Conspiracies, Libtards, COVIDiots, Sheep; Can’t We All Just Get Along?

14 min readNov 29, 2020

We’re nearing the end of 2020, and the only clear resolve we have is that there is no clear resolve.

While Antifa blames the Proud Boys and COVIDiots blame big pharma, I would like to propose a new all-encompassing reason for our division — fantasy is colliding with reality.

We see this in every single major issue these days. The few I’ll deal with:

Government knew a pandemic was on the horizon but did little to prepare because (at least in North America) on the surface, life looked pretty good. Now we’re stuck because there are no appropriate answers when there is no plan.
Millions upon millions of conspiracy theorists are taking to the internet, in many communities outnumbering those who believe in Occam’s Razor, and yet still, we discard of their opinions entirely because they don’t align with the majority worldview.
Extreme viewpoints often mirror Hollywood narratives because the truth is actually rather boring mostly. No, there must be a diabolic Bond villain named Gates. There must be a lab created virus like in Mission Impossible. How could the end of the world not be nigh? Bruce Willis isn’t around to save us from the next space rock that is hurdling towards us.
We are now so ideologically tribal that we can no longer see even 1 valid point by the other side. Really, you believe that there is no chance that politicians are corrupt, or that science has advanced enough that we can understand how to formulate a vaccine faster?
Entire cultures, disciplines, and systems are dismissed because of one bad actor. Look at Osama Bin Laden and what his tyranny did to the reputation of Muslims. Trump getting elected as a Republican ruined the Republican party for many, even though he doesn’t represent traditional Republican values.
A couple of mistakes ruin an individual and that mistake negates anything else they’ve done in their lives.
Politicians are the new rock stars. Look at how Obama was celebrated, how Trump is worshipped, and how Trudeau’s hair made him a celebrity. The job of the politician is not to be famous, but to be productive. That’s a challenging task when the limelight is always shining in their faces.

There are many more, but in the interest of not making this a 7 hour read, I’ll stick to the above points.

Rational Thinkers vs Alternative Thinkers

On Thursday night, I was a guest on a podcast that focused largely on conspiracies and “hidden truths”.

I stated there what I’ll state now, “We need to stop pretending that there aren’t millions of people that believe in alternative theories.”

The cold, hard truth is that conspiracy theorists were few and far between in the early days of the internet but now, with access to information flying at us from thousands of sources with varying agendas, conspiracies have grown in popularity.

I get the attraction; to say you know something that few are willing to admit can intoxicate. In fact, there’s an actual condition called Illusory Pattern Perception (IPP) that explains this, as well as other disorders.

But we can’t simply chalk conspiracies up to mental illness, because sometimes they get it right. I think most conspiracies are completely looney tunes but many don’t and sometimes [it’s rare, but it happens] what they’re saying makes sense.

The problem with the “alternative thinkers” is they go off in the weeds more often than not. What started as a meaningful examination of the official narrative becomes a trip to Crazy Town with no evidence to back their claims. Sure, they’ll pretend the lack of evidence is evidence in and of itself, but ultimately in the fringes are where we lose each other:

Hillary Clinton: Coming at the former First Lady, Senator & Democratic nominee for President regarding her deleted emails makes sense. Pizzagate makes no sense.
COVID-19: Lockdowns do in fact hurt a lot of people. But opening up without a proper plan and calling the virus a hoax is just plain dangerous and ignorant.
Vaccines: People are getting sick and dying. They’re chemical evil, and we can dismiss the fact that the vast majority of those sick and dying are because of allergies or improper administration.
Trump: Yes, the media are very much against the soon-to-be former POTUS, but standing behind the case for voter fraud when the Trump legal team can’t produce a shred of actual evidence in court makes no sense at all.

This issue isn’t just present in the world of conspiracies, by the way. Those who are seen as more rational by most (I’m included in this group) are so closely tied to our ideologies we step into the weeds too:

Hillary Clinton: Pizzagate proves that conspiracy theorists are insane, thus completely negating the fact that there was any wrongdoing when those emails were deleted.
COVID-19: Let’s not look at the root cause of why we’re in the position we are. Let’s pretend that it’s only the conspiracy theorist’s fault that the numbers are rising.
Vaccines: They’ve saved us and if you wanna talk trash, you are trash.
Trump: Is it rational to say that Trump did no good with his time in office? Absolutely not. When I debated a Trump supporter recently, I started off the debate with 3 things that he did, which I liked. That’s because he has indeed done some good as POTUS.

It’s no wonder those who are seen as rational by the majority think conspiracy theorists are all idiots, and it’s also no wonder why alternative thinkers find the official narrative ludicrous.

For the purposes of this article, assume I’m going to speak about the conspiracies that are grounded in some kind of reality, except flat earth. I want to see my solution put into practice. Oh, what fun that would be.

We’ve Got This All Wrong

The truth of the matter is that we’re handling this ongoing debate about whose right, wrong. Dismissing the other side’s entire viewpoint is counterproductive and creates a wider division.

Sure, in 2003 it was easy to say, “Oh, Uncle Carl, and his crazy theories about the moon landing. Give him another beer and hopefully he’ll pass out soon.” But Uncle Carl has multiplied and been cloned in mass numbers.

To figure out how many alternative thinkers there are, I reached out to individuals all over the world. I asked them to think of the 20 people closest to them in their lives, ranging from family and friends to co-workers and common acquaintances. Here were the results:

Winnipeg, Canada: 6 conspiracy theorists, 5 who believed in some conspiracies, 9 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Calgary, Canada: 4 conspiracy theorists, 5 who believed in some conspiracies, 11 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Vancouver, Canada: 8 conspiracy theorists, 3 who believed in some conspiracies, 9 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Toronto, Canada: 11 conspiracy theorists, 6 who believed in some conspiracies, 3 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Kiev, Ukraine: 3 conspiracy theorists, 3 who believed in some conspiracies, 14 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
New York City, USA: 11 conspiracy theorists, 6 who believed in some conspiracies, 3 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Las Vegas, USA: 2 conspiracy theorists, 8 who believed in some conspiracies, 10 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Texas, USA: 5 conspiracy theorists, 5 who believed in some conspiracies, 10 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Florida, USA: 12 conspiracy theorists, 6 who believed in some conspiracies, 2 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Sydney, AU: 1 conspiracy theorist, 1 who believed in some conspiracies, 18 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Stockholm, SE: 2 conspiracy theorists, 3 who believed in some conspiracies, 15 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Madrid, ES: 0 conspiracy theorists, 2 who believed in some conspiracies, 18 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Kairo, EG: 3 conspiracy theorists, 0 who believed in some conspiracies, 17 who don’t believe in conspiracies.
Saint-Petersburg, RU: 6 conspiracy theorists, 5 who believed in some conspiracies, 9 who don’t believe in conspiracies.

I tried my best to find a good cross-section of people, and while I realize this brief experiment is anecdotal, I wasn’t surprised in the least. Of the 280 polled:

74 are considered conspiracy theorists.
58 subscribe to some conspiracy theories.
148 do not believe in conspiracies.

That means that if we were to go roughly off of these numbers as a whole:

26% of people are conspiracy theorists.
21% of people have opened the door to conspiracies and could go either way depending on which echo chamber is loudest.
53% don’t believe in conspiracies at all.

These numbers are troubling for many reasons, but most of all because 53% of the population are calling 47% of the population crazy while not allowing them access to vetting data.

How long do you think we can continue to pretend there isn’t a large problem with communication here before one side boils over?

Precedent for Inclusion

I know what I’m proposing flies in the face of what many scientists want to believe is true; this is science and nothing more. I agree, but this isn’t about science. This is about all that surrounds science.

Wherever there are piles of money there will be questions under our current system. Big pharma, special interests, lobbyists, PR companies doing copy editing on clinical papers, closed trials … the list of possible science contaminate is long.

So, that leads me to believe that those who speak for the alternative thinkers should be included in our processes. I know the scientifically minded are cringing right now but there is precedent for such an action, and that precedent allowed science to have a place at the table.

Aristotle is often seen as the first scientist. In turn, many in the church villainized him and his work. Yes, there is evidence of science that pre-dates Aristotle, but here we have the first scientist to garner widespread attention bucking the traditions of the church. He not only believed the stories shared by the Gods were absurd, he believed the Gods themselves were myths.

The first scientist was born into the times of ancient Greece and a polytheistic society. From temples to the hearth in private homes, a great majority of Greeks were religious. I’ve read reports that nearly 100% of Greeks were religious under 8 major faiths.

Today, we have 3 major faiths; Protestants, Catholics and other Christian faiths that seem to compliment each other on larger issues. There are other religions and those who subscribe to no religion at all. Roughly 77% of people have some sort of faith.

I mention this because the Greeks based nearly every decision made on religion and the practice of their faith. There was no room for science. But, today we have less religion and a great deal of science.

Sure, the Greeks could have immediately killed Aristotle, but they allowed him to have a voice before being chased out of Athens. From there, slowly but surely, science explained the holes in religious theory.

Here, in lies the rub with dismissing alternative thinkers. They’re a large group of individuals who view the world from a different perspective, and their viewpoints are often routed in the reality that there is widespread corruption in government, the church, and pretty much all institutions.

Whether you and I believe in this is irrelevant. Our flippant attitudes toward alternative thinkers have allowed their theories to spread far and wide, with next to no proof. Therefore, we need to include them in the conversation.

The Real Opportunity: Healthcare

In healthcare we find the biggest opportunity to bridge the gap between rational and alternative thinkers. This is because both sides have excellent points until they go off into those weeds again.

Allopathic medicine has its place, as does holistic healing. I don’t like the term holistic healing though; it feels like a term encompassing snake oil salesmen. Let’s call it Immune Support care.

Immune Support care can encompass natural remedies, supplementation, Chiropractic care, acupuncture, meditation, hypnosis, homeopathy, naturopathy, massage, psychotherapy, nutrition, spiritual counselling, drug therapies, and other forms of care.

Allopathic medicine can encompass all other forms or treatment including scans, diagnostics, medicines, and other clinical procedures.

When you look at those classifications, I guarantee some of you who thought you only believed in allopathic medicine find you subscribe to some component of immune support care. I mean, who doesn’t love a good massage?

I believe firmly in the researchers, scientists, doctors, nurses, and other allopathic healthcare professionals I have met. But I also had a major medical mystery solved by a Chiropractor. I supplement daily. Meditation and yoga are regular staples of my evening wind-down routine. I try not to eat crappy foods and I am a big believer in the power of hallucinogenics. I’m not so much into spiritual counselling, but I understand why some people are.

Really, the only aspect of immune support care I don’t believe in is acupuncture. That is a personal stance as I’ve tried it 6 times with “the best acupuncturist” and each time I had a negative experience.

Still, despite the proven benefits of both allopathic and immune support care, we find many on one side or the other. There is no place for conversation.

I am optimistic though, as I’ve seen a significant change on the allopathic side. Of the doctors and nurses I’ve encountered or know well, I rarely ever hear them dismiss immune support care anymore. Quite a few are even more into this type of care than I am.

The immune support care side though, perhaps because of years or persecution, need to calm down on their hatred of allopathic care. Here, we can find some room for discussion, just as allopaths had to make room for them.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if your annual check up included the traditional physical along with a proper nutritional and immune system check as well? I learned an incredible amount about myself keeping a food and exercise journal, and I believe anyone would have the same experience.

Sugar is my enemy, but I can power through salt-like and still be perfectly fine. My body responds to yoga and meditation just as well as it does to power lifting. Deep-fried foods were counteracting the benefits from supplements in a major way. The list goes on and on.

There is no denying that immune support care is well received by allopathic healthcare professionals, so let’s combine the 2. Going to the hospital should be as much about your day-to-day habits as it is about treating symptoms.

I, for one, would embrace the day that I go to the hospital for a stomach condition and I’m met with an MD, a Chiropractor, a nutritionist, and of course, a nurse, who would inevitably know more than all of them.

Here we find the first great frontier to bridge the gap.

The Problem with 2020

The current situation we find ourselves in has revealed just how broken our societal structure is.

Our government was supposed to plan for the large foreseeable issues we might encounter so that when something like COVID-19 came out of nowhere, we’d have plans in place. I made a Pandemic Preparedness Plan in a single weekend. Imagine what our world would look like today if the government took our experts seriously and allowed people much smarter than I to plan for the future.

To add to the problem, we’re defined by our political ideologies in a way that has never before been seen in modern history. We treat politicians like rock stars and have turned the act of governance into political theatre. All of this has created more of a rift than ever.

In Canada, you need only to look at the House of Commons to see how divided we are. Opposition sit opposite each other, making it clear that there are no blending ideas anymore. As one party speaks, the other shouts like a child having a tantrum, and quite often the response is vague if even having a point. I’d love to see Brock Lesnar in the House as moderator. Answer the question, be clear and respectful or get an F5.

COVID-19 exposed the cracks in the system more than any event in the last 10 years. Yes, Obama, Trudeau and Trump’s elections were all polarizing but COVID-19 stepped in, said hold my beer, and really fucked shit up.

With so much divide, where do we go from here?

Jean Chrétien

I recently started researching the 20th Prime Minister of Canada. He is a Liberal with a trait that many Liberals find disgusting. Jean Chrétien was tough as nails. He made fun of his facial paralysis due to a bout with Bell’s palsy with the slogan, “One politician who didn’t talk out of both sides of his mouth,” and he had a personal mantra;

“C’est pas complique!”

Translated to English it means, “It’s not complicated.”

Why do I mention this? Well, because I find both sides of the issue love to complicate every aspect of debate hoping to make the other side dizzy enough to get knocked off their game.

There are plenty of examples of complicated subjects today that aren’t all that complicated when you take a step back:

Why are there so few flu cases in 2020? Many believe that the common flu is being diagnosed as COVID-19, but that’s just an over-complication. The number of people that would have to be involved in such a cover up is staggering. The simple explanation is that when you fight one virus, you fight them all. So, those who would normally get the flu aren’t getting it because of all the precautions they took against SARS CoV-2 infections.
So why is COVID-19 the only virus getting diagnosed? Well, it’s not but there are an abundance of cases because the length of the genome (30,000 vs the flus 12,000), the copy-editing abilities of SARS CoV-2 called XoN, the 8 additional proteins over the core RdRp that it brings in, and the fact that it rivals DNA copying (which is rare). There are plenty of reasons why COVID-19 is far more transmissible and quite different from a flu.
Trump keeps pushing allegations of voter fraud but when his legal team enters court to fight the election results, they have 0 evidence. Here’s a summary of all the legal battles. Now, what’s more likely? That thousands of people were paid off by the Democrats to rig the election and all of those internet theories that can be debunked with no genuine effort are right or that Donald Trump is continuing his pattern of being a man child sore loser?
How about that Carbon Tax? Well, what’s more likely? That we’ll solve climate change by the everyday person having less money or by subsidizing industry and business to embrace green programs like rooftop gardens and solar or converting oil jobs to natural energy jobs?
The earth is flat! Alright, pick 2 representatives for your cause — one likely being Mark Sargent — and let’s shoot them up into space for a live streamed session where they can see the earth is round. Problem solved … simply.

Conclusion

I know acutely that almost no one reading this likes what I have to say. The rational thinkers don’t want to let the alternative thinkers into the lab, so to speak. The alternative thinkers largely don’t want to get the credentials to be allowed into the labs. But there are good people on both sides who can be a part of this gap bridging I speak of. The rest that refuse to see truth, even as it is presented by both sides in a unified way, are the ones we need to look at as having a mental illness.

COVID-19 has shown us how many board certified MDs do not believe in the official narrative. Okay, so let’s get them involved in the research. What’s wrong with more critical thought?

Our current system of science doesn’t make room for people to question what is happening, and while I tend to believe science when it’s clear as day, I do have questions as well:

What happened to the plane that hit the Pentagon?
How can we get a proper study going of vaccinated vs unvaccinated children?
Why are lobbyists still allowed access when it’s clear as day they are corrupt?
When so many people experience relief through Chiro, why is it not recognized and used more in a clinical setting?
How can we resolve the question of who was involved in Epstein and why?

The fact of the matter is it really doesn’t matter what any of us believe, everything rides on what we do next.

Without a good hard look at how to bridge this gap we are headed for serious and unrepairable damage. Through inclusion in understanding, we can stave off an Idiocracy while also finding the truth in mysteries that just shouldn’t be mysteries any longer.