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The ones who are doing it in their 20s-60s were gullible fools from the get-go. But as I've watched my own relatives age, I've seen several who were level-headed and reasonable in their younger years morph into full-blown conspiracy theorists and cranks in their 70s and 80s. Maybe it's partially due to being more insulated from the wider world due to retirement (resulting in less contact with other people and more consumption of dubious media sources), but it is a definite change that seems to happen to some (but not all!) people as they begin to seriously age.
(in the pre-internet days my own grandmother got hooked on some weird shortwave radio broadcasts, and gradually went from being a relatively smart cookie to a person who honestly believed the Federal Government was using black helicopters to round up AIDS patients and put them in concentration camps. Nothing we could say to her could convince her that this was not happening.)
Considering how many young people are buying into and promoting conspiracy theories I don’t see retired folk in general being more inclined. Surprised you think being retired means living an insular isolated life! That might have been true for your grandmothers generation but current retirees are anything but isolated online or off if they choose. In the years I worked as a geriatric nurse, and watching my relatives grow old ,there was maybe one person who thought the moon landing was fake. It’s those young gullible fools who continue to be gullible fools in their old age but to ascribe buying into conspiracy theories as aging related is highly questionable.
Seems a waste of time hitting your head against a wall with people like that.
Considering how many young people are buying into and promoting conspiracy theories I don’t see retired folk in general being more inclined. Surprised you think being retired means living an insular isolated life! That might have been true for your grandmothers generation but current retirees are anything but isolated online or off if they choose. In the years I worked as a geriatric nurse, and watching my relatives grow old ,there was maybe one person who thought the moon landing was fake. It’s those young gullible fools who continue to be gullible fools in their old age but to ascribe buying into conspiracy theories as aging related is highly questionable.
Seems a waste of time hitting your head against a wall with people like that.
Perhaps they're so buried in their phones and taking pictures of their food they aren't paying attention.
Gullible people cross all age groups and socioeconomic boundaries. If someone can be manipulated easily, they will be; there is enough sophisticated media that helps sell whatever story or theory.
If someone is declining cognitively that makes it easier to accept conspiracies, as common sense and critical reasoning decline. It's also one reason why the elderly are particularly vulnerable to scams of all kinds.
And if people never had good critical thinking skills in the first place, were never taught and practiced those skills, they're ripe for the picking, which explains young adults getting caught in the conspiracy theory nets.
I can't find a good example right now, but there were a few memes going around social media a few weeks ago saying something like, "Epidemiologists, public health officials, and physicians are all saying to take the novel coronavirus seriously, but a guy I went to high school with who barely graduated says it's a liberal media conspiracy, so now I don't know who to believe."
Clearly they are more in the know than yourself.....
If you believe the crap on your Tell-Lie-Vision - all the propaganda b.s. then I don't know what to say....
You clearly are clueless and need to do some research, but honestly, I cannot waste more time other than to say that if you believe the crap you are being fed on t.v., then you deserve everything that will be coming....
You know, I would respond to every one of her posts, "You're a total freakin' idiot."
Seriously, I could not be friends -- even Facebook "friends" -- with someone that stupid.
Well, the idiot is maybe a bit harsh. I would probably post something like "Funny, with what BS people come up with. Thanks for posting this hilarious joke."
Aside from what many have stated already, I would want to focus on making sure they are protecting themselves and not being scammed. I feel like they are ripe for scammers.
Clearly they are more in the know than yourself.....
If you believe the crap on your Tell-Lie-Vision - all the propaganda b.s. then I don't know what to say....
You clearly are clueless and need to do some research, but honestly, I cannot waste more time other than to say that if you believe the crap you are being fed on t.v., then you deserve everything that will be coming....
Enlighten us, then. How do you keep up with current events and news?
Aside from what many have stated already, I would want to focus on making sure they are protecting themselves and not being scammed. I feel like they are ripe for scammers.
Whats their facebook names again?
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