Conspiracy theorists seem like people you’d only see on TV or on the internet, but you’ve probably never met one in the flesh. Unless you’re Dom Joly.
The comedian has actually met a load of people who believe themselves to be part of the ‘awake’ crowd.
The TV star even went on a mission to find those kinds of people which helped form the basis of his latest book, The Conspiracy Tourist.
He spoke to UNILAD about travelling across the world just to get some 1-2-1 time with these people, saying: "I think it was mainly to do with lockdown... People went a bit crazy, and went down algorithmic rabbit holes, and started having some really weird ideas.
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"And I realised that conspiracies used to be fun. They used to be funny. Like, is Elvis alive and working in a chip shop? And now, it seemed that conspiracies were becoming a bit more dangerous."
Because there was a rise in so called conspiracy theorists, Joly wanted see if they 'really believed' what they were saying or if they were 'just doing it for clicks'.
He shared that one of the 'weirdest' conspiracies that he faced was the 'flat Earth' theory.
Sigh.
Even though he pointed out that the Earth is in fact curved and can be seen by the naked eye, people just 'wouldn't agree'.
He decided try to challenge a flat earther, who believed our planet to be a flat square with four corners, and see what happened.
So, because the theorist believes that one of the 'corners' of the Earth is located in Newfoundland, on Fogo Island, Joly ‘took one of them on a road trip’ to the 'edge of the Earth'.
He shared that they ‘looked off this cliff, and there was no drop [into nothingness].’
However, the man wasn’t satisfied by what he could see and wanted them to get into a fishing boat and go on a further hunt.
When they still didn’t see a corner, he accused the fisherman of 'going round in circles' and were paid to do it by Bill Gates.
However, Joly said it 'didn't really bother' him because he's 'not scornful of conspiracists'.
During his research he created an alternative Instagram account and showed interest in some of the biggest conspiracies out there, so Joly knows how much misinformation believers can be presented with.
He shared: "I can see why it's so easy to start to believe that stuff, because that is your reality.
"And my reality on my [regular] Instagram page must look as odd to them as theirs does to mine. And I don't think people realize that yet. We live in parallel universes."
Joly said he has a 'lot of time for people' who change their mind after falling down the rabbit hole.
He also understood why people become engrossed in conspiracies, as he explained: "I think conspiracy theories happen often in times of economic and social unrest... because I think what happens is, as humans, we really are very logical people, we like order.
"And when stuff is chaotic, and big things happen, like 9/11, or Covid, and your life gets thrown in the air, we really don't like it. We try and find patterns. And conspiracy theories give you patterns. They give you reasons for why things have happened."
However, he went on to say that conspiracies theorists get 'the wrong end of the stick' when it comes for finding someone to blame for this chaos.
"I don't mind anyone believing conspiracy theories," he said. "What I hate are the grifters who know it's rubbish but use it to make money. And they're the problem.
"There's loads of proper people to go for. But they end up- I mean, we're attacking doctors at the moment. What the f**k is that about?," Joly continued.
But he pointed out he's met 'a lot of people in power' and 'they're not massively impressive people'.
"They can't even run a parking system or get the trains to run on time," he said.
"So the idea that they're running some sort of satanic global tunnel conspiracy?- I don't know. I mean, maybe I'm completely naive, but I'm not."
The Conspiracy Tourist by Dom Joly is out now.
Topics: Conspiracy Theory, News, Weird
Britt Jones