The tragic human cost of conspiracy theories
In retelling a favourite misbegotten lie of political or medical or scientific corruption in breathless undertones, the conspiracy theorist forgets the human cost. Or perhaps they don’t care. The reputations of real human beings are demolished, lives are imperilled, noble achievements are reduced to tawdry swindles by lies.
Even so, their story is repeated — retold using the same, tired, discredited tripe without understanding or insight, virtue-signalling unmerited indignation with counterfeit self-righteousness. It’s humanity at its most lazy, most disgusting, most infuriating.
Conspiracy theorists are among the world’s laziest, dumbest and most dishonest people. They enjoy their scathing indictments of vaccines, or what REALLY happened to Building 7, or why the “shadows are all wrong” in the Apollo 11 photographs, but will not and never have read a single word of refutation that 35 seconds of research could yield. They aren’t patriots, they’re parrots, retellers of someone else’s lies, and the harm they have done to the fate of knowing, the fate of the truth, is truly incalculable.
For what it’s worth, the demolished reputations of two more victims of conspiracy theories have been officially exonerated. Ruby Freeman and her daughter Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, both former election workers from Fulton County, Georgia, endured constant nightly physical harassment and threats of violence from conspiracy theorists and other morons. Moss and Freeman’s perfectly innocent and patriotic election-night conduct at a local polling place was live-streamed and cynically repurposed by wingnut election deniers. The video went viral with narratives of wrongdoing that simply weren’t in evidence. Their physical addresses were “doxxed.”
The allegations against the two women were found to be “false and unsubstantiated,” according to an investigative report released Tuesday by the Georgia Elections Board. While their names have been officially cleared, the damage has been done and will even persist. Some true believers in the Big Lie will simply reinterpret the findings as “proof” that the system is rigged at all levels. The rest will never even learn of the exoneration because Fox News, OAN and Newsmax probably won’t report it.
Testifying last year in the House select committee’s January 6 hearings, Freeman said, “I’ve lost my name and I’ve lost my reputation, I’ve lost my sense of security, all because a group of people, starting with number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen.”
“We are glad the State Election Board finally put this issue to rest,” Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger wrote. But have they really put this issue to rest? It seems doubtful. Raffensperger went on to say that “false claims and knowingly false allegations made against these election workers have done tremendous harm. Election workers deserve our praise for being on the front lines.”
Not only do women like Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss deserve our praise, they most emphatically do not deserve our abuse. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.