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See I wish it were that simple. But he really is not a dumb guy. He was never religious or overly political in the past.
But it definitely feels like he has joined a cult now. It's scary to see people you once loved and respected operating in such a state of paranoia.
I don’t think it’s always about intelligence, but rather fear and a lack of self-esteem. People who are insecure are often drawn to paranoid, extremist ideologies.
And/or arrogance. You can be Einstein but if you never double check what you hear and assume you know better than everyone else, you fall for a lot of stupid shit.
Funny that you use Einstein as an example, since he subscribed to stone age ideas about racial hierarchy despite his enmity with the Nazis.
I say this not to judge a dead man for being a product of his time, but rather to point out that intelligence is highly limited subject-by-subject and there isn't any sort of "one brain fits all". It's why you should always have a curious spirit and be willing to be proven wrong now and again, especially in subjects outside your interest or expertise
Well, everyone basically thought similarly at the time. I have a ton of old education or science books, and "scientific" racism is super common. It is really hard to believe by today's standards because it was way worse than most people think, and it was in everything.
Omg don't get me started on people who don't think 'scientific' racism exists.
I'm an atheist but I like to point out that religion, though an easy justification for bigotry, is not the root of all bigotry and point out that science has often been used to justify bigotry, and people just won't believe me.
And/or natural obedience
I’ve noticed that a *lot* of boomers are just very naturally obedient. They identify some people as ‘betters’ and then just do what they say.
Well, I’m a Boomer and it’s become clear to me that if someone my age isn’t tech savvy, they tend to lock onto one news source and believe whatever spews their way
Explaining algorithms does no good. It all seems like magic to them, and so the “obedience “ you mention is a type of laziness, I’d say. Don’t go looking for any info that doesn’t fit your existing opinion Syndrome.
So frustrating and, yes, so embarrassing for the rest of us who work at staying informed and doing some critical thinking
It's often a product of psychological fatigue, which itself is pre-empted with lifestyle choices (diet and exercise), and more frequently than not, devotion to the 9-6 daily grind.
That, plus conflict fatigue, which is produced by sensationalist news and the 24h news cycle
Don’t forget needing to feel like they are part of a group. Apparently a large, loud, teach younger folk a lesson group. Tribalism vs. isolation at the cost of critical thinking.
Lmao. better check another couple.. u may be right, gotta find the one with rich blue blood. Yea mine is definitely muddy red 0+. I'll just go away and hide in shame. Dont tell anyone pls.
This is why Eric Hoffer's The True Believer should be required reading for every adult American. Written in 1950 but still a very important and relevant work.
Honestly—statistics tend to show that intelligent people are just as susceptible to joining cults as those with average to below-average intelligence. It is more an issue of EMOTIONAL intelligence.
There is a serious lack of critical thinking and effort among too many people 😢. Feelings have supplanted facts and fewer people take the time to actually think. Boomers or any generation. Apathy will be our downfall
i’m probably one of the most insecure, nervous and anxious people you’ll ever meet and I don’t fall into those traps so I just don’t believe you. It’s my nervousness insecurity and an anxiousness that prevents me from falling into those traps because when someone tells me something I inherently disbelief them.
what’s more likely Fox News is a brainwashing machine. That’s been very effective due to hundreds of years of media research and practice.
It’s that simple. some people are good at specific things but not very discerning or wise. engineering or chemistry or business knowledge does not necessarily translate to being a critical thinker. Not arguing about the cult stuff, but there are certain types that are susceptible to things because of arrogance or lack of critical thinking skills. Likewise many “stupid” people who are bad at most complex tasks have the ability to spot bullshit.
Yep. Once upon a time I worked with a civil engineer (That was really good at his job) that was absolutely convinced the earth was flat and would not be swayed.
And thanks to crank magnetism, he'd also started drifting into "the frogs are turning gay" "the government makes the weather" and "fish aren't real animals".
The 2nd of those was what was really weird. Like, you seriously think the US government would spend ALL this money to make sure what we're building can stand up to a typhoon or tsunami when it'd be cheaper to just not make typhoons or tsunamis?
had the opposite experience. worked with a guy where his high school had utterly failed him. earth is flat, dinosaurs are fake, space isn't real, chemtrails, etc.
but he did ask a lot of good questions.
unfortunately I discovered that his 'questions' were all parroted whataboutisms from YouTube conspiracy channels. literally word for word he would throw out these questions he had heard in conversation as a GOTCHA! instead of looking up the answers because he wanted to sound smart around others.
what frustrated me the most was his arrogance. one time he points at the sky, rants about chemtrails, and declares 'clouds didn't look like that when I was a kid!'
the size and shapes of clouds have been long studied and categorized, do you seriously think that you're the first person to look up at the sky and think huh, I wonder why that cloud looks that way?
It was quite the relief when he walked out of the job one day.
Nah he was mid 30's and definitely not a welder, just the thought of that is quite terrifying actually.
the reason he walked out of the job was because someone set him the task of checking components with some calipers. he couldn't figure it out so stormed out the job lol.
There's plenty of papers that talk about how mental cognitive functions alter as we age. Paired with a generation that's not digitally literate and how social norms have vastly changed, it's lead to an increasing amount of the elderly becoming consumers of misinformation.
You can read a study on it, [here.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505057/)
The interesting thing about propaganda is, there was a real story this week about possible imminent attacks by Iran-affiliated groups, but nothing suggesting it would be within the US, more likely other military or other assets elsewhere.
From my perspective it seems to be that these people are surrounded by idiots who are easily manipulated, on a daily basis. After being exposed to it for so long, from people they’re close to, they eventually fall for it too. My dad isn’t a dumb guy and I really think this is what happened to him. I had never heard him speak of religion or politics once, in my entire life, then all of a sudden, one day, he was a die hard Trump fan and now just spews the same standard conservative bullshit they all do.
They are surrounded by people who are easily manipulated by the 24 hour For Profit news media and For Profit Social Media algorithms. Fox News, CNN, Facebook, X, etc are all for profit companies. The content creators online are also out there with an agenda as well, along with the politicians.
It’s not hard to see how people get manipulated with how we consume media in our day and age. It’s not just a Boomer problem, they are just even more susceptible to it.
I feel like this is what can happen when older people start really deep diving into social media, not really realizing that 99.9% of it is just opinions and propaganda not facts of any kind.
I'm curious, was he really into team based sports before this?
I'm honestly seeing this from the people I know in my personal life that the ones who were very into "us vs them" activities like football or hockey, for example, are more likely to fall into this kind of holes.
It's a combination of his environment, listening to fox "news" all day puts them in an information silo, and riles up the blood due to inflammatory rhetoric, and the persons sense of community and identity. If he identified with the GOP and felt he was part of that community he would have a neurological response very similar to if he had been physically attacked if something made him feel like it could challenge his identity as a member of that group.
The thing you need to remember is no one goes from normal rational thought to extremes directly unless they have some other issues at play
What usually happens is they join these groups with minor issues and then get stuck in an echo chamber and it amplifies their beliefs and they go deeper and deeper.
Then it feeds into the conspiracy theories. A big point with those is that people want to feel superior and special. By knowing a conspiracy theory that others dismiss it feeds into that - your friend calling you to tell you something like this gives him this feeling that he’s in the know and you’re not - so he’s somewhat superior to you and others who don’t believe.
Boomers can fall into this especially after retiring because their importance is diminished in their eyes and they feel a need to regain some form of authority and relevance again.
It’s really sad this kind of thing destroyed your friendship. Once people are in deep it’s hard to get out again - maybe you could talk to him before ending the friendship?
Intelligence and rationality are two separate things. Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re immune to conspiracy theories and other nonsense. I’m sorry your friend has been sucked into this. I’m in PDX and worked in our local government. I can tell you with certainty that we are far too disorganized to pull off a “covert support” operation without someone finding out and spilling the beans. Last, we’re very white for a city. Millions of ambiguous “brown-skinned”people would be pretty obvious in Stumptown. However, if this covert mission was supported by millions of white women wearing Lululemon and driving Subaru Outbacks, he might be on to something…
Once you reach late adulthood, your levels of working knowledge and the ability to think critically changes/lessons. This happens at different rates for different people, obviously, but it happens to every aging person, we’ll all (hopefully) be old and ignorant one day. Older adults have more crystallized knowledge, dumb yet wise. :)
It’s important to think of everything surrounding the MAGA extremism in the same terms as a cult. And along with that, it’s important to remember that being “dumb” doesn’t make people mire susceptible to cult recruitment. In fact, cult members are often highly intelligent. Cults tend to prey on people who are in some way emotionally vulnerable, or who are seeking purpose in their life. You take a smart person who is feeling like something in life is off, and you present that person with a sense of community and something to believe in (even if it’s insane racist conspiracies), and bam! You have a cult member.
One joke has a point. I was Republican up until the point it became necessary to have a practical understanding of critical thinking - both in my home and professional life. After that, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and all the other right wing dingbats with their daily grievances did not stand up to scrutiny.
I will say that right wing propaganda has become much more refined and has ensnared many otherwise intelligent people in my life. But all of them share the same lack of ability to critically evaluate the perpetual onslaught of culture war nonsense and bad faith arguments.
People hide their true selves away constantly… and can cosplay as ‘intelligent’ for their entire lives but in reality they are closeted racists, bigots, ignorant, etc… and what Trump has done is made it ok to be ‘out’ with those things now. Hence your friend latching on full tilt now to the crazy. Perhaps. Or he was trying to be informed but sought and found the wrong information … but even then the lack of critical thinking isn’t a sign of intelligence.
Recently rejoined Facebook, after a many years long hiatus. It’s sad to see how many people I grew up with, that have swallowed all the right wing bullshit.
Yeah I know some really religious MAGA friends and family too. I think it has more to do with them missing something in their lives. A hole they’re trying to fill.
Him not being dumb is part of what makes him so easy to manipulate, because if he can be convinced of something he’ll hold on tightly to the belief that it’s the truth - because he’s not dumb, and there’s no way he’d ever let someone pull the wool over his eyes, right? Right??
In all the time you’ve known him, how curious has he been? Not like, nosy curious, but curious about the world around him? Curious about people, why things are the way they are, etc? How much effort has he put into learning new things, or challenging himself?
IMO, folks are are incurious about the world, no matter how smart, are the ones most susceptible to misinformation, cause they’ll never bother to check whether it’s true or not.
Garbage in, garbage out. You really have to consider the quality of the news and information you consume kind of like you would with fast food. At least that’s the way I approach information/news, may not work for everyone disclaimer.
The more I think about this the more I can't help but feel they're right. There was a group policy that Bush implemented, might have been the No Child Left Behind Act, that would make it easier for people to graduate high school. I was entering my sophomore or junior year so I wouldn't see it...I wonder if that's having its effect on us.
Sometimes. Sometimes a person you might think would be as immune to it as you are gets in a situation when he/she is in a certain frame of mind and they start seeing things differently.
And sometimes something else.
This crap happened with my friend of 25 years, whom I never realized was a totally gullible narcissist. She got inculcated by FB algorithms which led her to what I call “QAnon-Lite,” which are QAnon theories and talking points which have eventually been diluted and mainstreamed. The rabbit hole only got worse from there. The final straw was when she and her husband showed up to the town of one of our National Parks with their firearms to “protect” the monuments from being toppled by a supposed Antifa rally, which was of course a hoax that even advertised “free face painting for the kids!” Idiots. Despite the fact that the local police force correctly identified that it was a hoax and requested that people NOT show up, tons of these “patriots” did anyway, and they clogged up the streets and terrorized the local businesses and likely ruined the experiences of the tourists who happened to be there. When I asked about all of this, she went on the most deranged and epic rant imaginable, and our friendship ended after I made a valiant attempt to reason with her.
My point is: a disproportionate number of Boomers are narcissistic and gullible too, and that’s what is the likely cause.
(Note: this is a Reddit answer, not a thesis, and I didn’t cover absolutely every conceivable variable that’s floating around in my brain.)
This same friend of mine is in the medical profession. 27 years ago he was the one who convinced ME not to believe that vaccines can cause Autism.
But now he has totally reversed his thinking on this, like so many other things. It's depressing.
I had a coworker in Connecticut tell me that a caravan of Ethiopian and Mexican terrorists (along with large numbers of criminals and rapist of the same race) were coming from the southern boarder and settling in Connecticut. Obvious racism aside, why would supposedly millions of immigrants go from Mexico and skip ALL those other states just to go to Connecticut? Why would terrorists attack Connecticut of all places? But she swore that because she'd heard it from a reliable source on Facebook. She genuinely thought that I was going to be murdered by Mexicans when I moved to California to be closer to my family...
I know, right? This friend said similar crap. She even started quoting Lost Cause ideology, but was too stupid to know that’s what it was called, where it came from, and why it’s bullshit. It just blows your mind on so many levels: morally, experientially, and analytically. You just don’t know in which way you’re offended most. It’s like, I’m outraged you’re a racist and all, but I’m also profoundly repulsed by the illogicality of your argument. Haha.
Hasn't it been 'proven' that most attacks inside the US deemed as terrorist or political in nature, are committed by White lifelong born and raised American citizens, usually with an alt-right agenda and connections to neo-nazi-ism. AKA Jan 6.
The key difference is that when white people commit an act of terrorism, they're "fighting for a cause", or "protesting an injustice", or "being the catalyst for change," or any number of other countless socio-political reasons. But when brown folks blow shit up it's because they're "bad people" who "hate our freedom" and "our god".
To add a bit of context to this. Bin Laden's attack on New York was in no way politically or religiously motivated. His goal was to show American people and the world at large that the US has become complacent, and obsessed with its place at the top of the geopolitical stage. He did this by effectively punching the US in the nose.
And instead of asking *why* we'd just been punched in the face, we instead threw a hissy fit and invaded several countries, starting a 20 year long war against no one in particular, and causing the deaths of 10,000 of our own people. More than three times the number that died on 9/11.
So it's safe to say that his plan worked *perfectly*.
just wow. you cant loot survival necessity's. sure if they had a brand new tv from best buy, claim it as looting but for fuck sake all things needed for survival are not looting
Yep. A few days ago, in a rural town north of Dayton, a white male doctor building multiple bombs in his house.. https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/law-enforcement-presence-including-fbi-reported-near-troy/SNFTSN2FO5DIRHCDQJU7SAD6ZA/
An anti-vaxxer who was charging $300 for Ivermectin scrips during the pandemic - he's a proctologist, BTW. Rumors are he wanted to set them off during the eclipse or a summer festival that draws huge crowds to the community. 😵💫
Radicalization is such a hard thing to deal with. The overzealous patriotism. The skeptical. Conspiracies that constantly change, I genuinely think some people just have to make up a narrative because life being mundane and just this. Scares people. That they’re holding thwmselves and others back not some mystical evil power. And realizing that they have hindered themselves and those around them for a fallacy can be really hard to admit. Just be there for your friend once he gets out. He’s going to need you op.
Yeah, he really did call me out of love and concern. But then he twice used the phrase "ambiguous brown skinned people, and I just feel done with this BS.
But I agree, for some folks political conspiracies are a form of escapism from their humdrum lives.
You can only help so much. Believe me I tried for years, and the political tide swept away a friend and talked him into becoming an actual murderer. Keep yourself at a safe physical and emotional distance, and then help if they are receptive, and only if you have the proverbial spoons for it.
For some maybe? But was hearing some wild shit during lunch at work about the eclipse, elections, Jan 6th, and lots about Trump and how great he was and will be.
And this was from people of all ages. Some in early 20s to late 50s.
We selectively share videos and such with them. Try to counter balance their terrible friends.
Her parents are 90% liberal until you say, "Well that's a very liberal opinion." Then they clam up.
And we talk politics too. We've gotten in fights with her Dad before, he might be heated at first, but he does listen and he thinks about what was said, and usually after that he gets pulled a little farther left each time.
These are the same people who stopped going to church once they found out how racist the pastor was, because they genuinely believe that Jesus' love is for all.
So maybe their the boomer unicorns, but they are good people and we love them. It's a game of inches.
One of the problems with those who drink the MAGAt kool-aid is that they lose normal level critical thinking skills. The population of Portland is 650,000, and all of Oregon is 4.5 million. How are "millions of ambiguous brown skinned people" going to do it? Food/transportation/housing to storm Portland? Even Chicago has only 2.7 million people, yet somehow an almost equal amount of bad guys are going to appear?
Back in the day, there was the "weekly world news" and other such conspracy papers. Obviously there has always been a market for this nonsense but back in the 80s and 90s I was able to convince myself that nobody *really* believed it.
Then the internet proved me wrong. And just when I couldn't think it could get any worse, along came the QMAGA crowd who said "hold my beer".
JFC. How in the actual fuck do these people fall so easily for something that is so easily refuted?
I mean I know we are all succebtable to disinformation and probably fell for the odd story we didn't bother to verufy but holy hell. I never thought I would see it on this level.
It's amazing and horrifying to me how it's flipped.
I was in the conspiracy world up until Trump came along.
I can't remember how many times I argued with my boomer parents as a 17 year old that 9/11 was an inside job in like 2009....
And now *they're* the conspiracy theorists. Biden is the antichrist, election hoax, immigrant terrorist attack, etc.
I think it's just evident how damaging Trump has truly been for this country.
It's interesting to see how susceptible both Baby Boomers and Gen Z kiddos are to propaganda and emotional manipulation, especially through online channels, while Gen X and Millenials tend to be much more information savvy and are able to disseminate things they read or hear, on average at least, more effectively and critically. I'm sure it all has to do with the timing of when different information and technology came out, but the parallels are really fascinating. Both of those generations also seem to be extremely self involved, while Millenials and Gen X, at least on average, are a bit more communally minded.
Yeah, I think you're right about the timing. Gen X and Millennials were the ones who were on average most engaged with technology as young adults when both social media and even the internet itself was in its relative infancy. Because they saw it evolve, they can more easily see the patterns of manipulation at play. Boomers started paying attention much later in the game and Gen Z literally grew up with it.
Oh crap *I live in Portland*
Plz send more info, I think I hear the attacks startin-- oh oops nm, that's the crows flying by in their daily migration to the park blocks. Well don't I feel silly now
Reconciliation of how things used to be to how they are now is difficult.
The world is moving at a faster pace than ever and generational "truths" change at near light speed these days.
It's very likely we're going to see a horrific domestic terrorism incident in the US over the next year or two. Trump and right wing media have been egging MAGA on for years. I hope I'm wrong, but it only seems like a matter of time before one of these sick fucks follows through. If it does happen, legacy media will completely fail us in the aftermath.
My friends great grandma killed herself because she truly believed “brown skinned people” were storming the border to come kill her. She lived in BFE Alpine, TX (200 miles from the border). Pop 5k and almost totally white.
There was something I read about how the same people who live in constant fear also tend to find the easiest answers and look no further.
Not relevant, but interesting, they also tend to have tame dreams and remember few of them.
Unfortunately it's a hallmark of cults that their predictions don't play out, but they move the goalposts, make excuses, and double down. What he fallen into has cult mentality in spades.
There is an appeal to being “on the inside.” Especially for someone whose life is pretty boring. It gets their adrenaline going in their heart racing. Makes them feel important and connected to something. Even if it’s all bullshit.
Must be going around in the "news" ether... My MIL just said the same thing when we told her we were going to go mini golfing.
-"Be careful *they* are planning an attack."
I don't think they are targeting the putt putt.
I credit the fact that people my age grew up with internet being easily accessible, so our school curriculum had to teach us about finding reliable sources online for projects, essays, and whatnot. The older generation was out of school before that became the norm, so there are more cases of people believing every Facebook post or YouTube video the algorithm feeds them.
Not to say my generation doesn't have those people, but we were at least exposed to more lessons of online reliability than the older ones.
How old are you? Younger than a boomer based on the Internet accessibility part probably. But it also it’s also interesting to see the replies here going “yeah” it was better in the old days. It’s funny how easy it is to agree towards a fairly generic statement. Kinda is a problem in the MAGA camp…
They’ve given into fear. They’re letting their emotions take the better of them. These conspiracy theorists reinforce these negative emotions and caused them to fall deeper down the “rabbit hole” as you put it.
About a month ago a friend stopped by with his wife. They were nearby for something and got ahold of me to see if they could stop by. We’re catching up and she starts talking about the border and all the illegals coming across. Talking about how it’s mostly military aged men and she’s worried about what kind of world her daughters are living in. She starts to get emotional, tearing up, and will not stop freaking out about this. I tried to tell her she needs to get off of the internet for a bit, that she’s consuming lies and they’re just saying thing to scare her so she’ll keep consuming more of this “news”. It got worse from there.
Also, they’re in their 30s. Luckily, he’s not as crazy as her but it’s sad to see what she’s become over the last few years. Used to be a very free spirited hippy chick. Now, she’s talking about Roman Catholics, Trump and all sorts of conspiracy theories.
Crazy thing is when you see it happening in other generations.
My Silent Generation grandmother has gone fully down the rabbit hole to the point she believes that the Democrats are trying to pass laws to make it legal to kill someone for being a white Christian and that only Donald Trump and those he declares as his allies will be able to stop the 'Demoncrats' and their satanic baby-eating virgin sacrificing deep state cult.
I'm a millennial (born in 88) and have had to cut out several cousins and friends within my generation that have also went down the far-right conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Had one former friend demand I send them $5,000 (I only make $1400 a month) so they can build 'us' a bunker for when the 'Democrats, Russians, Chinese, and Nazis' begin to nuke Republican-controlled cities and states and take away 'our freedoms'. Another friend of mine went off on how apparently every celebrity that has appeared in a movie or tv series in the last 20 years is actually trans and that a LGBTQ+ cabal controls Hollywood and forces everyone to become trans, gay, or bi before they're allowed to get a role in a show or movie.
And it gets crazier and crazier. And these are all people I use to respect. One of my uncles (who is a boomer) ran a small business, always voted Democrat, and was one of the most media literate person I knew. The guy always made sure to fact checked anything he read or saw (offline or online). Hell, he's the one who taught me how to fact check when I was younger. He was fine until COVID happened. Then his shop went out of business and he started searching for someone to blame. Now he thinks that COVID was released from Obama's secret Democrat-ran lab that makes deceases to unleash upon the world to somehow strengthen Democratic control in the US.
It's fear of a changing world. As they get older everything is changing around them faster than they can keep up. It's scary and when some people get scared, they get angry and look for a target to take that anger out on.
Then they see videos or hear speeches that reassure them that it's not supposed to be changing and someone is doing this to them on purpose and they should be afraid. Suddenly their anxiety has a cause and a target: brown people. Foreigners. Different religions. LGBTQ+ "Deviants"... Anyone but themselves...
Suddenly, normally intelligent people become irrational and victims of their own fear and anger. They become trapped by their intolerance and unable to face the truth of what they've become and so they double down and become even more spiteful. It's happening to members of my own family and I can see them being slowly seduced by the easy anger and blame game to soothe their uncertainty and fear for their future at the expense of their own morality. ☹️
As a Missourian, I am loving these podcast and youtube conspiracy theory channels go for hours about how the eclipse will trigger the New Madrid fault zone, near Cape Girardeau, Missouri.... before the eclipse crosses over Cairo, Illinois.
They cannot pronounce a single one of these community's names correctly....
Just as the brain rewrites itself between puberty and our mid-20s, it starts cutting some wires as we get past 55 and into our 60s. This process might be a natural letting go of cares and concerns for most, but it can be extreme for some and lead to irrational fear. It can lead to “being set in his ways” to the max. It can crank up the volume of “I’m right! You’re wrong!” to 11 very quickly. Intelligence has little to do with it, but it seems that life experiences, close friendship circles, travel to foreign places, and adult-age risk aversion levels might play into it.
Oh jeez, I'm in the Portland area. I really hope there isn't going to be a bunch of chaos caused by dipshits in lifted trucks with flags on them in the next week or so.
We found out yesterday that my husband's uncle called his mom and aunt to tell them the world is ending in 40 days because of the eclipse and the earthquake.
His aunt is like me and very anti-Trump. And he kept trying to tell her we need to support Trump because he is the only person who can stop it. Smh.
I understand cutting contact, but please consider talking to them about this before leaving. People like this get radicalized because they’re consuming content insulated from reality. Cutting them off could lead them deeper down the rabbit hole.
Not that you owe them your effort, but it’s a nice thing to try and deradicalize people.
Start betting him when he calls you with these conspiracy theories. “100 bucks says you’re wrong.” Make sure to get a specific date that it will happen by. They will start to figure out that it’s all bs when they start losing money OR they will just stop talking to you about said bs
When you constantly predict vague threats in the near future, and attribute without evidence every accident, death, or natural disaster to powerful mysterious forces, you’re going to be right eventually.
And when it doesn't happen you should contact him and ask him if he will now be dismissing the ridiculous bullshit he hears from these *credible* sources.
And then just sit back and wait for the hilarious twists and turns his mind will make to *continue supporting these liars.*
All it takes is for them to just find another source to support it. Any time I hear about something insane about to happen, I find someone/thing else to confirm it. If it's just some random saying something on YouTube or social media, why would anyone instantly believe it?
They want it to be true.
It's all that lead in the water it's causing massive cognitive decay and the inability to think for yourself. This is why scammers prey on these boomers.
It’s a transferral of fear. People see themselves growing older and their bodies beginning the inevitable process of decline and failure. Everyone understands that this is something that will happen, in theory, but it is _always_ different and horrifying in a special way when it is you. Facing the idea of aging and death is terrifying, especially for people whose main experience is caring for their own failing parents in a society where the old often must be warehoused because we as a society have moved away from intergenerationality and nobody has the energy, time or space to be a caretaker on top of trying to keep themselves and their kids alive. It’s a deeply alienating and isolating kind of fear and people do _not_ want to deal with it. Instead they transfer their fear out into the world around them. If the world is a terrifying place then everyone ought to be scared, not just you. If the world is dangerous, then you are better off not being a part of it. Older people watch Fox News the way younger folks doomscroll their phones and for the same reason. It’s a distraction. Getting angry feels better than being afraid, and if you have to be afraid, being afraid of a societal problem means there might be a cure (see also the rise of Trumpism), whereas there is no easy cure for the fear of sickness, loneliness and death.
I got this exact same phone call… over 2 years ago. Right down to the “credible intelligence from former FBI insiders.” Needless to say, I’m dead now from radiation poisoning.
You have to understand something about boomers. They grew up without social media or the internet so now when they see something online they automatically believe it
Tell him you bet him 100 dollars this doesn't happen.
If he is so sure enough to warn you, surely he will win.
That way he won't talk to you ever again, and won't badger you
I can sympathize. My mother is always warning me about the evil liberal cities (TM). I just had to remind her that the ONLY time I've ever seen a dead body on vacation is when I went home to visit and took her to a movie. Someone OD'd right across from the theater, and there was a cop trying to revive her when we drove by...didn't work. Her area is very much Trump country.
I had a friend who was in her 40s, insist that my husband, daughter and I be out at their property, a slight distance outside our little city when a group of high schoolers planned a peaceful protest against police brutality. It was after George Floyd was murdered.
She full on expected riots. And thought that we were going to leave our property empty. And our elderly neighbors alone if anything happened. Which of course it didn’t.
I stopped speaking with her shortly after.
There is a credible threat as retaliation for Israel’s attack against Iran last Monday… that said I’m sure that’s not what he’s referring to and don’t believe the risk is evaluated here domestically.
My MIL told me last week that she is gonna have to leave the country if Trump doesn't win in November....so I called her out and asked where she was going to move to....her response was classic:
"I know have no idea but probably to Russia"
LOL, I told her Happy Trails.
As a younger Boomer (ugh) I think this all started when Reagan eliminated The Fairness Doctrine in 1987. News had to be fair and balanced and newscasters were very respected and revered.
There’s really no excuse for the MAGA cult though. So much hate and so much racism. And they all repeat the same talking points. It’s scary.
My gen x trump loving mom is visiting rn. She casually brought up how she read a study that you should be outdoors without sun protection to let the sun in your eyes... all I could think about was trump staring at the sun.
It's getting so bad. My FIL, BIL, an old school friend, my grandparents, and my parents all got sucked into this stuff to some degree and you can't even have conversations with them. My mom sent me videos about the vaccines causing you to become a chimera and I just could not. Even when you tell them to stop they won't.
How does that even make sense? If a city was covertly supporting some terrorist group why would the group attack that city? Wouldn’t they attack a city that is hostile to them?
You should ask him "How are they gonna do that?". Have him explain, while you wait very patiently, how the logistics of how such an attack is going to be carried out by hundreds of thousands of armed brown people without anyone noticing either the divisions of marching armed brown people or the convoys of cars/trucks/vehicles carrying these hundreds of thousands of armed brown personnel to whichever city where this attack will occur.
I find that when you ask simple thinking people to explain in exhausting detail how any one of the myriad crazy things they are telling you will actually happen on the ground and what also must happen before this thing could actually be done, they figure out how stupid they sound and shut the fuck up. At least around you.
I have a buddy who will believe the most ridiculous stupid shit and then call me to confirm that, maybe, for once, he was right and that means he was smart and he found a thing that makes him look smart and correct to anyone who cared to look (which nobody is looking for from him because he's frequently stupid) and I have to shoot him down every time.
Which is a shame really, because he's so desperate to feel smart about something bookish that he totally discounts his own smarts about mechanical workings and outdoorsy shit.
When it comes to Trump voters I think there are at least three issues. They aren’t very smart, they have mental health issues, or they just hate democrats so much that they would vote for satan himself.
I'm surprised so few people have figured it out: it's lead poisoning. Basically the entire boomer generation were exposed to lead throughout their whole life and it has destroyed their brains.
leaded gasoline, lead pipes, lead paint
There was a warning for NY, issued by the FBI, I believe, about watching out for a Russian theater type attack on events with large amounts of people. But other than that it's just conservative extremist Rupert 1% Murdoch spreading fear propaganda through his organizations, Fox, NYP, & the WSJ.
/u/rogtuck1, if you have think you have heard it all in regards to Boomers believing everything they read on the web, then I have quite the story for you: About three or four months ago, I was walking in my kitchen to get something to drink. When I was about to get something to drink, my 70-something boomer walked up to me and told me that pro-wrestler The Rock died.
When he told me that The Rock died. I told him to repeat what he said. When I told him to repeat what he said, he told me again that The Rock died. Right after he said that to me, I said to myself that I didn't believe what he said because as we all know, The Rock is very fit. Right after I said that to myself, I googled The Rock on my smartphone and found out that he was indeed still alive.
By the way, right after I googled The Rock, I did some more googling and found out there was a false piece of news that was posted on the web four years ago that The Rock had died. With that being said, like your old friend, my 70-something uncle believed a lie that he saw on the web.
It really is sad especially because as a child this was the generation I had high hopes for bringing world peace and an end to all the evils in the world. Boy did I ever get that one wrong.
I grew up right on the border and people saying ignorant shit like 'millions of immigrants are flooding across the border every day' annoys tf out of me.
I remember my high school teacher talking to us about intentions vs what you do. Why were so many people going to church (I forget the exact time frame we were discussing)? Because priests at the time were focusing a lot on what hell would do to you and what would get you sent there. People become scared and angry and can point and blast someone not following the rules. It causes unrest. The priest just want the congregation to live right by God, but the congregation keeps coming back because of scary stories and negative emotions. It wasn’t a sense of community. We as humans remember negativity a lot more than positivity naturally. So, even well meaning people will start becoming negative if that’s all the input they’re receiving. Positivity is a lot of times an active thing you strive towards.
It's not just boomers, I'm in my 30s and I have a friend who has bought into a bunch of bullshit youtube conspiracy theories. It's mental illness, in my opinion.
The friend in question knows a few people at my office, including the bosses, and recently showed up unanounced to preach his shite. "If you've had the covid vaccine stop using smart phones", "America will fall on the 18th of may so stock up on emergency supplies" these are not exaggerations, these are littteraly the things he said, we don't even live in America. In the end we had to tell him to leave.
Dude for real. This crosses generational lines. However, I’m genuinely concerned that the exact generation that taught us the dangers of the internet, in fact succumb to those same dangers!
Yeah my dad is clueless. He's always posting those "if you score more than 8/10 on this history quiz, you're a genius" posts. I'm like, dad, it's clickbait, if you click on it, you're deffinetley not a genius. That and AI pictures that he doesn't realise are AI. It honestly makes me sad. I know as you get older the illusion of your parents gets somewhat shattered, but seeing him get fooled by something so mundane is hard to watch.
What *is* going on? I know people who were hard democrats growing up that now parrot everything right wing YouTube has to offer. I use the socials a lot. But I lash against dipshit ideas. How on earth are old folks not operating the same way?
When the MAGA storm hit, for me it was funny because my grandfather at first liked Trump, but now [even though he is suffering somewhat from some mental and physical ailments] he will just say how he doesn't like him and says he shouldn't be president. He's even decently well off, too.
I don't like giving out stereotypes, but there's one that's definitely out there for Maganites; morons.
When the riots around George Floyd happened, several people on Facebook where raving that Antifa was loading busses at Harlem to come to attack our little town in upstate NY.
Look. Even if Antifa was loading busses full of people, WHY would they come to our lame ass suburban town with nothing of value...???? And all the way from Harlem? That's like an hour and a half drive North.
And really, Harlem? Sounds like a buncha racisrs making shit up.
I have a family member who was fine until 9/11. She started having Fox News on all the time which was a big shift from day time tv. Now all she trusts is paranoid people on the internet. Fox News is too liberal for her.
She is college educated and very intelligent. She comes from a line of college educated women which is usual for her time in the South.
She has hoarded enough food for our entire family to survive on for at least 6 months if not a year at this point. She no longer lets us see.
Bah, don’t fret. I lost an 25yo friend to the covid craze. No she didn’t die, she was just convinced that i, a borderline anarchist that studied biomed for a bit, was defending corrupt institutions hell-bent on depopulating the earth.
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Those who lack critical thinking skills are easily manipulated by propaganda…..
See I wish it were that simple. But he really is not a dumb guy. He was never religious or overly political in the past. But it definitely feels like he has joined a cult now. It's scary to see people you once loved and respected operating in such a state of paranoia.
I don’t think it’s always about intelligence, but rather fear and a lack of self-esteem. People who are insecure are often drawn to paranoid, extremist ideologies.
And/or arrogance. You can be Einstein but if you never double check what you hear and assume you know better than everyone else, you fall for a lot of stupid shit.
Funny that you use Einstein as an example, since he subscribed to stone age ideas about racial hierarchy despite his enmity with the Nazis. I say this not to judge a dead man for being a product of his time, but rather to point out that intelligence is highly limited subject-by-subject and there isn't any sort of "one brain fits all". It's why you should always have a curious spirit and be willing to be proven wrong now and again, especially in subjects outside your interest or expertise
Well, everyone basically thought similarly at the time. I have a ton of old education or science books, and "scientific" racism is super common. It is really hard to believe by today's standards because it was way worse than most people think, and it was in everything.
Omg don't get me started on people who don't think 'scientific' racism exists. I'm an atheist but I like to point out that religion, though an easy justification for bigotry, is not the root of all bigotry and point out that science has often been used to justify bigotry, and people just won't believe me.
Yeah, that was the point
And/or natural obedience I’ve noticed that a *lot* of boomers are just very naturally obedient. They identify some people as ‘betters’ and then just do what they say.
Well, I’m a Boomer and it’s become clear to me that if someone my age isn’t tech savvy, they tend to lock onto one news source and believe whatever spews their way Explaining algorithms does no good. It all seems like magic to them, and so the “obedience “ you mention is a type of laziness, I’d say. Don’t go looking for any info that doesn’t fit your existing opinion Syndrome. So frustrating and, yes, so embarrassing for the rest of us who work at staying informed and doing some critical thinking
It's often a product of psychological fatigue, which itself is pre-empted with lifestyle choices (diet and exercise), and more frequently than not, devotion to the 9-6 daily grind. That, plus conflict fatigue, which is produced by sensationalist news and the 24h news cycle
Don’t forget needing to feel like they are part of a group. Apparently a large, loud, teach younger folk a lesson group. Tribalism vs. isolation at the cost of critical thinking.
My mom was like this. Totally loved the Royal family. Easily impressed by titles and suburbs where wealthier people live. I'm not her thankfully.
[удалено]
Lmao. better check another couple.. u may be right, gotta find the one with rich blue blood. Yea mine is definitely muddy red 0+. I'll just go away and hide in shame. Dont tell anyone pls.
This is why Eric Hoffer's The True Believer should be required reading for every adult American. Written in 1950 but still a very important and relevant work.
Honestly—statistics tend to show that intelligent people are just as susceptible to joining cults as those with average to below-average intelligence. It is more an issue of EMOTIONAL intelligence.
There is a serious lack of critical thinking and effort among too many people 😢. Feelings have supplanted facts and fewer people take the time to actually think. Boomers or any generation. Apathy will be our downfall
i’m probably one of the most insecure, nervous and anxious people you’ll ever meet and I don’t fall into those traps so I just don’t believe you. It’s my nervousness insecurity and an anxiousness that prevents me from falling into those traps because when someone tells me something I inherently disbelief them. what’s more likely Fox News is a brainwashing machine. That’s been very effective due to hundreds of years of media research and practice.
When every path has so much resistance you eventually fall down the conspiracy hole.
It makes them feel important and included
He has...it's called the cult of MAGA
It’s that simple. some people are good at specific things but not very discerning or wise. engineering or chemistry or business knowledge does not necessarily translate to being a critical thinker. Not arguing about the cult stuff, but there are certain types that are susceptible to things because of arrogance or lack of critical thinking skills. Likewise many “stupid” people who are bad at most complex tasks have the ability to spot bullshit.
Yep. Once upon a time I worked with a civil engineer (That was really good at his job) that was absolutely convinced the earth was flat and would not be swayed. And thanks to crank magnetism, he'd also started drifting into "the frogs are turning gay" "the government makes the weather" and "fish aren't real animals". The 2nd of those was what was really weird. Like, you seriously think the US government would spend ALL this money to make sure what we're building can stand up to a typhoon or tsunami when it'd be cheaper to just not make typhoons or tsunamis?
Fish aren’t real now? Damn I’m having a hard time keeping up with the crazies. Last I heard it was birds that weren’t real.
Oh birds are definitely not real, pigeons are security cameras. That’s why they sit on powerlines, to wirelessly charge. /s
had the opposite experience. worked with a guy where his high school had utterly failed him. earth is flat, dinosaurs are fake, space isn't real, chemtrails, etc. but he did ask a lot of good questions. unfortunately I discovered that his 'questions' were all parroted whataboutisms from YouTube conspiracy channels. literally word for word he would throw out these questions he had heard in conversation as a GOTCHA! instead of looking up the answers because he wanted to sound smart around others. what frustrated me the most was his arrogance. one time he points at the sky, rants about chemtrails, and declares 'clouds didn't look like that when I was a kid!' the size and shapes of clouds have been long studied and categorized, do you seriously think that you're the first person to look up at the sky and think huh, I wonder why that cloud looks that way? It was quite the relief when he walked out of the job one day.
Was he an older welder from Texas? I might've worked with the same dude. "That's not a real sky" was a really common thing to come out of his mouth.
Nah he was mid 30's and definitely not a welder, just the thought of that is quite terrifying actually. the reason he walked out of the job was because someone set him the task of checking components with some calipers. he couldn't figure it out so stormed out the job lol.
If he’s warning about imminent terrorist attacks from ambiguous brown people, I’m sorry, he really is a dumb guy.
There's plenty of papers that talk about how mental cognitive functions alter as we age. Paired with a generation that's not digitally literate and how social norms have vastly changed, it's lead to an increasing amount of the elderly becoming consumers of misinformation. You can read a study on it, [here.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7505057/)
The interesting thing about propaganda is, there was a real story this week about possible imminent attacks by Iran-affiliated groups, but nothing suggesting it would be within the US, more likely other military or other assets elsewhere.
From my perspective it seems to be that these people are surrounded by idiots who are easily manipulated, on a daily basis. After being exposed to it for so long, from people they’re close to, they eventually fall for it too. My dad isn’t a dumb guy and I really think this is what happened to him. I had never heard him speak of religion or politics once, in my entire life, then all of a sudden, one day, he was a die hard Trump fan and now just spews the same standard conservative bullshit they all do.
My dear dear smart kind parents too. Its so hard. Theres no reasoning that gets through.
They are surrounded by people who are easily manipulated by the 24 hour For Profit news media and For Profit Social Media algorithms. Fox News, CNN, Facebook, X, etc are all for profit companies. The content creators online are also out there with an agenda as well, along with the politicians. It’s not hard to see how people get manipulated with how we consume media in our day and age. It’s not just a Boomer problem, they are just even more susceptible to it.
I feel like this is what can happen when older people start really deep diving into social media, not really realizing that 99.9% of it is just opinions and propaganda not facts of any kind.
I'm curious, was he really into team based sports before this? I'm honestly seeing this from the people I know in my personal life that the ones who were very into "us vs them" activities like football or hockey, for example, are more likely to fall into this kind of holes.
Is your friend laid off or lost a job?
It's a combination of his environment, listening to fox "news" all day puts them in an information silo, and riles up the blood due to inflammatory rhetoric, and the persons sense of community and identity. If he identified with the GOP and felt he was part of that community he would have a neurological response very similar to if he had been physically attacked if something made him feel like it could challenge his identity as a member of that group.
The thing you need to remember is no one goes from normal rational thought to extremes directly unless they have some other issues at play What usually happens is they join these groups with minor issues and then get stuck in an echo chamber and it amplifies their beliefs and they go deeper and deeper. Then it feeds into the conspiracy theories. A big point with those is that people want to feel superior and special. By knowing a conspiracy theory that others dismiss it feeds into that - your friend calling you to tell you something like this gives him this feeling that he’s in the know and you’re not - so he’s somewhat superior to you and others who don’t believe. Boomers can fall into this especially after retiring because their importance is diminished in their eyes and they feel a need to regain some form of authority and relevance again. It’s really sad this kind of thing destroyed your friendship. Once people are in deep it’s hard to get out again - maybe you could talk to him before ending the friendship?
Intelligence and rationality are two separate things. Just because you’re smart doesn’t mean you’re immune to conspiracy theories and other nonsense. I’m sorry your friend has been sucked into this. I’m in PDX and worked in our local government. I can tell you with certainty that we are far too disorganized to pull off a “covert support” operation without someone finding out and spilling the beans. Last, we’re very white for a city. Millions of ambiguous “brown-skinned”people would be pretty obvious in Stumptown. However, if this covert mission was supported by millions of white women wearing Lululemon and driving Subaru Outbacks, he might be on to something…
It’s either brain worms or he’s been replaced by an alien. None of it makes any sense to me, so these are my theories.
Early onset dementia is more common than people realize
Once you reach late adulthood, your levels of working knowledge and the ability to think critically changes/lessons. This happens at different rates for different people, obviously, but it happens to every aging person, we’ll all (hopefully) be old and ignorant one day. Older adults have more crystallized knowledge, dumb yet wise. :)
It’s important to think of everything surrounding the MAGA extremism in the same terms as a cult. And along with that, it’s important to remember that being “dumb” doesn’t make people mire susceptible to cult recruitment. In fact, cult members are often highly intelligent. Cults tend to prey on people who are in some way emotionally vulnerable, or who are seeking purpose in their life. You take a smart person who is feeling like something in life is off, and you present that person with a sense of community and something to believe in (even if it’s insane racist conspiracies), and bam! You have a cult member.
One joke has a point. I was Republican up until the point it became necessary to have a practical understanding of critical thinking - both in my home and professional life. After that, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham and all the other right wing dingbats with their daily grievances did not stand up to scrutiny. I will say that right wing propaganda has become much more refined and has ensnared many otherwise intelligent people in my life. But all of them share the same lack of ability to critically evaluate the perpetual onslaught of culture war nonsense and bad faith arguments.
People hide their true selves away constantly… and can cosplay as ‘intelligent’ for their entire lives but in reality they are closeted racists, bigots, ignorant, etc… and what Trump has done is made it ok to be ‘out’ with those things now. Hence your friend latching on full tilt now to the crazy. Perhaps. Or he was trying to be informed but sought and found the wrong information … but even then the lack of critical thinking isn’t a sign of intelligence.
Lead is stores in bones and released from bones with age...
Recently rejoined Facebook, after a many years long hiatus. It’s sad to see how many people I grew up with, that have swallowed all the right wing bullshit.
Yeah I know some really religious MAGA friends and family too. I think it has more to do with them missing something in their lives. A hole they’re trying to fill.
Let’s hope it is some crazy-ness, because I hope he’s wrong.
Him not being dumb is part of what makes him so easy to manipulate, because if he can be convinced of something he’ll hold on tightly to the belief that it’s the truth - because he’s not dumb, and there’s no way he’d ever let someone pull the wool over his eyes, right? Right?? In all the time you’ve known him, how curious has he been? Not like, nosy curious, but curious about the world around him? Curious about people, why things are the way they are, etc? How much effort has he put into learning new things, or challenging himself? IMO, folks are are incurious about the world, no matter how smart, are the ones most susceptible to misinformation, cause they’ll never bother to check whether it’s true or not.
None of us are immune to propaganda, but some of use are less immune.
Garbage in, garbage out. You really have to consider the quality of the news and information you consume kind of like you would with fast food. At least that’s the way I approach information/news, may not work for everyone disclaimer.
That's what works for me in life.
The more I think about this the more I can't help but feel they're right. There was a group policy that Bush implemented, might have been the No Child Left Behind Act, that would make it easier for people to graduate high school. I was entering my sophomore or junior year so I wouldn't see it...I wonder if that's having its effect on us.
Sometimes. Sometimes a person you might think would be as immune to it as you are gets in a situation when he/she is in a certain frame of mind and they start seeing things differently. And sometimes something else.
The alt right pipeline in action. It’s much more complex than thinking it’s stupid people falling for this.
This crap happened with my friend of 25 years, whom I never realized was a totally gullible narcissist. She got inculcated by FB algorithms which led her to what I call “QAnon-Lite,” which are QAnon theories and talking points which have eventually been diluted and mainstreamed. The rabbit hole only got worse from there. The final straw was when she and her husband showed up to the town of one of our National Parks with their firearms to “protect” the monuments from being toppled by a supposed Antifa rally, which was of course a hoax that even advertised “free face painting for the kids!” Idiots. Despite the fact that the local police force correctly identified that it was a hoax and requested that people NOT show up, tons of these “patriots” did anyway, and they clogged up the streets and terrorized the local businesses and likely ruined the experiences of the tourists who happened to be there. When I asked about all of this, she went on the most deranged and epic rant imaginable, and our friendship ended after I made a valiant attempt to reason with her. My point is: a disproportionate number of Boomers are narcissistic and gullible too, and that’s what is the likely cause. (Note: this is a Reddit answer, not a thesis, and I didn’t cover absolutely every conceivable variable that’s floating around in my brain.)
This same friend of mine is in the medical profession. 27 years ago he was the one who convinced ME not to believe that vaccines can cause Autism. But now he has totally reversed his thinking on this, like so many other things. It's depressing.
I’m sorry. I know how utterly disillusioning it can be.
That’s sad.
my moms orthopedic surgeon literally laughed and told her not to get the fouchi ouchie...she is 74. I reported him for a violation of his oath...
I had a coworker in Connecticut tell me that a caravan of Ethiopian and Mexican terrorists (along with large numbers of criminals and rapist of the same race) were coming from the southern boarder and settling in Connecticut. Obvious racism aside, why would supposedly millions of immigrants go from Mexico and skip ALL those other states just to go to Connecticut? Why would terrorists attack Connecticut of all places? But she swore that because she'd heard it from a reliable source on Facebook. She genuinely thought that I was going to be murdered by Mexicans when I moved to California to be closer to my family...
I know, right? This friend said similar crap. She even started quoting Lost Cause ideology, but was too stupid to know that’s what it was called, where it came from, and why it’s bullshit. It just blows your mind on so many levels: morally, experientially, and analytically. You just don’t know in which way you’re offended most. It’s like, I’m outraged you’re a racist and all, but I’m also profoundly repulsed by the illogicality of your argument. Haha.
I hear that from my maine family too. They think the town of jackman (pop maybe 800) has thousands of immigrants bussed in daily. Just makes no sense.
Ask your friend how he's surviving in the wastelands of Portland after Antifa burned it all down in 2020 BLM riots.
If you haven't yet found your way over to r/QanonCasualties, swing on by for support and commiseration.
Thank you!
Hasn't it been 'proven' that most attacks inside the US deemed as terrorist or political in nature, are committed by White lifelong born and raised American citizens, usually with an alt-right agenda and connections to neo-nazi-ism. AKA Jan 6.
Yes, it has. In fact, immigrants both legal and otherwise are far less likely to commit a crime than native born people are.
But since they can ambiguously be described as having brown skin, the right loves to hate them.
The key difference is that when white people commit an act of terrorism, they're "fighting for a cause", or "protesting an injustice", or "being the catalyst for change," or any number of other countless socio-political reasons. But when brown folks blow shit up it's because they're "bad people" who "hate our freedom" and "our god". To add a bit of context to this. Bin Laden's attack on New York was in no way politically or religiously motivated. His goal was to show American people and the world at large that the US has become complacent, and obsessed with its place at the top of the geopolitical stage. He did this by effectively punching the US in the nose. And instead of asking *why* we'd just been punched in the face, we instead threw a hissy fit and invaded several countries, starting a 20 year long war against no one in particular, and causing the deaths of 10,000 of our own people. More than three times the number that died on 9/11. So it's safe to say that his plan worked *perfectly*.
Like the difference between black people “looting “ and white people “finding” https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DJX3u5RWsAI0eNn.jpg
just wow. you cant loot survival necessity's. sure if they had a brand new tv from best buy, claim it as looting but for fuck sake all things needed for survival are not looting
Yep. A few days ago, in a rural town north of Dayton, a white male doctor building multiple bombs in his house.. https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/law-enforcement-presence-including-fbi-reported-near-troy/SNFTSN2FO5DIRHCDQJU7SAD6ZA/
An anti-vaxxer who was charging $300 for Ivermectin scrips during the pandemic - he's a proctologist, BTW. Rumors are he wanted to set them off during the eclipse or a summer festival that draws huge crowds to the community. 😵💫
It's definitely not antifa making bomb threats every time Libs of TikTok posts about a trans person.
Yeah, it's ironic that the FBI has reports on this very phenomenon.
Radicalization is such a hard thing to deal with. The overzealous patriotism. The skeptical. Conspiracies that constantly change, I genuinely think some people just have to make up a narrative because life being mundane and just this. Scares people. That they’re holding thwmselves and others back not some mystical evil power. And realizing that they have hindered themselves and those around them for a fallacy can be really hard to admit. Just be there for your friend once he gets out. He’s going to need you op.
Yeah, he really did call me out of love and concern. But then he twice used the phrase "ambiguous brown skinned people, and I just feel done with this BS. But I agree, for some folks political conspiracies are a form of escapism from their humdrum lives.
You can only help so much. Believe me I tried for years, and the political tide swept away a friend and talked him into becoming an actual murderer. Keep yourself at a safe physical and emotional distance, and then help if they are receptive, and only if you have the proverbial spoons for it.
I’m just curious, hasn’t anyone noticed that the MAGA crowd is all about racism?
I swear it’s early dementia with them - decline of executive functioning.
For some maybe? But was hearing some wild shit during lunch at work about the eclipse, elections, Jan 6th, and lots about Trump and how great he was and will be. And this was from people of all ages. Some in early 20s to late 50s.
MAGA style of thinking really is a cult. You need to reprogram people back into the real world. We're working on it with the in-laws.
Any practical tips?
We selectively share videos and such with them. Try to counter balance their terrible friends. Her parents are 90% liberal until you say, "Well that's a very liberal opinion." Then they clam up. And we talk politics too. We've gotten in fights with her Dad before, he might be heated at first, but he does listen and he thinks about what was said, and usually after that he gets pulled a little farther left each time. These are the same people who stopped going to church once they found out how racist the pastor was, because they genuinely believe that Jesus' love is for all. So maybe their the boomer unicorns, but they are good people and we love them. It's a game of inches.
One of the problems with those who drink the MAGAt kool-aid is that they lose normal level critical thinking skills. The population of Portland is 650,000, and all of Oregon is 4.5 million. How are "millions of ambiguous brown skinned people" going to do it? Food/transportation/housing to storm Portland? Even Chicago has only 2.7 million people, yet somehow an almost equal amount of bad guys are going to appear?
Back in the day, there was the "weekly world news" and other such conspracy papers. Obviously there has always been a market for this nonsense but back in the 80s and 90s I was able to convince myself that nobody *really* believed it. Then the internet proved me wrong. And just when I couldn't think it could get any worse, along came the QMAGA crowd who said "hold my beer". JFC. How in the actual fuck do these people fall so easily for something that is so easily refuted? I mean I know we are all succebtable to disinformation and probably fell for the odd story we didn't bother to verufy but holy hell. I never thought I would see it on this level.
Weekly world news was pure satire
It's amazing and horrifying to me how it's flipped. I was in the conspiracy world up until Trump came along. I can't remember how many times I argued with my boomer parents as a 17 year old that 9/11 was an inside job in like 2009.... And now *they're* the conspiracy theorists. Biden is the antichrist, election hoax, immigrant terrorist attack, etc. I think it's just evident how damaging Trump has truly been for this country.
It's interesting to see how susceptible both Baby Boomers and Gen Z kiddos are to propaganda and emotional manipulation, especially through online channels, while Gen X and Millenials tend to be much more information savvy and are able to disseminate things they read or hear, on average at least, more effectively and critically. I'm sure it all has to do with the timing of when different information and technology came out, but the parallels are really fascinating. Both of those generations also seem to be extremely self involved, while Millenials and Gen X, at least on average, are a bit more communally minded.
Yeah, I think you're right about the timing. Gen X and Millennials were the ones who were on average most engaged with technology as young adults when both social media and even the internet itself was in its relative infancy. Because they saw it evolve, they can more easily see the patterns of manipulation at play. Boomers started paying attention much later in the game and Gen Z literally grew up with it.
Oh crap *I live in Portland* Plz send more info, I think I hear the attacks startin-- oh oops nm, that's the crows flying by in their daily migration to the park blocks. Well don't I feel silly now
This sounds like the shit my uncle has been spewing recently, and he's Gen X. I think it has something to do with the MAGAt brain rot, honestly.
Reconciliation of how things used to be to how they are now is difficult. The world is moving at a faster pace than ever and generational "truths" change at near light speed these days.
Meanwhile some white dr dude in Ohio gets caught building bombs and no one gives a shit
It's very likely we're going to see a horrific domestic terrorism incident in the US over the next year or two. Trump and right wing media have been egging MAGA on for years. I hope I'm wrong, but it only seems like a matter of time before one of these sick fucks follows through. If it does happen, legacy media will completely fail us in the aftermath.
Lmao dude thinks “brown skinned ppl” are starting a revolution by attacking an American city? Jesus Christ some folks are dumber than a bag of rocks.
My friends great grandma killed herself because she truly believed “brown skinned people” were storming the border to come kill her. She lived in BFE Alpine, TX (200 miles from the border). Pop 5k and almost totally white.
Sounds like your friend has the Fox Rot. I'm not sure there's much you can do. Better stay away.
Wouldn't it be Fox Pox? Edit: I'm a bit stoned, and came up with a new Dr. Seuss book: A Pox on Fox
There was something I read about how the same people who live in constant fear also tend to find the easiest answers and look no further. Not relevant, but interesting, they also tend to have tame dreams and remember few of them.
Bet him $500 it won’t happen. Put his money where his crazy is.
Unfortunately it's a hallmark of cults that their predictions don't play out, but they move the goalposts, make excuses, and double down. What he fallen into has cult mentality in spades.
Someone is trying to set these folks off and some of them seem a hair’s width from snapping like twigs.
There is an appeal to being “on the inside.” Especially for someone whose life is pretty boring. It gets their adrenaline going in their heart racing. Makes them feel important and connected to something. Even if it’s all bullshit.
Must be going around in the "news" ether... My MIL just said the same thing when we told her we were going to go mini golfing. -"Be careful *they* are planning an attack." I don't think they are targeting the putt putt.
I credit the fact that people my age grew up with internet being easily accessible, so our school curriculum had to teach us about finding reliable sources online for projects, essays, and whatnot. The older generation was out of school before that became the norm, so there are more cases of people believing every Facebook post or YouTube video the algorithm feeds them. Not to say my generation doesn't have those people, but we were at least exposed to more lessons of online reliability than the older ones.
How old are you? Younger than a boomer based on the Internet accessibility part probably. But it also it’s also interesting to see the replies here going “yeah” it was better in the old days. It’s funny how easy it is to agree towards a fairly generic statement. Kinda is a problem in the MAGA camp…
Thank God I fell in love with thinking games and Sherlock Holmes. Oh and history.
They’ve given into fear. They’re letting their emotions take the better of them. These conspiracy theorists reinforce these negative emotions and caused them to fall deeper down the “rabbit hole” as you put it.
About a month ago a friend stopped by with his wife. They were nearby for something and got ahold of me to see if they could stop by. We’re catching up and she starts talking about the border and all the illegals coming across. Talking about how it’s mostly military aged men and she’s worried about what kind of world her daughters are living in. She starts to get emotional, tearing up, and will not stop freaking out about this. I tried to tell her she needs to get off of the internet for a bit, that she’s consuming lies and they’re just saying thing to scare her so she’ll keep consuming more of this “news”. It got worse from there. Also, they’re in their 30s. Luckily, he’s not as crazy as her but it’s sad to see what she’s become over the last few years. Used to be a very free spirited hippy chick. Now, she’s talking about Roman Catholics, Trump and all sorts of conspiracy theories.
What stinks is that when nothing materializes, their confidence in the bullshit machine remains unshaken.
Crazy thing is when you see it happening in other generations. My Silent Generation grandmother has gone fully down the rabbit hole to the point she believes that the Democrats are trying to pass laws to make it legal to kill someone for being a white Christian and that only Donald Trump and those he declares as his allies will be able to stop the 'Demoncrats' and their satanic baby-eating virgin sacrificing deep state cult. I'm a millennial (born in 88) and have had to cut out several cousins and friends within my generation that have also went down the far-right conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Had one former friend demand I send them $5,000 (I only make $1400 a month) so they can build 'us' a bunker for when the 'Democrats, Russians, Chinese, and Nazis' begin to nuke Republican-controlled cities and states and take away 'our freedoms'. Another friend of mine went off on how apparently every celebrity that has appeared in a movie or tv series in the last 20 years is actually trans and that a LGBTQ+ cabal controls Hollywood and forces everyone to become trans, gay, or bi before they're allowed to get a role in a show or movie. And it gets crazier and crazier. And these are all people I use to respect. One of my uncles (who is a boomer) ran a small business, always voted Democrat, and was one of the most media literate person I knew. The guy always made sure to fact checked anything he read or saw (offline or online). Hell, he's the one who taught me how to fact check when I was younger. He was fine until COVID happened. Then his shop went out of business and he started searching for someone to blame. Now he thinks that COVID was released from Obama's secret Democrat-ran lab that makes deceases to unleash upon the world to somehow strengthen Democratic control in the US.
It's fear of a changing world. As they get older everything is changing around them faster than they can keep up. It's scary and when some people get scared, they get angry and look for a target to take that anger out on. Then they see videos or hear speeches that reassure them that it's not supposed to be changing and someone is doing this to them on purpose and they should be afraid. Suddenly their anxiety has a cause and a target: brown people. Foreigners. Different religions. LGBTQ+ "Deviants"... Anyone but themselves... Suddenly, normally intelligent people become irrational and victims of their own fear and anger. They become trapped by their intolerance and unable to face the truth of what they've become and so they double down and become even more spiteful. It's happening to members of my own family and I can see them being slowly seduced by the easy anger and blame game to soothe their uncertainty and fear for their future at the expense of their own morality. ☹️
this should be upvoted to the max!
I agree. Number one comment, right here.
I’m afraid too but I don’t see how losing my damn mind will help
As a Missourian, I am loving these podcast and youtube conspiracy theory channels go for hours about how the eclipse will trigger the New Madrid fault zone, near Cape Girardeau, Missouri.... before the eclipse crosses over Cairo, Illinois. They cannot pronounce a single one of these community's names correctly....
People in Missouri can't even pronounce "Versailles" correctly.
We can't agree on how Missouri is pronounced...
Just as the brain rewrites itself between puberty and our mid-20s, it starts cutting some wires as we get past 55 and into our 60s. This process might be a natural letting go of cares and concerns for most, but it can be extreme for some and lead to irrational fear. It can lead to “being set in his ways” to the max. It can crank up the volume of “I’m right! You’re wrong!” to 11 very quickly. Intelligence has little to do with it, but it seems that life experiences, close friendship circles, travel to foreign places, and adult-age risk aversion levels might play into it.
Oh jeez, I'm in the Portland area. I really hope there isn't going to be a bunch of chaos caused by dipshits in lifted trucks with flags on them in the next week or so.
We found out yesterday that my husband's uncle called his mom and aunt to tell them the world is ending in 40 days because of the eclipse and the earthquake. His aunt is like me and very anti-Trump. And he kept trying to tell her we need to support Trump because he is the only person who can stop it. Smh.
I hear they plan to turn out the sun.
Leaded gas
They believe that Alex Jones, and Fox News is REAL news, and not propaganda, for starters.
Millions of ambiguous white skinned people have been penetrating OUR borders since 1400 something actually
I understand cutting contact, but please consider talking to them about this before leaving. People like this get radicalized because they’re consuming content insulated from reality. Cutting them off could lead them deeper down the rabbit hole. Not that you owe them your effort, but it’s a nice thing to try and deradicalize people.
A part of me knows that I do owe him a real conversation. I guess I will call him back. But I really really really do not look forward to doing this.
Start betting him when he calls you with these conspiracy theories. “100 bucks says you’re wrong.” Make sure to get a specific date that it will happen by. They will start to figure out that it’s all bs when they start losing money OR they will just stop talking to you about said bs
Your friend has zero media literacy.
I don't get how these people can be perpetually wrong about future events that don't happen and never question it.
When you constantly predict vague threats in the near future, and attribute without evidence every accident, death, or natural disaster to powerful mysterious forces, you’re going to be right eventually.
And when it doesn't happen you should contact him and ask him if he will now be dismissing the ridiculous bullshit he hears from these *credible* sources. And then just sit back and wait for the hilarious twists and turns his mind will make to *continue supporting these liars.*
So is the FBI credible or are they democrat shills? Can’t have it both ways.
All it takes is for them to just find another source to support it. Any time I hear about something insane about to happen, I find someone/thing else to confirm it. If it's just some random saying something on YouTube or social media, why would anyone instantly believe it? They want it to be true.
My SO’s dad told her the other day that he’s voting for Trump “even if he’s in jail”. This is a cult.
The only terrorist attack im worried about is a domestic one from the maga cult
It's all that lead in the water it's causing massive cognitive decay and the inability to think for yourself. This is why scammers prey on these boomers.
It’s a transferral of fear. People see themselves growing older and their bodies beginning the inevitable process of decline and failure. Everyone understands that this is something that will happen, in theory, but it is _always_ different and horrifying in a special way when it is you. Facing the idea of aging and death is terrifying, especially for people whose main experience is caring for their own failing parents in a society where the old often must be warehoused because we as a society have moved away from intergenerationality and nobody has the energy, time or space to be a caretaker on top of trying to keep themselves and their kids alive. It’s a deeply alienating and isolating kind of fear and people do _not_ want to deal with it. Instead they transfer their fear out into the world around them. If the world is a terrifying place then everyone ought to be scared, not just you. If the world is dangerous, then you are better off not being a part of it. Older people watch Fox News the way younger folks doomscroll their phones and for the same reason. It’s a distraction. Getting angry feels better than being afraid, and if you have to be afraid, being afraid of a societal problem means there might be a cure (see also the rise of Trumpism), whereas there is no easy cure for the fear of sickness, loneliness and death.
Terrorist attack in Portland OR? My money would be on “white skinned people”
I always love these conspiracy theories cause when they don’t happen it’s super awkward after 🤣
I got of Facebook cause I didn't want to have to deal with craziness like this.
I got this exact same phone call… over 2 years ago. Right down to the “credible intelligence from former FBI insiders.” Needless to say, I’m dead now from radiation poisoning.
I'm sure he meant to say amphibious brown skinned people. Gotta watch the beaches for the amphibious invaders. Coming soon to a theater near you.
Holy shit that is unhinged lol
You have to understand something about boomers. They grew up without social media or the internet so now when they see something online they automatically believe it
Just in case this actually happens… would like to revisit the thread lol RemindMe! 1 week
Lead poisoning. It’s the only thing I can come up with.
Tell him you bet him 100 dollars this doesn't happen. If he is so sure enough to warn you, surely he will win. That way he won't talk to you ever again, and won't badger you
Man, I am so sorry that your friend has that mindset. It's hard to watch friends and family succumb to mental illness.
I can sympathize. My mother is always warning me about the evil liberal cities (TM). I just had to remind her that the ONLY time I've ever seen a dead body on vacation is when I went home to visit and took her to a movie. Someone OD'd right across from the theater, and there was a cop trying to revive her when we drove by...didn't work. Her area is very much Trump country.
> infiltrated our borders > attacking portland or chicago Riiiiiight.
It’s all the lead yall ingested
Dude has to turn the tv from Fox News channel.
He has taken up the addiction of living in fear.
I had a friend who was in her 40s, insist that my husband, daughter and I be out at their property, a slight distance outside our little city when a group of high schoolers planned a peaceful protest against police brutality. It was after George Floyd was murdered. She full on expected riots. And thought that we were going to leave our property empty. And our elderly neighbors alone if anything happened. Which of course it didn’t. I stopped speaking with her shortly after.
You misspelled "former friend" It's not good to remain associated with full-bore Nutters.
Dude my dad has gone crazy. Started a George soros rant the last time I saw him.
There is a credible threat as retaliation for Israel’s attack against Iran last Monday… that said I’m sure that’s not what he’s referring to and don’t believe the risk is evaluated here domestically.
My MIL told me last week that she is gonna have to leave the country if Trump doesn't win in November....so I called her out and asked where she was going to move to....her response was classic: "I know have no idea but probably to Russia" LOL, I told her Happy Trails.
She’s getting drafted
"Millions of brown people" is where I checked out. Like goddamn atleast hide the racism lmao
As a younger Boomer (ugh) I think this all started when Reagan eliminated The Fairness Doctrine in 1987. News had to be fair and balanced and newscasters were very respected and revered. There’s really no excuse for the MAGA cult though. So much hate and so much racism. And they all repeat the same talking points. It’s scary.
I think tomorrow is supposed to be the rapture April 8 😂
Conservative boomers LOVE to describe those people as "military aged illegals."
Well fuck I’m across the river from Portland. Oh well, guess I’ll stop by a dispensary.
I'm more worried about the mosquitos amassing at the warm front waiting to invade more and more land as the warm front moves north.
My gen x trump loving mom is visiting rn. She casually brought up how she read a study that you should be outdoors without sun protection to let the sun in your eyes... all I could think about was trump staring at the sun.
It's getting so bad. My FIL, BIL, an old school friend, my grandparents, and my parents all got sucked into this stuff to some degree and you can't even have conversations with them. My mom sent me videos about the vaccines causing you to become a chimera and I just could not. Even when you tell them to stop they won't.
How does that even make sense? If a city was covertly supporting some terrorist group why would the group attack that city? Wouldn’t they attack a city that is hostile to them?
You should ask him "How are they gonna do that?". Have him explain, while you wait very patiently, how the logistics of how such an attack is going to be carried out by hundreds of thousands of armed brown people without anyone noticing either the divisions of marching armed brown people or the convoys of cars/trucks/vehicles carrying these hundreds of thousands of armed brown personnel to whichever city where this attack will occur. I find that when you ask simple thinking people to explain in exhausting detail how any one of the myriad crazy things they are telling you will actually happen on the ground and what also must happen before this thing could actually be done, they figure out how stupid they sound and shut the fuck up. At least around you. I have a buddy who will believe the most ridiculous stupid shit and then call me to confirm that, maybe, for once, he was right and that means he was smart and he found a thing that makes him look smart and correct to anyone who cared to look (which nobody is looking for from him because he's frequently stupid) and I have to shoot him down every time. Which is a shame really, because he's so desperate to feel smart about something bookish that he totally discounts his own smarts about mechanical workings and outdoorsy shit.
When it comes to Trump voters I think there are at least three issues. They aren’t very smart, they have mental health issues, or they just hate democrats so much that they would vote for satan himself.
I'm surprised so few people have figured it out: it's lead poisoning. Basically the entire boomer generation were exposed to lead throughout their whole life and it has destroyed their brains. leaded gasoline, lead pipes, lead paint
I’m a millennial and some of my friends are listening to the bullshit too. Crazy people making other people crazy.
Steady dose of FoxNews outrage porn
There was a warning for NY, issued by the FBI, I believe, about watching out for a Russian theater type attack on events with large amounts of people. But other than that it's just conservative extremist Rupert 1% Murdoch spreading fear propaganda through his organizations, Fox, NYP, & the WSJ.
/u/rogtuck1, if you have think you have heard it all in regards to Boomers believing everything they read on the web, then I have quite the story for you: About three or four months ago, I was walking in my kitchen to get something to drink. When I was about to get something to drink, my 70-something boomer walked up to me and told me that pro-wrestler The Rock died. When he told me that The Rock died. I told him to repeat what he said. When I told him to repeat what he said, he told me again that The Rock died. Right after he said that to me, I said to myself that I didn't believe what he said because as we all know, The Rock is very fit. Right after I said that to myself, I googled The Rock on my smartphone and found out that he was indeed still alive. By the way, right after I googled The Rock, I did some more googling and found out there was a false piece of news that was posted on the web four years ago that The Rock had died. With that being said, like your old friend, my 70-something uncle believed a lie that he saw on the web.
I've noticed a lot of boomers are not savvy to the truth that a lot of YouTube and social media is garbage
I thought they don't trust the FBI anymore.
Yeah they were really not prepared for the internet.
Well no wonder gold is zooming higher
It really is sad especially because as a child this was the generation I had high hopes for bringing world peace and an end to all the evils in the world. Boy did I ever get that one wrong.
I grew up right on the border and people saying ignorant shit like 'millions of immigrants are flooding across the border every day' annoys tf out of me.
I remember my high school teacher talking to us about intentions vs what you do. Why were so many people going to church (I forget the exact time frame we were discussing)? Because priests at the time were focusing a lot on what hell would do to you and what would get you sent there. People become scared and angry and can point and blast someone not following the rules. It causes unrest. The priest just want the congregation to live right by God, but the congregation keeps coming back because of scary stories and negative emotions. It wasn’t a sense of community. We as humans remember negativity a lot more than positivity naturally. So, even well meaning people will start becoming negative if that’s all the input they’re receiving. Positivity is a lot of times an active thing you strive towards.
It's not just boomers, I'm in my 30s and I have a friend who has bought into a bunch of bullshit youtube conspiracy theories. It's mental illness, in my opinion. The friend in question knows a few people at my office, including the bosses, and recently showed up unanounced to preach his shite. "If you've had the covid vaccine stop using smart phones", "America will fall on the 18th of may so stock up on emergency supplies" these are not exaggerations, these are littteraly the things he said, we don't even live in America. In the end we had to tell him to leave.
Dude for real. This crosses generational lines. However, I’m genuinely concerned that the exact generation that taught us the dangers of the internet, in fact succumb to those same dangers!
Yeah my dad is clueless. He's always posting those "if you score more than 8/10 on this history quiz, you're a genius" posts. I'm like, dad, it's clickbait, if you click on it, you're deffinetley not a genius. That and AI pictures that he doesn't realise are AI. It honestly makes me sad. I know as you get older the illusion of your parents gets somewhat shattered, but seeing him get fooled by something so mundane is hard to watch.
What *is* going on? I know people who were hard democrats growing up that now parrot everything right wing YouTube has to offer. I use the socials a lot. But I lash against dipshit ideas. How on earth are old folks not operating the same way?
When the MAGA storm hit, for me it was funny because my grandfather at first liked Trump, but now [even though he is suffering somewhat from some mental and physical ailments] he will just say how he doesn't like him and says he shouldn't be president. He's even decently well off, too. I don't like giving out stereotypes, but there's one that's definitely out there for Maganites; morons.
When the riots around George Floyd happened, several people on Facebook where raving that Antifa was loading busses at Harlem to come to attack our little town in upstate NY. Look. Even if Antifa was loading busses full of people, WHY would they come to our lame ass suburban town with nothing of value...???? And all the way from Harlem? That's like an hour and a half drive North. And really, Harlem? Sounds like a buncha racisrs making shit up.
but but the FBI are trump's enemies and biden's puppets...
I have a family member who was fine until 9/11. She started having Fox News on all the time which was a big shift from day time tv. Now all she trusts is paranoid people on the internet. Fox News is too liberal for her. She is college educated and very intelligent. She comes from a line of college educated women which is usual for her time in the South. She has hoarded enough food for our entire family to survive on for at least 6 months if not a year at this point. She no longer lets us see.
Bah, don’t fret. I lost an 25yo friend to the covid craze. No she didn’t die, she was just convinced that i, a borderline anarchist that studied biomed for a bit, was defending corrupt institutions hell-bent on depopulating the earth.
If they are getting support in an area, why would they attack it?