John Oliver takes on conspiracy theories, and why we love them. Via Raw Story:
First, he explained that the conspiracies are very appealing and that half of all Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory. Oliver even admitted that there is part of him that believes them too. He knows it probably isn’t true, but some part of him really believes that the royal family had Princess Diana killed. He explained that it felt like a much bigger event to be accidental. That is the part that is a huge draw to beliefs in conspiracy theories.
“They help explain a chaotic, uncertain world,” said Oliver. He explained it appeals to a human understanding of “proportionality bias, which is the tendency to assume that big events have big causes.”
He specifically cited the film “Plandemic,” which paints a woman as a cancer researcher as a whistleblower who says she was arrested, taken into custody, and her house was searched. She lies on video saying she was never charged, but she actually was. Oliver found that the SWAT team video they showed in the film was actually the first video that comes up on a stock footage video site.
"Plandemic," FYI, is where all those crazy ladies on Twitter got the bizarre idea that wearing a mask can kill you. Masks "reactivate" the virus in your body! The film is considered so dangerous, it was banned from social media.
Oliver compiled three basic questions to help dispel a conspiracy theory: “1. Is there a rational non-conspiracy explanation? 2. Has this been held up to scrutiny by experts? And if so, what did those experts say? 3. How plausible is this conspiracy as a practical matter?”
He noted that while some conspiracy theories turn out to be true, however, we know which ones those are and the reasons for them. Two conspiracy theories were the things Edward Snowden warned and the medical tests on the Tuskegee Airmen. The reason those two were found to be real is that so many people could confirm the reality that it was impossible to keep them secret. Faking the Moon landing, however, would have taken 411,000 people to make it happen, a PBS Newshour said. Trump couldn’t even keep calls with foreign leaders secret without a whistleblower coming forward to sound the alarm, and there aren’t 411,000 people working in his White House.
Finally, the way to stop them is to do the research, look on reputable websites for confirmation, look for comments from experts outside of your media silo, and if all else fails, ask Paul Rudd. Oliver brought on him as well as other stars to give tips and tricks for what to do to stop conspiracy theories. Rudd confessed that he didn’t know he was alive when he discovered on Twitter #RIPPaulRudd was trending.
Oliver unleashed the website TheTrueTrueTruth.com with videos from Rudd, Catherine O’Hara, Billy Porter, Alex Trebek and John Cena stripping his clothes off.
