A Son Tries to Rescue His Dad From Conspiracy Theories
NPR’s Embedded podcast has a three-episode series from reporter Zach Mack about a year-long effort to convince his dad that all the conspiracy theories he (his dad) believes are bogus, in an attempt to save his family.
Reporter Zach Mack thinks his dad has gone all in on conspiracy theories, while his father thinks that Zach is the one being brainwashed.
In 2024, after the latest round of circular arguments, they decided to try something new, an attempt to pull each other out of the spell each of them thinks the other is under.
Can one family live in two realities?
You can listen to all three episodes at the NPR website for Embedded or wherever you get your podcasts. This abridged companion article covers the same ground as the podcast.
When I asked my dad whether he feels like the odd man out, he answered somberly, “It’s painful at times. It’s very sad for me.”
So what happens when your family and your friends don’t respect your beliefs? Perhaps you reach for a higher purpose — something existential.
This came up in a conversation with Charlie Safford, a researcher who designs therapeutic techniques for people who believe in far-right conspiracy theories. He believes that conspiracy theories are fundamentally emotional coping mechanisms.
“Even if your father doesn’t put the pieces together, there is some awakening of his own mortality that might be contributing to all of this,” he told me. “One of the ways that you come to terms is to look back and say, ‘Did my life have meaning?’”
See also:
- QAmom (“Sean Donnelly’s mother got sucked into the world of QAnon conspiracy theories, so he made a little video about it”)
- QAnon, Conspiracy Theories, and the Rise of Magical Thinking
- Living in a Conspiracy Nation
- What Can You Do About QAnon?
- George Monbiot interviews a conspiracy theorist
- My Dad, the Facebook Addict
- In Search of a Flat Earth
- Sacha Baron Cohen Says Tech Companies Built the “Greatest Propaganda Machine in History”
Oh and me in a tweet from July 2020:
The appeal of QAnon & conspiracy theories is simple: they turn politics & public health (boring things that happen *to* you) into something active and engaging: your own personal Da Vinci Code hunt for a secret truth.
(thx, tra)
Comments 1
My mother-in-law was squarely in qanon territory. She’s really come around the last year or so, but it’s been years of calls and discussions with my wife. Patiently laying out reality over and over again. I think the biggest wins come from relating it to her personal life. Asking how she would react
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