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