Continuing on this tangent, I don't really understand these conspiracy theories. From what I see the people currently in power around the world have very little to gain from this pandemic: it wrecks their economies, increases unemployment and social unrest.
If I wanted to create panic in order to enact surveillance laws and I was willing to use extremely shady means to do so it seems like it would be massively easier and more efficient to just have a good old terrorist attack. At least I wouldn't have to deal with a major economic crisis. Also I wouldn't have to convince the vast majority of the world to play along.
I'm very skeptical of conspiracy theories in general but the ones surrounding COVID-19 make even less sense than the usual ones IMO.
Is it possible it’s just another manifestation of tribalism rather than an actual belief in the proposed conspiracies?
I’ve just finished Timothy Snyder’s road to unfreedom. I can see myself that i’m suffering a bit of a bias in my answer that i attribute to that book.
If it’s true what he suggests in the book, then disarray and chaos would be the goal here rather than the tribe having a coherent view of the risks and a measured response.
The best bet for autocrats is to minimize the public perception of what the pandemic is doing, because indeed they have very little to gain from it. The Dictator's Handbook explains the mechanisms of this very well.
People saying "it's like the flu / it's no big deal" are talking about death rates and severity, not that they think it's literally the same as a flu virus. And that belief is not a conspiracy theory: for one, it alleges no conspiracy. It's actually the obvious conclusion to draw from public data which shows flu-season like excess death rates.
Conspiracy theories are often more about the believer than the belief.
That's not to say that some tiny fraction of conspiracy theories aren't true, and some other small percentage aren't partially true. Skepticism is a good thing. Like everything else, when it's balanced and under control.
But a sustained passion for serial conspiracy belief can become something more than just about the topics of the beliefs.
