I Heard the Earth is Flat
Bizarre conspiracy theories are actually growing in circulation. On the older side it’s generally the uneducated. On he younger side, it’s those who connect to the world through social media portals.
These are still small cults but there are two schools promoting the nonsense : Tik Tok University and YouTube University.
That’s what happens when traditional news sources fail to connect with a significant portion of the population. The lack of legitimate sources that target “the rest of us” is a primary component in opening the floodgates to misinformation.
It’s too late for mainstream news to self correct but a culture bending opportunity for new services to connect with the new mainstream that compete in this YouTube era.
The conspiracies themselves range from plausible as in the highly secretive political backrooms to the absurd like flat earth and science denial.
Some conspiracy theorists are hopelessly dis attached from reality, others are informationally gullible. This isn’t going away. The point being the need for radically new approaches to compliment traditional news that register with audiences who receive their information from wildly inaccurate and uncontrolled sources.
These conspiracy spreaders have it good. Plenty of places to present what they claim is “critical thinking.” It’s ironically the opposite—an addiction to a paranoid perception that education is lie based and that the governments are in on everything.
Both true to an small extent but they self magnify these perceptions to irrational levels.
There need to be new and high Iq/low bs presentations that connect to individuals and generations using the Wild West of social media to deliver information.
In researching NewsMovie I ran across some believers in “Chemtrails.” I presented the facts that:
-contrails exist in every country on the planet and it’s unlikely that EVERY government is in on it
-With over a million pilots, mechanics and support personnel you’d think someone would come clean
-The designs of commercial aircraft are public and there’s never been “chemical tanks” on commercial and general aviation aircraft
-Chemicals are indeed distributed by aircraft such as fire retardant and crop dusting but those white lines in the sky are atmospherically induced vapor trails not government delivered poison
Etc…..
Two of them agreed and one thought I was a sheep. That sheep person urged me to think critically. I prefer thinking realistically.
The point is that these conspiracies have fertile ground to grow their beliefs. I’m thinking that new sources that can educate ina compelling way rather than allow blind information to flourish. Hey, some of these theories might have a degree truth, though most are odd and dangerously wrong.
Trying to educate and inform won’t happen via the current state of news. It’s too late
Are conspiracy theories mass appeal? No. Far from it but it is a trend that can be harnessed, but it won’t happen on the current news offerings. Their presentation is too dated and declining in relevancy to connect
It’s a new era with new issues and a radical redesign is necessary to reach those repulsed by or simply not viewing the existing sources.
Information for a truth starved planet. That’s the trend of the future.