Ross Frenett: Loved ones can be brought back from conspiracy theories 

The anti-lockdown protest in Dublin last month. Picture: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie

Conspiracies are real. In Ireland, we have witnessed the pain caused when powerful institutions such as the Church conspire to cover up crimes and consolidate power. 

The perpetrators of these conspiracies deserve to be exposed and punished. Unlike real conspiracies, which should concern us all, conspiracy theories are propagated without regard to evidence. This disdain for facts is the defining characteristic of every conspiracy theory, from fake moon landings to shape-shifting lizards.

Baseless fabrications such as these pre-date the internet – anti-Semitic lies have led to pogroms against Jews for over a thousand years. In recent decades, many of these beliefs were confined to the fringes. This is no longer the case. 

The internet has given ancient conspiracy theories a new lease of life, and facilitated the rise of entirely new ones. 

This process of remixing and reimaging was already well under way before Covid. When the pandemic struck, swathes of the population were suddenly locked inside with nothing to do. 

Scared and uncertain about what the future might hold, many went online looking for answers. A menagerie of fascists, trolls, white supremacists and true believers were waiting.

While public health experts seemed to lack all conviction, conspiracy theorists were full of passionate intensity. They could explain where the virus came from, who was behind it and what people should do. 

They presented a simple and emotionally satisfying world of goodies and baddies, and flattered adherents by reassuring them that all those who refused to believe were simply sheep. Far-right and white nationalist groups updated their pitch to make it more palatable to modern audiences. 

The Cork anti-lockdown protest on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Larry Cummins

Instead of a global Jewish conspiracy, they talk about “globalists”, usually in the pay of George Soros, a Jewish investor and philanthropist they claim is running the world. Direct references to Nazi symbolisim were excused as being “ironic”.

These extremists and conspiracy theorists often associate themselves with ideas or movements which are hard to argue with; no movement has been more effective in this regard than QAnon. A cluster of interlinked and contradictory conspiracy theories, QAnon nonetheless holds as its core belief that the world is run by a shadowy cabal of paedophiles being battled by Donald Trump and Q, an anonymous intelligence official. 

In 2020, QAnon supporters gained traction with the hashtag #SaveTheChildren, claiming to be concerned with child trafficking. Many #SaveTheChildren posts were picked up and spread by mainstream influencers and contained QAnon-specific hashtags along with outlandish and baseless explanations as to who was kidnapping children and why.

Although yoga teachers on Instagram sharing hashtags about saving children may seem thoroughly modern, the idea that an evil cabal is kidnapping and murdering children for nefarious purposes is long-lived. 

For over a millennium, blood libel, the anti-Semitic canard that claimed that Jews kidnap and murder children was used to whip crowds into a righteous fury. The first recorded instance of this was in 1144, when the people of Norwich blamed the disappearance of a local child on Jews. 

Accusations such as these brought mob violence in which whole communities of Jews were slaughtered and led to the eventual expulsion of the Jewish people from England in 1290. In 1904, Fr John Creagh sparked the Limerick pogrom by echoing this lie.

Ross Frenett: 'We’ve lost some of our fellow citizens to the vortex of extremist conspiracy theories. Thousands of small conversations might just win them back.'

I work full-time on attempting to understand and counter extremism and have teams monitoring these spaces and attempting to help those who have been drawn into them. 

We have witnessed conversations in closed extremist spaces where supporters are planning new lies and conspiracies. They deliberately select accusations of paedophilia against their opponents, due to the strong emotional response it evokes. 

This is done to recruit new members, undermine faith in institutions, sow distrust and attack the very concept of truth itself.

The spread of extremism and conspiracy theories is a threat to our health, our security and our democracy and we all have a role in pushing back. 

The Government must ban the far-right terrorist groups that peddle conspiracies, and the media must avoid amplifying their lies in the name of false balance.

Individuals who have lost loved ones to conspiracy theories play a vital role in bringing them back. While emotional attack may be tempting, belittling those who have been fooled by conspiracy theories risks entrenching their views. 

Protestors confront gardaí during the anti-lockdown protest in Dublin city centre in February.

Peddlers of conspiratorial and extremist views flatter their adherents, make them feel special, and warn them to expect attacks. 

People undergoing a personal crisis will often latch onto emotionally satisfying conspiracy theories, and family and friends are uniquely well-placed to address these underlying crises without getting drawn into specific arguments.

When individuals are actively expressing conspiracy theories, those closest to them must challenge these views regularly and firmly, but respectfully. 

Where possible, maintain effective communication and build trust by finding common ground and validating their genuine concerns. Supply useful information by connecting them to sources they trust and pointing out where conspiracy theorists and extremists have been wrong in the past.

Finally, we must be patient.

We’ve lost some of our fellow citizens to the vortex of extremist conspiracy theories. Thousands of small conversations might just win them back.

• Ross Frenett is CEO of Moonshot CVE and co-chair of the EU’s Radicalisation Awareness Network Communications working group