Our minds are geared towards finding patterns and correlations, but some people’s minds are a little overactive in this area. So they end up connecting dots that are not there. It happens to all of us, but normally enough counter-evidence can cause one to reconsider their position. However, for some this an issue. Some of it can be explained by poor educational quality leading to poor critical thinking skills, some can be explained by personality traits, some can be explained by seeking answers in a chaotic world, and some can be explained by mental illness.
In truth, a lot of these people are not terrible people. A lot of people start reading because they heard that there is a pedophile ring that involves a lot of powerful people and that this group of people are working to stop it. Jeffrey Epstein and the Me Too movement showed that it’s possible for these kinds of things to happen and that they happen more often than we thought. I can see the good in that. The problem is when you ignore everything else that comes along with it.
I would imagine a lot of these believers are either schizophrenic or prone to schizophrenic patterns of thinking. If you’re not familiar, schizophrenics tend to have a very low threshold for connecting dots and are often prone to paranoid thinking. To these people, once they connect enough dots to draw a conclusion, it is very difficult if not impossible to change their mind. To them, their conclusion IS reality and any evidence to the contrary only feeds their paranoia. Medication is pretty much the only option for these folks.
For those that are not mentally ill, there is no magic bullet fact that can bring people out of this thought loop. You have to level with them, allow them to have their beliefs without belittling them, and plant the seeds of doubt. They have to figure it out on their own. Just like with anyone else, including you and me, being talked down to will put them on the defensive and cause them to dig their feet in further. It’s a long, slow process. It’s not going to happen on reddit. It more likely needs to come from an already trusted person.
Of course, this is a mostly futile effort as long as politicians and others in the spotlight keep using the conspiracy to their advantage. Every time someone on the news acknowledges the conspiracy or wears a ‘Q’ somewhere on their clothing, it only reinforces the belief that there is shady shit going on in the government (lol) and these people on TV are going to bring it down.
This is going to be quite the mess to untangle. Due to the nature of this conspiracy, it is not likely to go away any time soon. Think about how long the Illuminati conspiracies have been around. These kinds of conspiracies are self-sealing, meaning any evidence to the contrary can easily be assimilated as further evidence of the conspiracy (yes, it takes mental gymnastics). For instance, if we were to include a chapter in our children’s history classes about QAnon and why it is wrong and how people fell for it etc., it will only inflame those that still believe in the conspiracy as an attempt by the cabal to brainwash the populace.
Anyway idk where I was going with this. Just my .02.