Reality check – talking to someone wrapped up in a conspiracy theory

Doomscroll Remedy

“I don't think anyone really wakes up one day, gasping for breath and thinking everyone else is a lizard.”

Like Molly, you probably know someone who has tried to convince you that vaccines are full of mind-controlling nanobots, or that 5G towers are really being used to brainwash us.

Maybe you’ve even heard some that actually make you stop and think: like, maybe something supernatural is going on in the Bermuda Triangle?

A lot of people have lost faith in traditional institutions of power and are searching for answers that make sense of an often out-of-control world, even if those answers don’t make much sense either.

The conversation around conspiracy theories – and the people who believe in them – quickly becomes an ‘us and them’ joke, full of eye rolls and unhelpful arguments.

We’re trying to cut a path to a time before the conspiracy memes and comment threads to understand why this is happening, and what you can do to keep the conversation open.

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Doomscroll Remedy is a University of Queensland podcast, produced by Deadset Studios.

Hosted by Stephen Stockwell. Produced by Grace Pashley, Krissy Miltiadou and Rachel Fountain at Deadset Studios, in partnership with consulting producer Zoe McDonald and commissioning editor Greta Usasz at The University of Queensland.