How to talk to people deeply involved in conspiracy theories

Sometimes it’s essential oils, and sometimes it’s trying to convince someone that reptilians aren’t in the government

In many ways, we are primed in our society to believe in conspiracy theories. As a Catholic child, the Mysteries were never explained, but held reverent. The dogma of religion was not to be questioned, my parents either, and we are spoon fed a steady Hero’s Journey diet from the time we can understand how to string together noun-verb-adjective. We are fed a narrative that someday we too would be the ones that hold an all seeing understanding that permeated society, answered our problems, and everything makes sense just like those heros or religious figures. In frustration, on the internet many people go looking for that in the heap that is all published knowledge. Sometimes one comes out the other side with spiritual knowledge, and sometimes they come out tangled up and chatting absolute shite.

Religion and desperation are gateways

As a kid, I quickly stopped believing in God and all the reasons being found in a book. I publicly declared a life and love of science, and as an Evangelical Christian counselor, told us that God thought we were special, and that’s why we got popsicles.