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“ ‘I know you may not find conspiracy theories plausible but you also may know people who do. And while you can’t reach everyone, you can reach some. And now more than ever, it might be important for you to try.’ ”
That’s HBO’s John Oliver, star of “Last Week Tonight,” returning from his break to tackle the growing spread of conspiracy theories, particularly amid coronavirus pandemic.
“Obama was born in Kenya, Antonin Scalia was murdered, and that millions of fake votes were cast for Hillary Clinton,” Oliver explained in the 22-minute segment. “Conspiracies are sort of like ugly buildings and deeply tragic adult children in that Donald Trump loves to unleash them into the world and then refuse to take responsibility for them ever again.”
He took a look at the widely debunked “Plandemic” video and its outrageous claims, which went viral with 8 million views in the first week alone. It was then removed from YouTube.
Oliver suggested that, instead of saying something like “Why do you believe this nonsense, you titanic f***ing idiot?” a kindler, gentler approach may be needed to convince these people to stop buying into proliferation of crazy content getting pushed on Facebook FB, +0.26% .
“What experts say is that the most effective way to approach someone is not by shaming them for believing something, or overwhelming them with counter-evidence, but to try and be empathetic, meet them where they are, and nudge them to think a bit more critically,” he said.
To assist in making his point, Oliver asked a number of celebrities, including the likes of Alex Trebek, Paul Rudd and John Cena, to lend a hand with some short videos. Why? Because apparently celebrity is the language much of America understands.
“Yeah, we got Alex Trebek to make a 90-second video gently urging anyone who watches it to be careful with what they encounter and share online,” Oliver said. “So you can show your grandparents that and then talk to them about it.” He ended the segment by pointing to a link to TheTrueTrueTruth.com, where all the celebrity videos can be found in full.
Watch the full clip:
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