Hacker News Reader

Comment by jimktrains2 | Hacker News Reader

I think it's counter-productive to label everyone who believes conspiracy theories "stupid". Not only does it make it more difficult to talk to and help change their opinion, it further polarizes use. Sure, I will readily admit that some people are just being obstinate and stupid, but when you have the places you get your news from feeding you misinformation, or worse, feeding you facts, but not all the facts, or the details get lost in transit (e.g. the cdc not recommending masks and then recommending masks), it's not hard to see how some things become ideas.

We can't help correct misconceptions if we believe they're driven solely by stupidity.

View on HN

I think trying to "help change their opinion" or "help correct misconceptions" is also counter-productive. Just accept that they have a different opinion and deal with that. It can be a challenge, but you can't avoid dealing with other ppl's different opinions. It's life.

The problem comes when their misconceptions have consequences to those around them. If somebody consistently swaps "left" and "right", that is fairly harmless until they start driving on the wrong side of the road. If somebody believes that there is a child sex ring operating out of a pizza parlor, that belief is fairly harmless until they take a gun to that pizza parlor.

That's exactly what I mean by challenge. But you have no other options. You can't force someone to honestly change opinion, that's impossible.

How do you deal with a different opinion that dehumanizes people? Eg. If I'm a trans person how do I not attempt to correct the misconception that "trans panic" is a socially acceptable justification to murder me?

Sure, I mean, I personally believe in the "conspiracy theory" that most of the QAnon conspiracy theories circulating on social media either originate from the Russian Internet Research Agency/Glavset, or is at least being actively nurtured and amplified by them as an attack on their geopolitical adversaries and their electorate. A belief that I don't have solid proof for, but which I still consider less naive than the alternative, that all this viral disinformation is really being created and spread by people who really believe it themselves, or just for the lulz.

As a bit of a conspiracy theorist myself I thank you for your more thoughtful stance toward myself and my tribe, and can confirm that your concerns (that slurs like "stupid", which are themselves stupid ironically, do indeed magnify the problem) are valid, at least to some degree.

But then on the other hand, I believe that the conversations and "thinking" on display in threads like this (and the many others that pop up from time to time) are beneficial to our cause, as it plausibly results in a kind of effort free recruiting. Of course we'll never be popular in intellectual forums like HN, but if one pays attention to comments on more "super-mainstream" (ie: non-HN, non-Reddit social media, like online newspaper comment sections or in YouTube comments from local TV stations), I sense distinct growth in average sentiments in our favour. To what degree this can be attributed to studies like this and the subsequent forum meme wars is obviously purely speculative, but I suspect "there's no such thing as bad publicity" is applicable here.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com