COVID CONSPIRACIES

When we defeat the #COVID pandemic, we will look back at this period with varying reactions.  One of the issues that will receive substantial discussion is the power of social media. We can all attest to the multiple COVID related videos, memes, GIFs, messaging of all types, and fake news items with which we are being flooded.  

Humor and creativity during this time are surging. New expressions are also being coined, “infodemic” (global epidemic of misinformation and information overload, particularly on social media); “information hygiene” (researching the source and accuracy of information, or just being selective to reduce stress and preserve your sanity). I also came across the very hilarious, “covidiot,” which seems to mean using the pandemic as an excuse for doing stupid things. Generally, we are undoubtedly in a “panickdemic,” a distinct panic induced by the existence of COVID in our countries and globally. 

One of the things that has struck me is the way social media is being used as the propaganda tool of choice by conspiracy theorists. It almost appears as if psychological and information domination games are being played with the public and social media is being vigorously used to advance various agendas. Pay attention and you will see some very clear patterns emerging. Intelligent people who are capable of critical analysis are caught in these information wars, buying into every theory, passing on the advice of every kook, or treating as fact, all kinds of suspect information disseminated by anyone with a phone, camera, microphone, or computer and keyboard. 

The interesting thing about this collision of social media, COVID, and the conspiracy theorists is the parasitic or saprophytic relationship of the three. Interestingly, theories which were being pedaled for years, now have a monster’s name and face, with which the human family can be terrorized and made to buy in. The name is COVID-19.  The face is the  structure of a corona virus. One branch of the conspiracy theorists tells us that there is no corona virus, merely a global reaction to the roll out of 5G. They do not explain why it exists in countries where 5G does not, or how and why it is so contagious. 

We are told that COVID is a Chinese bio-weapon intended to catalyze their global economic domination. Really? Did the Chinese really need the devastation of COVID, including to themselves, to achieve this objective? We hear that COVID is a lab-produced bio-weapon. I don't know. What I do know is that the Plague of the 14th century was a pandemic which killed 75 million people. Another pandemic, the Spanish Flu of 1918-1920 killed 50 million people. Both of these started in animals and made the jump to humans who had no natural immunity or medicine to fight it. So...? Mind you, the transmission of diseases from animals to humans causing harm and death is neither strange nor new. We are just more familiar with Swine Flu, Bird Flu, Leishmaniasis, Lyme disease, Malaria, Dengue, Leptospirosis, SARS, MERS (the two of these are types of corona viruses both are dangerous and potentially fatal).

Another school of conspiracy theorists warns us that corona is really a hoax to induce us into surrendering our civil liberties. We are cautioned that in furtherance of this agenda, we will all have a microchip implanted to track our every whereabout and control us. Let us not forget that our cell phones already know where we are with embedded location services, GPS, and numerous apps. Our cell phones control us, because they are with, and in use by us during all our waking hours. No chip needed for that. The alleged perpetrators of these various plots did not need the cover of COVID to effect control. Nor was it necessary to use the Novel Corona Virus Disease to inject us with a microchip, when millions of people get vaccines and other medications every day in which this chip could easily be delivered. 

In other theories, #BillGates is the bogeyman. We are told that Gates has “bought the WHO” (World Health Organization) and is the principal promoter of the mysterious, suspicious, nefarious, soon-to-be-ubiquitous, microchip. These theorists posit that Gates, with WHO knowledge and complicity, is vaccinating large numbers of people in the developing world. They contend that in the process he is causing serious spikes in deaths, physical and mental disability, especially among children. 

No verifiable statistics are ever given in support of their allegations. With these stories flying across the internet and social media, whatever their origin, the stage has been set for reputational damage to and the reduction of support to the WHO, at a time when it is most needed. I was therefore not surprised to learn as I was completing the last two paragraphs of this piece, of a breaking news story confirming that what I anticipated had actually occurred. 

Most people fear change, the unknown, the unfamiliar and that which we do not understand. We are panicked by the fact that our leaders, our scientists and global thinkers, cannot yet give us definitive timelines, answers and assurances about:

·     Where this virus came from. 

·     When and how we will defeat it. 

·     How the social, health and economic carnage it is causing will be halted. 

·     How severe that carnage will be.

·     When life will return to normal.

·     How many of us will get out of this physically and financially unscathed? 

It is in the absence of answers to these questions that conspiracy theories help to give meaning to something which we do not understand and of which we are afraid. Many of us are happy to latch on to such theories, even when the theories subvert rationality, because it gives us something tangible around which we can wrap our heads. Through the conspiracy theories, we can find a cause, a scapegoat, an endgame, a frame, a logic that we are able to understand, argue about, share, tweet, retweet, message, send, forward and share. That is much easier than accepting our powerlessness and vulnerability in the face of this virus. 

While the human family is concerned about contracting the virus, or afraid of it taking our lives or the lives of loved ones, perhaps our greatest fear is that the man made systems of health, safety and security, in which we placed absolute faith, have now been proven woefully inadequate and exposed our vulnerabilities and in particular, the vulnerabilities of powerful countries. 

There is a wonderful passage in the Christian Bible at Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” In this “information age,” COVID-19 is exposing the battle for our minds, for how we think, how we should respond, how we will behave, what we will tolerate from governments and large corporations, what will be the norms and standards in the information-sphere and what can be rendered so believable that people the world over will either excuse or encourage it. 

With increasing research, it is emerging that COVID-19 attacks multiple organs. We think of it as being primarily lung related, but clearly, it can also be a disease which overpowers the mind. Hmm, now that I am working from home and have a bit more time, I will reread George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” The book is a sobering reminder that fake news is not so new after all and that even the most savvy and intelligent of us is more gullible than we realize.