Ask Lemmy

I have one some say is interesting.

There's this author I've enjoyed, in a way where you could call her an idol of mine. She wrote a few books I liked and I knew she went by a certain name and so I looked her up in a user directory based on this just as a way to entertain myself. Sent a request to be friends. The response was "request sent" and I was like "hehehehe, there's a really small chance that's her".

A week later I got a response and almost shat myself. But we talked and talked and soon she invited me to a few of her social circles. I accepted. And... one of them is a flat earther club.

I definitely don't mind and don't judge. We're still strong friends, we talk every day, and I'm a VIP in their social circle (I feel honored), but she's big on that stuff and there's a big discussion every now and then on the shape of the Earth, and it's an... interesting experience. So I just sit on the sidelines as the one woman who silently disagrees with the Earth being flat. ~~It's concave.~~

Installed Internet for this dude who was saying all kinds of crazy shit. The craziest was that he was in a famous rock band during the 80's and the government forced them to break up because their lyrics were female-positive and also included "top secret" information about the Star Wars program, which his own dad apparently worked on (along with how they actually have nukes and lasers in space to defend against the aliens).

When I finally was done with the job, I looked up the band he said he was in. No such band ever existed. The closest thing I could find to the name he gave me (which I've forgotten now) was some German techno band that was only formed like 3 years before I had looked it up. The least he could have done was actually use an actual band name that existed in the 80's. lol

Too darn many. Some of the family close to me has ignored their neurological decline for years. when I was a kid they used to drag me along to all sorts of crowds. It was quite the cluster####.

One that I debunked myself: one lady told me that I'd be drinking by the time I was 19. I proved her wrong, and I now realise what she did. I messaged her years later as we agreed to I would, but she did not remember me.

I have a coworker that believes every single conspiracy theory out there. Thankfully he doesn't vote. I've only talked to the guy a couple times tho, so I can't remember any of the specifics.

There's new conspiracy theories popping up;

The issue with conspiracy theories nowadays though, is stigma. There are plenty of people who tell me that there's super evil conspiracies. But calling those conspiracies makes people upset.

And not because their ideas are always unreasonable. It's just the stigma as far as I can tell

Just the other day my friend told me that if I put TikTok on my phone the Chinese government will connect my phone to all my other devices and accounts so they can get my juicy data.