My friend wants me to go to a 'Freedom Protest' about Covid-19

[Gary D]

For the last month or so she’s been attending so-called Freedom Protests on a weekend and asked me to go with her. She says that it’s about being against vaccines because they are dangerous and she wants to “Protect Our Children” and she showed me a video of one of the protests and people were wearing t-shirts with “Love Over Fear” and “It’s all a HOAX” on them and holding placards stating, “The media is propaganda“ and “The media is the virus”. A speaker said that what is happening to us is similar to Nazi Germany and is a violation of our basic human rights and then started screaming “FREEEEEEDOOOOOOM”! And “TAKE YOUR FREEDOM BACK”!

I told my friend that she’s bonkers and she told me that I’m brainwashed by the media and a sheep.

What the hell has happened to her? I’m fairly certain that what she’s spouting is conspiracy theories and other nonsense. Am I right?

I feel like I don’t even recognise her anymore.

What should I do?

[glows]

Remain tactful and recognize the difference in your beliefs. You can simply say to her "I understand this is important for you and hope you stay safe during the event. I disagree with you and will not be attending." 

End it there and don't engage in roundabout and heated debates if it's not your thing. Even if you don't recognize her, don't say it. Occupy yourself elsewhere.

[d0nnivain]

If you disagree with her, just distance yourself from her & certainly don't attend these protests.  

[Woggle]

Agree to disagree and if she makes that impossible I guess keep your distance. 

[Wiseman2]

2 hours ago, Gary D said:

What should I do?

Delete and block her and all her people from all your social media and messaging apps.

[Mrin]

There is no reasoning with her. She's deep into it. It is like an echo chamber full of confirmation bias. If you Google stories about people who got sucked down the rabbit hole and got out you can see how it goes. Qanon is particularly seductive. 

The best thing you can do is just distance yourself. You can't reason and you can't try to pull them out. You just have to let them find their own way out... or not

[basil67]

How you deal with this depends on how much you value her friendship.  And how much she values yours.   

Your responses could vary from

• 'block and delete'
• having a friendship where, by mutual agreement, you leave this topic alone  
• learning about how conspiracy theory works and the best ways to cope if a loved one gets sucked in. 

[Blind-Sided]

Right or wrong... your friend is the one trying to "Brainwash" you by using peer pressure to get you to do what she wants.   I almost died from COVID the first time around... and I don't want it again.  My GF's grandmother did die from it. The real problem is... there are so many people who have zero symptoms, but check positive... they think it's BS.

Tell her if she is going to be a conspiracy wack-job.... she should stop talking to you. 

It's kind of funny... I was talking with friends last night... who are mostly centered.  While we don't like the masks... it's just a hunk of cloth, and is nothing more than a SLIGHT inconvenience. 

[Philosopher]

14 hours ago, basil67 said:

How you deal with this depends on how much you value her friendship.  And how much she values yours.   

Your responses could vary from

• 'block and delete'
• having a friendship where, by mutual agreement, you leave this topic alone  
• learning about how conspiracy theory works and the best ways to cope if a loved one gets sucked in. 

Given it is something she feels very strongly about, while you can attempt to reason with her or agree to disagree, I suspect neither will work so you may have no choice to pause this friendship.

Depending on how you feel about the friendship, you can always rekindle it in a several months or a couple of years down the line when she has either moderated her views or Covid is no longer the topic of conversation it is now. 

[salparadise]

On 9/18/2021 at 9:54 AM, Gary D said:

I told my friend that she’s bonkers and she told me that I’m brainwashed by the media and a sheep.

Is this someone you're dating, a close platonic friend, or more of an acquaintance that you spend time with occasionally? And what make her think that you'd be on board with this stuff?

One thing is certain, it's futile to try to reason with people who subscribe to these alternate realities... they'll tell you you've been brainwashed by liberal media and are a sheep. It truly baffles me how such a sizable chunk of the population is susceptible to nonsense.

Anyway, depending on how dedication you feel toward your friendship, I'd probably just distance from her and let it go. One other factor is that you should probably consider association with her and her anti-tax comrades risky as hell. You are vaccinated yourself, right?

Edited September 19, 2021 by salparadise

[amaysngrace]

Maybe she’s heard of people who’ve had adverse reactions to the vaccine and would rather roll the dice in favor of her own immune system?   I’m not saying that’s right because nobody really knows how their body will respond until they are affected with it, but shouldn’t she have a right to what she puts into her body and what decisions to make for herself?
 

Even if you disagree, belittling her is probably not the best solution.  The only thing that got accomplished was her doing it back to you and calling you names, putting more strain on your friendship.

Edited September 19, 2021 by amaysngrace

[ShyViolet]

I would absolutely, without a doubt, stop being friends with a person like that.  I wouldn't speak to her anymore.  Who needs a crazy person as a friend?  Have standards for yourself and for who you associate with.

[Angelle]

I'm sorry that she has been sucked into it all. I've lost friends over it all, but I now flat-out refuse to listen. 

[dramafreezone]

On 9/18/2021 at 6:54 AM, Gary D said:

For the last month or so she’s been attending so-called Freedom Protests on a weekend and asked me to go with her. She says that it’s about being against vaccines because they are dangerous and she wants to “Protect Our Children” and she showed me a video of one of the protests and people were wearing t-shirts with “Love Over Fear” and “It’s all a HOAX” on them and holding placards stating, “The media is propaganda“ and “The media is the virus”. A speaker said that what is happening to us is similar to Nazi Germany and is a violation of our basic human rights and then started screaming “FREEEEEEDOOOOOOM”! And “TAKE YOUR FREEDOM BACK”!

I told my friend that she’s bonkers and she told me that I’m brainwashed by the media and a sheep.

What the hell has happened to her? I’m fairly certain that what she’s spouting is conspiracy theories and other nonsense. Am I right?

I feel like I don’t even recognise her anymore.

What should I do?

Calling her bonkers was the absolute worst thing you could do.  It's only going to make her cling more firecely to her beliefs.

It's tough for any of us to admit that we hold false beliefs.  She's someone I would just keep at an arm's distance.

How is she doing in life otherwise?  Conspiracy theorists typically aren't ones that are on an upward trajectory with regard to their goals/aspirations.

[CarmenDane]

I have a few friends in the US who think the same way. Always sending me articles about the hoax, globalists takiing over the world, that the vaccine is going to genetically alter us etc.  It goes on and on. Half the articles and video they send look and sound fake. They say wake up. They give me a headache. I see how hard and over worked the doctors and nurses are. I know people that got Covid. It was very bad for some not so bad for others. Thats the way it is. We can't just think about ourselves.  In my area its the 18% unvaccinated filling up the hosipitals and the ones dying from it. Over 85% come from the 18%. Yes some vaccinated do end up in the hospital too but they do so much better. Think of the mess we all be in if nobody was vaccinated and everyone was unmasked etc. Most of the population would be ok in the end true but what about the ones who get very sick or die. Some of the very sick survive but are never the same. 

In my country and the Costa Rica some of this hoax talk goes on too but it seems x10 worse in the States.

Dane

[Foxhall]

I was listening to a radio interview there- it was interesting to hear there is quite a degree of scepticism on the vaccine through parts of America,

Alabama was quoted as having only 40% uptake on vaccines,

anyway not making any judgment on this either way- but am interested some of the main reasons why people have their doubts?

[Veronica73]

At least she’s not a family member.