COVID-19: We Must Call out the 5G Conspiracy Crap and Spread the Truth, Not the Virus.
Enough of the batshit cray. Enough.
Frank and full disclosure: I LOVED the X-Files even if, as I wrote some time ago, Netflix ate them.
So this means, of course, that I’m also open to a good conspiracy theory.
Are Elvis, JFK and Harold Holt still alive?
Hell yeah, maybe. Maybe not.
Does Area 52 contain a whole batch of alien critters?
Probably! But probably not. OK, maybe one.
Illuminati?
MWUHAHAHAHAHA.
OK, I jest, of course, but having an enquiring mind is super important and there’s nothing wrong with challenging prevailing opinion if what you have to say is based on a hunch that in turn is supported by some kind of factual research.
And then came COVID-19, and with it some of the most batshit cray I’ve heard in years, which I’m actually not even going to repeat here for the most because it like LITERALLY hurts my brain.
But I do want to call out the most recent bit of bullshit doing the rounds and that a worryingly reasonable number of people are running with.
5G.
Yes, this new technology that will speed up how quickly we can do things on the interwebs, you know, that place that anyone with a smartphone uses 789000 times a day to effectively live their lives.
I don’t want to give this utter BS any more oxygen than it deserves. I’ve had friends sharing videos and posts and the likes with me about it, which I’m good with because it means I can PUT MY FOOT ON THE NECK of this crap and not so subtly kill it off, at least in the minds of those close to me who, admittedly, sometimes rely far too much on social media to find out stuff.
Neither do I want to propose that only the legacy media or the state have a stranglehold on truth and that we shouldn’t be open to some healthy cynicism about what we hear from them while looking at other sources for our news and information.
I mean, as a kid, I remember all the fear surrounding microwave use and what it meant for cancer. And when mobile phones first came out, there was a similar flurry of fear about radiation and brain cancer, which no doubt partially led to the massive market for handsfree tech to go with mobiles *nudge nudge, wink wink, thank ya very much* (now there’s a conspiracy theory for you!)
At least both of these have some VAGUE connection to science and credibility about the possibility of being proved true.
BUT…5G and COVID-19?
Seriously?
And people like John Cusack publically banging on about it who SHOULD KNOW BETTER?
FFS.
I get it that everyone is looking for answers during a very uncertain period. I get that there is so much information flying about that it’s easy to get caught up in misinformation…like me getting a text from a friend who had heard Boris Johnson, the UK’s PM, had died, which I jumped on Twitter to check on and almost got sucked in when one of the first posts to come up about it in a search was a FAKE BBC News feed stating he was dead.
🤦♀️
Of course, I then did what I encourage all of my mates to do when they hear anything that sounds questionable — look for three reputable sources that confirm or deny this. Pretty simple way of fact-checking, and admittedly not completely infallible, but generally does the job.
Question everything in this cray world but especially question anything that has a whiff of BS about it.
So yeah, I’m not 100% blaming people for being less rigorous about checks and balances on the veracity of information they receive because unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) we live in this amplified world where there is a slew of info coming our way from too many channels and lurking in amongst it all are some seriously mischievous actors who want to spread fear and doubt for some nefarious purpose (usually to inflate their own ego) or another.
At least the social media platforms are finally taking action. One post that I had shared to me through Facebook was very quickly fact-checked and labelled as FALSE INFORMATION (thankfully not FAKE NEWS, ugh). This is a promising sign that Facebook and other social media platforms are finally upping the ante around the fact that they are publishers and not just channels for dissemination.
The moral of the story?
Question everything in this cray world but especially question anything that has a whiff of BS about it.
Spread the truth, not the virus.
