These former conspiracy theory believers were deep down the rabbit hole. Here’s what pulled them out
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When Joel Hill’s friend and sister were both seriously ill, and needed medical intervention to stay alive, it threw his world of conspiracy theory beliefs into chaos.
Joel, who lives in Sydney, was born into conspiracy theories, in a family where alternative beliefs were shared. He grew up being congratulated by adults around him for his knowledge about conspiracies.
They included theories like the government is “trying to dumb us down with fluoride in the water … to make sure that you don’t revolt and overthrow the government, because they’re inherently evil” — and that modern medicine is “the enemy”.
He believed vaccines were poison designed to make people more sick so they had to buy more medicine.
It wasn’t always a very positive existence.
“[The idea that] there will always be a bad guy who is two steps ahead of you and has something very unpleasant planned for your future — that kind of sucks,” he tells ABC RN’s All in the Mind.
Melbourne-based Jules Diamond, a former conspiracy believer and ex-anti-vaxxer, also distrusted medicine, as well as the government.
“I wouldn’t even take painkillers … I really took literally that my body could heal itself,” she says.
She first encountered conspiracies when she was 15 and homeless, and came into contact with a very insular, alternative community in New Zealand.
She says they took her in on the condition that she took on the beliefs of the group, like “the government lied to you [and] they’re tracking your phone”.
Both Jules and Joel now firmly reject their past beliefs, but getting to this point hasn’t been easy.
Along with two other former conspiracists, they explain how they escaped the rabbit hole — and what prompted them to change their minds.
Content retrieved from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-14/former-conspiracy-theory-believers-changed-their-minds/103999008.
