In this first episode of Tales from the Rabbit Hole, I give a brief introduction and then talk to my first guest, Jon, an ex-conspiracy theorist
Tales from the Rabbit Hole is an interview-style podcast focusing on people whose lives have been affected by the conspiracy theory rabbit hole. Guests include both former and current believers in a variety of conspiracy theories, as well as debunkers, skeptics, and the investigators of those theories.
I’m Mick West, a debunker. I wrote the book Escaping the Rabbit Hole – How to Debunk Conspiracy Theories using Facts, Logic, and Respect. This book came from my experiences running Metabunk – a debunking Forum. Over the years I realized simply presenting corrections to people is not enough. We need effective communication, and we can’t do that if we don’t listen and talk with each other. I’m hoping this podcast will help bridge that gap.
EX CONSPIRACY THEORIST
My first guest is Jon, an ex conspiracy theorist who runs the Facebook Group “The Ex Conspiracy Theorist.” Jon talks about how he became a conspiracy theorist, and how it relates to his religious past as a Mormon. He discusses the things that initially convinced him, like Glenn Beck theories about Obama’s “Czars”, the “New World Order,” and how he came to realize those things were not what Alex Jones said they were.
Jon is now very active online on Facebook and his blog. Since we’ve recorded this he’s also started a Twitter account.
It’s a short first episode, and I hope to have Jon on again for a more extended conversation about his debunking work.
Notes and Links
American Presidency Project’s Search for “New World Order”
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/advanced-search?field-keywords=%22new+world+order%22&field-keywords2=&field-keywords3=&from%5Bdate%5D=&to%5Bdate%5D=&person2=&items_per_page=100
Ex Conspiracy Theorist’s Sites:
https://www.facebook.com/exconspiracytheorist/
https://exconspiracy.blogspot.com/
https://www.patreon.com/exconspiracytheorist
https://twitter.com/ExConspiracyGuy
Mick West & Metabunk
https://www.metabunk.org
http://contrailscience.com/
https://twitter.com/mickwest
https://www.youtube.com/mickwest
https://www.facebook.com/Metabunk/
https://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Rabbit-Hole-Conspiracy-Theories/dp/1510735801/
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I think that “Live Podcasts” (video’d) add more legitimization and interest, but audio only is good too.,… if people can, or are willing to concentrate.
I will probably do some live shows in the future. There are video version of these on YouTube
Mick West is obsessed with debating and criticizing people who are obviously either full of it or very deranged. Either way one looks at it, Mick West is as troubled as those he claims are lost in so-called “rabbit holes”.
Maybe Mick West should lay off the DMT. get off the computer, stay away from the internet, stop cyber stalking self-proclaimed “truthers”; and maybe, just maybe he might seek some help from a professional psychiatrist. After all, Mick West is the one obsessed with worrying about what a small number of people online claim to think. Maybe he should worry more about his own obvious social media addiction and the effects all the years of his online activity have had on his mental health.