Helping parents who think they have "Chemtrail Flu"

[vividaether]

Well it looks like Kristen has shown her hand at last.



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Hi guys. I came here from this video and joined this fine establishment (hopefully I can contribute at some point). I've also been around geoengineeringwatch.org and seen the uh... spurious claims and actually *read* the stuff in the documents page (kinda seems like he didn't make it very laymen-person-legible). Basically, my mother and step dad have been sending me these videos, I've been trying to debunk them the best that I can (but I'm a chem grad student, and I'm busy). Here is my problem: My mom thinks she has "chemtrail flu" and in reality has a sinus infection and has been sick for months because she will not seek treatment. Every time I debunk a video, my step-dad (total conspiracyphiliac) comes up with another! I guarantee the nocebo effect is playing a large part in keeping my mother ill!

How do I deal with this?? It's getting serious. This woman and others are causing people to not seek treatment for preventably harmful diseases. My mom can't be the only one gullible enough to buy into the chemtrail flu thing. This is like when cults/religions prohibit people from going to the doctor. Well, almost. Do these speakers realize that this effect exists? It's not only harmful at an individual level, but on a societal level as well, with fear-mongering and (it seems to me) an encouragement toward rejection of any sort of critical thinking.

I apologize for my non-constructive post, I am usually much more articulate and am quite dedicated to the cause of debunking in general, but I just wanted to ask for advice. I am really at a loss, all my citations of evidence to the contrary has fallen on mostly blind eyes and deaf ears. Also, it seems like conspiracy theorists have a LOT more time on their hands than I do, so I feel like we're pretty out-numbered.


So, thank you guys for doing what you do, and any advice will be much appreciated!

 

[Mick West]

Vivid, you might find this thread interesting, even though it's not entirely the same subject:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/13...-it-is-really-difficult?highlight=debunk+wife

I think perhaps the debunking you are doing is more of a band-aid, just addressing symptoms, and you need to get to the root of the problem. WHY do they believe as they do? What are the core misconceptions that they hold?

 

[RolandD]

Vivid, with my mother, I can give her advice about something for months on end, which she will ignore. She knows how intelligent I am and how much research I will put into it, but until she hears the same advice from a contemporary of hers, who may possess the IQ of a tree shrew, she won't act on it.

You may need to enlist the aid of a sibling, cousin, or close friend of hers to help. In a situation like this with my mother, all it would take is for one of her friends to say that the symptoms sound just like a sinus infection they had and the doctor prescribed them xyz antibiotic, which cleared it up. I am constantly amazed that an off the cuff remark, by anyone she knows, can convince her to do something that I had been after her to do weeks and weeks.

 

[JRBids]

It is frustrating when you are dealing with parents, LOL! I am a real estate agent, if I give my parents real estate advice, my father argues with me! Same when I used to sell boats. My dad wanted to sell his boat. . . . would not take my advice no matter what. With my parents, I feel as if I am Jesus going back to Bethlehem: no one there believed he performed miracles because He was just kid who grew up in the house down the street whose father was the carpenter.

 

[Jay Reynolds]

WHY do they believe as they do?

More directly, what benefit do they seem to derive by these beliefs?

Staying ill for months when others around you are fine doesn't seem beneficial. How is this belief system working out otherwise?