After a three-week hiatus, John Oliver returned to Last Week Tonight to discuss the appeal and prevalence of conspiracy theories, particularly at a time of high risk and high information such as the coronavirus pandemic, which has created a ” perfect storm for conspiracy. ” theorists, “he said.
Hoaxes and conspiracy theories have proliferated since the pandemic began in March, Oliver summarized, with some online groups and websites claiming that the virus does not exist, or that it was created by pharmaceutical companies to create businesses for vaccines, or that 5G networks somehow cause disease. The pseudo-documentary Plandemic was viewed more than 8 million times in one week, a “surprisingly high number,” Oliver said, not only because of its numerous falsehoods, but because it amassed more views than Oliver’s favorite TikTok of a cat. that matches that of a piano. tone.
Given Covid-19’s transmissibility, conspiracy theories, even marginal ones, are especially dangerous now, Oliver explained, even if only a fraction of Americans believe in them and act accordingly, such as refusing to wear a mask or physical distance. . And they are “much more popular than you think,” Oliver said.
Nor is she immune to her appeal: “Shamefully, there’s a part of me that thinks the royal family killed Princess Diana,” said Oliver. “I know they did not, because there is absolutely no evidence that they did, but the idea still persists. Because an event too large to be accidental was felt; there had to be some intention there. “The craving for meaning behind the foolishness is, experts say, a strong draw of conspiracy theories, which” explain a chaotic and uncertain world, “Oliver said, and they appeal to our proportionality, or the tendency to assume great events must have great causes.
Conspiracy theories are also not exclusive to the digital age, particularly when it comes to global health: a false theory in the 1400s attributed the bubonic plague to the Jews, some attributed the 1889 Russian flu to new light bulb technology During the 1918 flu pandemic, rumors spread that the German company Bayer had contaminated their aspirin.
“The only difference now is that our current pandemic is coming into the Internet age, when not only is it easier for people to do poor research and spread the results, but the material may also look surprisingly authoritative.” Oliver said
“These theories can be attractive in nature and, thanks to the Internet, can be easily extended,” he added. “And all of this would be dangerous enough before taking into account that one of the most prominent disseminators of conspiracy theories on earth is the current President of the United States.”
Before being elected, Trump propagated Obama’s birth deceit, and has since trafficked in false conspiracy theories such as the line that millions of false votes were cast for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, to the point of that “conspiracy theories are something like ugly buildings and deeply tragic adult children in which Donald Trump loves to unleash them in the world and then refuses to take responsibility for them ever again,” said Oliver.
And it has been repeating the same pattern throughout the pandemic. “Trump has aired so many conspiracies that the media has repeatedly called him” the conspiracy theorist-in-chief, “although he would say he is not interested in any of these things he is spreading,” Oliver said. “You are only interested in amplifying what you think could personally benefit you.”
Or, as conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh put it: “Trump is just throwing gasoline on the fire here and having fun watching the flames.”
“Rush Limbaugh gets it,” said Oliver, “and that’s a sentence I never thought I’d say unless I was talking about bathroom-transmitted chlamydia.” Worse still, there’s a lot at stake in throwing gasoline on the pandemic fire, Oliver continued, as “people are going to burn, making those flames not so much fun to watch.”
So what can be done? Social media has begun to intensify its marking of fake content, but that will not be enough given its lack of experience in global health and the large amount of information, garbage or not, published on platforms every day. “The fact is, it will be up to us as individuals to try to spot these theories and treat them with a skeptical eye before we create them or, in fact, spread them,” Oliver said, listing three expertly-approved questions to avoid falling for it. conspiracy: is there a rational explanation for non-conspiracy? Has this been subject to expert scrutiny? And how plausible is this theory as a practical matter?
The practicality is especially pertinent given what we know about humans’ inability to keep secrets, let alone the roughly 411,000 people whose silence would have been required to accomplish a moon landing hoax, according to scientists. So many theories are more than implausible because humans, by nature, love to talk: “I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to organize, for example, a medium-sized surprise party for your cousin, but it’s almost impossible to keep it going.” Easy, because someone is telling Roxanne, “said Oliver. “No matter how many emails you send saying ‘nobody tells Roxanne,’ Roxanne is finding out.”
And while “it is completely natural to want to yell at them ‘why you believe this nonsense, you titanic idiot,'” Oliver concluded, “now, more than ever, it might be important for you to try” to become loved deep within the web of conspiracy theories. .
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