"Flowers, Facts, and Far-Fetched Theories"

So, I have been on Facebook, and in my part of the world, there is a celebration happening: the Carnival of Flowers. The Toowoomba Regional Council Parks and Rec (yes, that is really their name; instead of sighing, they went with it) have done a spectacular job. Parks and Rec is the gardening arm of the council, responsible for maintaining the beautiful public gardens, and they’ve truly outdone themselves this year. Just a reminder to everyone enjoying the gardens—please don’t pick or prune the flowers or bushes! If you’re interested in any of the plants or flowers on display, they’ve set up information stands about where you can buy them.

But something I've noticed with an acquaintance is quite scary—they’ve completely gone down the conspiracy rabbit hole.

I do watch content like The Why Files (shout-out to Hecklefish—Yahtzee!), Lodge Law, 5 Kind TV, Decoding the Unknown, and listen to Freakonomics Radio. These are run by very smart people with teams of researchers to back them up, and they debunk a lot of urban legends. This seems to be where we get stuck. She is a really intelligent woman and has blazed her own path, but she’s at the stage where she is seeing secret symbols everywhere and linking organizations without even stopping to consider the implications. And that’s scary.

She believes that the Masons are responsible for manipulating and influencing governments when, in reality, they are a spiritual organization committed to bettering society. Some of their practices may seem weird to outsiders, but so would those of many other groups. Jumping to conclusions about secret agendas without understanding the organization’s actual goals can lead to harmful misunderstandings.

Saying that an organization like the Country Women’s Association (CWA)—founded by Ruth Fairfax to stop the country drift—is a Masonic wives' club is really troubling. The CWA has done amazing work in areas like education, health, and farm management, and continues to do so today. They are far more than just scones and tea, although that’s often what they’re known for. They’ve played a key role in empowering rural women and improving rural communities across Australia.

Then today, I saw that she posted about one of the display gardens, claiming it had a Masonic symbol. She didn’t stop to think that the Masons openly admit their existence, have open days, and give their books to family (that doesn’t seem secret to me). I do understand that since COVID, people are concerned about what we’re not being told. I get that. But to call out this organization, and others that are open and actively in the community, is just a step too far. I’m not even going to engage because I know nothing is going to convince this person otherwise. And that seems to be the way—just don’t engage with them when it comes to conspiracies.

We live in a democratic country where it’s okay to believe what you want as long as it doesn’t veer into hate speech. I won’t even risk mentioning what that involves. As the debunking channels on the internet say, don’t even try to engage with them. There’s confirmation bias, and we’re all now aware of the manipulation of the media, even online. If you’re interested in spotting media bias, there’s some reading and some wonderful YouTubers who do their homework.

Some books worth reading are:

• Manufacturing Consent by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky
• How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff
• Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond
• The Country Women's Association Cookbook by Country Women’s Association
• The CWA Story: An Historical Look at the Country Women's Association of NSW by Women’s Histories
• Scones: Favourite Recipes from the Country Women's Association of NSW by Country Women’s Association of New South Wales

And content creators, though some may not be everyone’s cup of tea:

• Trigonometry by Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster
• Dr. Jordan Peterson’s Podcast by Dr. Jordan Peterson
• The Why Files by AJ Gentile (with Hecklefish, of course!)
• Lodge Law by Andrew Esquire
• Decoding the Unknown by Simon Whistler
• Freakonomics Radio by Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt

There are also some wonderful documentaries on Netflix, such as:

• The Social Dilemma directed by Jeff Orlowski
• Turning Point directed by Brian Knappenberger
• The Antisocial Network directed by Chris Temple and Zach Ingrasci

There are many others as well. But if you are concerned about someone who believes in really unbelievable conspiracy theories (and yes, we’ve seen some turn out to be true, I’ll admit that—but I’m talking about the way-out-there ones), the best advice is to:

• Try to get them to a doctor to assess mental and physical health.
• Get a carbon monoxide detector.
• Check for mold.
• And most importantly, just don’t engage when they start talking about them. The best way is what mental health experts call the "grey rock" approach—give the theories as much attention as you would to a grey rock on a busy day. So, not much, really.

I know I may get some pushback, but I don’t think she even reads my blog, so it’s okay. It’s fine to believe weird things, but people may lose respect for you as well. Dan Brown is a novelist, not a researcher. So, if you’re interested, there are plenty of well-researched and entertaining YouTubers. Just be prepared for a sarcastic sidekick or two.