Remember the good old days of 2010? They were golden years when, for the most part, people would say and believe in things that were true. Now, let’s fast forward to 2021 and the age of conspiracy theories.
Conspiracy theories have been around for a long time, but the combination of social media and a covid-19 pandemic have combined to make them a serious force with which to contend. Friends are not speaking to each other. Family members are losing touch with each other.
Worst of all, some of the radicalized are becoming violent Don Quixotes, willing to take up arms against an enemy that doesn’t exist.
This seems to be happening because some of us want things to be the way we want them to be, truth be damned, rather than dealing with them the way they are.
We talked to Peter Simi this morning. Peter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at Chapman University and an expert in extremist groups. We discussed how people that have gone down the path can be de-radicalized. We also talked about signs that a loved one is going down the rabbit hole and ways to get them back to the surface.
