up? Why talk about it?
My thought is this. They won't be the only ones. Over the next days, weeks, months, and years there is very likely going to be many more just like them. It's almost inevitable that the conspiracy fever will break for most, and when it does, they too will probably be embarrassed, wondering how they could have ever allowed themselves to buy into the whole thing.
Does this realization mean they should be exempt from accountability for what they, themselves perpetuated while they lived in the rabbit hole? I don't think so, but are their hands as bloody as those who create this garbage, then groom and feed it to susceptible people? I don't think that either.
This whole thing is, I believe, far from black and white. The shades of grey are plentiful, but discernible. The degrees of guilt are many. The level of damage that has been, and continues to be done will take a long time to unpack and examine.
Only thorough dissection and a true understanding of how we got here, will give us a path to the other side of this and help us to prevent it from happening again.
At least that's the hope. But then again, we're human, sooooooo.....
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May you, if you are currently residing down that rabbit hole, climb your way back to level ground.
May you reject the garbage you're being fed, think critically, hear how crazy it really sounds.
May you, once the fever breaks, find a way to make amends to any and all hurt by your delusions.
May you create a path to repair the relationships damaged by your mistakes, your confusion.
May you let go of any residual filth, any clinging lies that may reignite your hate.
May you see that the world has equal space for all of us to shine, you'll see, just wait.
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For some edge-of-your-seat action, to ride along with Charlie, click on the link below, and follow the link. I dare you.
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