Loud-mouthed, aggressive fascists are the public face of conspiracy theorists, and with plenty of justification. They may be “Christian” supremacists, trumpists, republicans, open racists, or all of the above. To a large degree, one suspects that they know they are peddling bullshit and that it’s part of a deliberate plan to frighten and delude people into subscribing to their toxic ways. However, not all conspiracy theorists fit the hateful model.
There are perhaps many different types, and one that has come to my attention in some (small, but distressing) numbers might fall into the category (for lack of a better term) of “hippies”. We all have an image of what that means; personally, I imagine long hair and male beards, flowy clothing, often a gentle character, pacifism, back-to-nature stuff, pot and probably acid… You know the stereotype. Regardless of stereotypes, there has never been and cannot be a precise definition of the term. For some of us (me, for example), it has many positive connotations: peace marches, food co-ops, acceptance of ethnic and other differences, Grateful Dead music… Nonetheless, I have been around long enough to know that there are plenty of long-haired, gun-toting, racists and haters.
In my view (feel free to disagree respectfully), hippiedom can be at least partially credited with some good things: natural foods and healthier eating, creative and progressive music (think Woodstock), promoting practices like pacifism and yoga, and of course dancing naked in puddles. Hippies have also been very much susceptible to both fake ideologies and scams, including such things as magnetic shoe inserts, astrology, and anti-vaccine campaigns (because vaccines are not “natural”). The most extreme such example is perhaps Jim Jones and his mass suicide (Guyana, 1978).
Why are “hippies” susceptible to such schemes and scams? One might ask why humans in general are, though there may be some truth to the notion that large numbers of trauma survivors are drawn to the “hippie” lifestyle, or that such people are often overly trusting in “leaders” (like Jones and others) and not particularly scientifically minded. The troubling element of all this, for me, is that there are some whom I would consider to be decent, caring, well-meaning people who have been disinformed into throwing in with the pro-covid bunch. Recent personal experiences with those who might fit the description include a pair of Quakers, a couple of cohousing residents, more than one Unitarian, and a number of midwives.
I do not have a solution for “saving” these people from themselves. Some have gone and quit their professions, or left their communities in their vehement denialism. Others have, frankly, pissed me off by telling me that “covid’s not that scary” and similar lines. What I have tried to do with such people is to try to set clear limits in my own life with them – No, I will not be hanging out with you and especially not indoors – while at the same time trying to allow them some space to do it their own way. It simply will not work for me to present them with irrefutable facts, and believe me I’ve tried it. It will also not do them (or me) any good to write them out of my life permanently. Perhaps some of them will suffer personal tragedies that will cause them to rethink their “philosophies”; I would really not wish it on them. All of them are connected to caring, decent, strongly pro-vaccine communities, and they are fully aware how the rest of us feel and that their views are utterly unsubstantiated and fringe to us. Maybe for some, that will someday be enough. I’m not holding my breath, but I am holding some sense of sorrow for them. It’s part of what makes me feel like a caring person.
Please feel free to share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments. Please be thoughtful and respectful. Thank you.