What Do Vaccines and 5G Technology Have in Common

did you know

that the earth is actually flat

that the moon landing was actually an

elaborate hoax

created by the u.s government that

vaccines

actually make you ill a fact covered up

by governments and pharmaceutical

companies worldwide

these claims and the people who make

them

are widely known the people go by

different monikers

but essentially they’re the same thing

conspiracy theorists

they believe that a covert but

influential organization

is behind the many unexplained events of

the world

and search for alternative facts

or explanations to the proven

events of the world personally

i place a lot of value in the natural

sciences

and the truths of the world that can be

verified so i don’t really understand

people who can turn a blind eye to

science in the cold hard facts

but i can’t see this completely in black

and white i can’t simply dismiss

these people who i disagree with because

these conspiracy theorists

aren’t so strange for me they exist in

my family

in my classroom and beyond

so if what these conspiracy theories

propagate is really so

unbelievable and out of the realm of

rational thought

then what is it about them that

captivates so many people

what is it that makes conspiracy

theories so appealing to people

all over the world i did some research

and i found that conspiracy theories

tend to have six things

in common and it’s these six things that

generally indicate their success

firstly what makes conspiracy theories

so appealing to people

is the villain and the story behind it

so when we look at conspiracy theories

surrounding

the current pandemic you find a lot

of ideas propagating

the theory that certain individuals

created the virus or spread the idea of

a fake one

their motivation that would be monetary

or political gain

the captivating story and the villain

and

the dramatic motivation appeals to

people

oftentimes more than the truth

secondly what leads to people leaning

into conspiracy

theories is society’s collective

paranoia

or our anxiety back in the 1300s

the black play came along and during

that time

jews tended to be more hygienic

following the laws of judaism

and more isolated living in communities

by themselves

that led to generally them being less

affected by the black plague

couple that with a general attitude of

anti-semitism

at the time you are greeted with

a mass conspiracy theory claiming that

the jews

started the black plague cultural

attitudes

of the area lead to fear

which spreads conspiracy theories

the third thing that leads to the spread

of

these theories is something called

tribalism

this means that these ideas make us feel

better about ourselves

while generally putting down our

perceived rivals at the same time

this means that conspiracy theories

really thrive

in countries at war and conflict

the fourth reason that conspiracy

theories are able to be spread so easily

is uncertainty and something that really

highlights this

is the 5g conspiracy surrounding

coronavirus

as my classmate likes to say loudly and

whenever anybody will listen

5g came around at the same time as

coronavirus

so who’s to say that 5g didn’t cause

coronavirus now

uncertainty of new invisible

technology and a fear of it coupled with

a pandemic that at first we didn’t know

what started it

led to a lot of people trying to prove

causation to what was simply causation

correlation no uncertainty

breeds a mistrust that spreads

conspiracies

the fifth reason that conspiracies are

being able to be spread

is people’s knowledge gaps in recent

years

there has been a large amount of

misinformation about vaccines

which has led to the dissemination

of conspiracy theories claiming that

vaccines cause autism

or vaccines actually make you ill

the sixth and final element that leads

to conspiracy theories being spread

is ulterior motives take

the political scene of the united states

for the past five years

there has been a multitude of conspiracy

theories spread

from the vaccine being created in a lab

to hillary clinton running a child abuse

ring

in the basement of a pizzeria now i went

into this speech

trying to understand what exactly it is

that

makes people unders lean into conspiracy

theories

what makes it so attractive so appealing

of an option

that they are able to turn a blind eye

to

scientifically proven facts

it’s become a phenomenon that many

people have compared to religion

in that they have an unwavering faith

in their belief however

conspiracy theories pose a danger that

religion does not

in the example of the

jewish conspiracy theory surrounding the

black plague

it resulted in something called the

black death persecution

which was a series of violent attacks

against jewish communities

all throughout europe and the hillary

clinton conspiracy theory

led to the owners of the pizzeria

receiving

death threats and the pizzeria being

stormed by civilians with guns

so there’s no clear-cut way to combat

conspiracy theories

our own inherent bias and

vulnerabilities make it possible for all

of us to fall victim to these ideas

however i don’t want anyone leaving

being terrified of the fact that they’re

inherent bias and cultural attitudes

will

lead them unknowingly into a conspiracy

theory

there are everyday actions that we can

take to combat

our vulnerabilities go to multiple

sites for your news surround yourself

with different perspectives

and ideas that provide you with

variation in your information

same goes for social media and research

google and modern technology like to

provide us

with an easier user experience by giving

us information that

they know we will agree with however

that just strengthens our bias what we

need to do

is find change travel

see the world see new people see new

things

talk to anyone and everyone diversity

and change

is the only way to clear our minds of

our inherent subjectivity

and to encourage us to be open

and have a willingness to learn

thank you

you