My older brother lived with me for a while (after a few years of not speaking, but he had nowhere else to go).
I already knew that he believed in almost every conspiracy going, from what I'd seen on his Facebook page. And really too - chemtrails, Sandy Hook being a false flag, 9/11 being an inside job, AIDS/HIV denialism, he was also an anti vaxer, the list goes on...
I tried to avoid conversation with him about it. But unfortunately, he'd try to bring it up all too often. A long time before he came to live with me and since he last saw me, I'd become a sceptic ("sceptic" looks strange in English, as you see that word written in American-English most of the time) and got into debunking, after reading Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World. Superb book. That's what got me started anyway...
Like I say, I'd avoid the subject, or give a little hint that I didn't buy into whichever one he was talking about and give a few reasons - UFO's being covered up by the government if I recall right on one occasion. Then, a week or so later, I recall he walked in the room I was in, whilst I was on my desktop. I was on a page about chemtrails. I turned it off, but too late. He'd already seen. I can't exactly recall how the convo went, but I remember him saying "What, you don't believe in them?" - I replied "No, of course not. There's no evidence for them is there?"
He then told me "You have a very narrow worldview." This instantly irritated me, as it was a personal put-down, rather than staying on topic. I asked him to leave me alone. Perhaps not the greatest response, but still...
It wasn't long before he brought up another conspiracy theory - Sandy Hook. He showed me the video of Robbie Parker, I'm sure you know the one. I told him that people react differently in all kinds of situations. It's not evidence of the claims he was making. He went on to show me other things too, but when I answered (I recall even linking him to Metabunk regarding the Sandy Hook stuff), he passed me off as if i were an idiot.
Again and again he'd bring up different conspiracy theories. One day he wasn't very happy because I wouldn't take a video seriously (which was obviously CGI) of "alien cities on the moon". After suffering ten min, I said "Come on, this is silly." He really appeared to believe that stuff, and his irritation was very apparent.
I also remember a day when he showed me what he believed to be UFO's, apparently repairing the sun, or some such nonsense. I explained it was nothing other than pareidolia on his part. A few times I'd debunk stuff he came out with or showed me. At one point, after showing me a photo of a supposed alien on mars on his friends facebook page, I told him that his friend was wrong, and I'd be prepared to have it out with him (he seemed to worship this guy). "He will annihilate you," my brother told me. However, I didn't contact his friend, but I did show my brother that his friend was lying to him, it was absolutely undeniable that he was doing so too.
I can't remember the details now, though, the convo would still be in my inbox (we communicated sometimes in the same house in different rooms on different computers).
My brothers response? "He's had a hard time. His wife left him."
Okay, so that was the excuse of my brothers for him being lied too by his super-duper friend. Right...
My brother even tried to tell me that the moon is a hologram. After trying to get him to see a little sense on subjects (as well as showing him a video that should've set straight his moon landing hoax beliefs, which made no difference to him at all). I asked him "Why do you believe in all this crazy stuff? Why do you chose to?" No answer came. He had the facts, and that was that.
I also recall at one point, him saying to our mum "Why do you go to the doctors and let them poison you?" and trying to talk her out of getting a jab. Luckily, she's not daft. And ignored him.
When the ISIS beheading videos came out, of course, he went into overdrive with it all. "It's fake, it's staged." Oh, he knew that for certain. He knew everything for certain.
9/11? Apparently I was in the minority for not buying into the conspiracy theory, not that that's the case, and nor that it would even matter. And sure, I'd point him in the right direction in response, I'd try to get him to see things in a rational way, but to no avail. Incoming facts did nothing but ricochet right off his tinfoil hat.
Over time, the more he brought it up, the more I'd reply with what I thought. Avoiding it made little difference. I'd tried every which way...
On the last day we spoke, he brought it up again, trying to show me videos on his laptop. After ten min, I said "But this is all a bit ghoulish isn't it? It all points towards the same thing, and well, the 9/11 and Sandy hook conspiracy theorists got it wrong didn't they?"
He got annoyed. "Why must you argue about everything?" I replied "Would you rather I didn't have an opinion of my own? And just go along with everything you say?" (on some occasions, he had a habit of saying "You're right" either really dismissively, or in a really narky way, despite that I tried as much as I could not to make it a personal matter and just stay on topic).
"Show me evidence of the plane hitting the pentagon then," he demanded.
So I did - I didn't get time to show him the pentagon report, but I did show him the video "911 Case Study: Pentagon Flight 77"
He got more irate and frustrated when he saw it. "No, that's not a plane, look - that's a tree" (referring to the tail).
I said "If that's a tree, why isn't it there in the next frame?"
"No," he fumed, "that's not a plane. You have no evidence."
I asked him "What knocked down the lampposts then? What sort of missile does that?" (and I laughed) "You're in denial" I said. His irritation was, however, rubbing off on me.
Okay, maybe not the best reaction again, to laugh at him, but I'd got sick of how he'd been acting. It gets to you after a while.
His mood didn't improve, in fact he got worse. "Intelligent people can see the truth" he said, and "Only idiots still believe 9/11 wasn't an inside job."
Nice.
I answered "You think cannabis cures everything, it doesn't. You're also an anti-vaxxer -"
He shouted "What about Mercury then?" I just shook my head at him. It'd got to that point, and carried on "It's not just one conspiracy theory you buy into but the whole lot. You surround yourself with loonies on Facebook too. Have you ever read up on the psychology of people like yourself? A hatred for the police and any kind of authority, conspiracy theories giving you a sense of control in your life when all else has gone wrong. you completely fit the bill."
His response? "Let's take it outside ey?"
I've not spoken to him since, and I don't intend to. For various reasons, I didn't like who he'd become. Or maybe in my older age I'd seen him for who he really was. He always had issues. I used to look up to the guy once - him being 13 years older than me. How things change.
Mick - I know this forum isn't about calling conspiracy theorists "loonies" or whatever, yet it was part of the story, what I said about the people he'd found on Facebook. I just wanted to share what I went through, and, even my own mistakes in the end, how frustrated I'd become after putting up with it so long.
I hope that's okay with you.