This is an interesting subject (from an outsider's point of view, anyway - I certainly don't envy you being in such a position.
I'm not sure how much help I can offer - but being similarly inclined to critically engage and debunk 'conspiracy theories' - I can certainly relate to your frustration (if not the relationship side of it - I've never had a girlfriend go all "truther" on me - maybe a friend or two; but only as a passing fad...or a sort of curiosity.
Also it is extremely intellectual to ask these questions and get involved in a certain amount of "libertarian" type activities....
Are you being facetious? Alex Jones - "extremely intellectual"??
!
To question that sort of stuff, maybe - but he seems pretty far removed from "intellectual" thought to me!
Anti-Central-gov't and socially liberal conservatives do not equate to tea party at all...
I think you are projecting your politics on to this a
little too much - where did the OP mention any of these ideologies?
All I see is:
My partner over the last year has gotten into the b.s. conspiracy theory movement (Alex Jones, NWO stuff) and it is driving me crazy. As a die hard skeptic and debunker, it is like I am being karmically punished for something. It is hard watching the person I love slowly turn into an anti-intellectual right wing tea-bagger all the while assuring me that isn't what's happening. This is a person who used to view sites like snopes with me; used to be open minded and very intelligent but now firmly believes sites like snopes are part of some conspiracy.
Whether or not we personally agree with the Alex Jones and the whole gamut of nwo/illuminati conspiracy theories is beside the point of this thread.
The question is how to understand, deal with or respond to someone as close as a partner of 15 years changing from being a questioning/logically thinking person (I presume) into someone that takes a particular kind of conspiratorial thinking and swallows it without question.
Having said that - leaving aside personal feelings on this subject is probably not possible - because if I thought all that stuff was 'the truth - I might say "
what's your problem? Your partner is clued-in, and you're not!" But I don't think that is the case necessarily, so I can understand your frustration and/or concern.
One thing I wonder - is your 'significant other' an independent thinker? By that, I mean - are they easily swayed?
I have a friend who will more or less go along with whatever wisdom those close to him verbalise. If, in a social setting, he and I are hanging out and I were to have a rant at him about the virtues of anarchism or socialism or my feelings about the military industrial complex (just to give some examples) - not in an aggressive sense, but just a friendly bit of passionate banter (or whatever the situation may be) - I can almost guarantee that he would
a. Hear me out and listen to what I have to say, even if he doesn't understand or have much previous interest in the subject.
b. Agree with me
c. Possibly even repeat the essence of what I said to others in different social settings. (I know this has happened because I have both heard it 1st hand and had people quote him saying something I had previously said to him. This may sound conceited on my part - but it doesn't bother me; I just find it quite interesting and
possibly relevant to this situation).
My friend goes through phases of 'influence' - it may be a book, a film, a band or a person (close or otherwise) that gives him a lead to follow.
When he is within someone's sphere of influence, he gets along with that person very well indeed. I have seen him go between several different people/phases/influences - and when he casually 'drops' one influence for another, it can make him a bit hard to relate to all of a sudden...and not because I or anyone tries to mould him; on the contrary - he can only absorb a single I clue fe at once.
but he is an extreme case.
What I'm getting at is that perhaps your partner was introduced to a certain set of critical thinking skills by you - the sort that calls bullshit on things that just don't add up - and has taken it off on their own wild ride, calling bullshit on things that there are
loud, self-assured voices already calling bullshit upon.
The conspiracy bandwagon is a pretty comfy ride - the Joneses and Ickes (et al) do all the 'thinking' and make the 'brave' calls, put all the missing pieces of info and
impeccable research together into one big comfort pie (and rake in the $$ for book sales etc). But as you know, OP, it's a distracting pie - and a fast-food, instant gratification pie - safe in the knowledge that
we know better than all the other 'sheeple'
Unlike autonomous critical thinkers and free range bullshit-callers - who have to live with the knowledge that "maybe we'll
never know the 'truth' behind [historical event of note]" - conspiracy kids (young and old!) have the answers all laid out for them.
This 'alternative reality' is like tuning into a different tv station or reading an opposing viewpoint in a different newspaper for some people - and while it is a really crude guess at what could be going on with your partner - it is something I've seen people do before, and in my youthful dabbling a with conspiracy books about 10 years ago, it seemed like a 'different angle' - but it was just something I passed through as my critical thinking skills and political knowledge developed.
There is nothing wrong with being interested in that stuff - unless it becomes unhealthy in its dominance on your partner's world view - which sounds like it could be the case. But I think the point is to pick it apart as an intellectual exercise (or use it as entertainment).
Perhaps your questioning, critical thinking style was something new and contagious, earlier in your relationship...and this has led your partner down other paths of questioning orthodoxy - which have allowed them to fall prey to conspiracy theorist orthodoxy (which masquerades as 'questioning', but doesn't stand up well to deeper analysis - IMO anyway).
As for how to possibly work through this together....
is he/she open to discussion on any of these matters?
Are you able to discuss some of the deeper questions/flaws in conspiracy theory pop culture?
such as;
- the lack of scholarly references in conspiracy books (or any attempt to prove or otherwise document the wild allegations being made
- the lack of credibility of the sources to begin with
- the roaring trade in selling conspiracy books (in a struggling/dying publishing industry)
- or some good examples of "conspiracy" or "secret govt" or "UFO" (whatever they are into) being roundly rebuffed by a good piece of investigative journalism?
On this point - I read a great book that came out around 10 years ago (not quite sure of publishing date or title, sorry) that explained the whole "Roswell UFO Crash" story. It REALLY opened my undergrad eyes to the exploitative world of conspiracy theories - the fame/infamy, fortune (stories sold for cash etc) and other motivations behind some of the "sources" of conspiracy lit.
beyond arguing the implausibility of so much of this stuff - if you really want to see if you can break through the paranoid dogma - there are these sorts of points you could make - as well as the more obvious one that people tend to lose sight of;
- "conspiracy theories" about global political and financial corruption actually distract people from the
very real and often
not-so-well hidden conspiracies and corruption that are just waiting to be uncovered and spread though "conspiracy hunting" networks...
It sounds like a frustrating and sad situation. People
do change - but I often get the feeling the more conspiratorial/right wing shifts people make can be motivated by emotional suffering, bitterness or possibly even (as you suggest) illness of some kind.
I'm not saying that to slag off conservatives or that side of the political ideological divide - but when someone close and dear to you makes such a shift that they no longer resemble their old self - that is certainly cause for concern and reflection on where things are going.
I hope this long winded reply is of some kind of use....and whatever happens, I hope you guys can sort things out and find a happy way forward for both of you. 15 years is a long time to love someone, a lot of shared history.
All the best!
