I am so sensitive, I cry frequently. I am so soft, I cannot kill a cockroach. But very few things boil my blood like hoaxes and harmful conspiracy theories. It can take days to write all the points to refute one, yet the burden of proof is not on the one spreading such claims, but on refuters.

Science justifiably cannot answer everything, and that is enough for believers to claim they know the missing answers. Vast organizations, scientists, experts are working perfectly to hide something, including cure for cancer. Has anyone ever worked on a project with other human beings seamlessly? All the experts have it wrong, but a few of my fellow believers on YouTube have managed to connect all the dots.

When people ask why do I get worked up about small pseudoscientific beliefs, my answer has always been – if we don’t stop the small and benign now, we are legitimizing a way of thinking that won’t be small or benign in the future. Yesterday we stayed quiet about benign placebo sellers taking money from people, but today we are dealing with Plandemic and other extremely deadly hoaxes.

Skepticism and inquisitive minds are excellent traits. But are conspiracy theorists skeptics, or extremely gullible? We cannot turn a blind eye to benign science denial and pseudoscience based on individual ideology, because it just creates a fertile ground for harmful science denial and pseudoscience. The scientific method is self-correcting, even if it takes decades or centuries for new technology to disprove old paradigms. But hoaxes and conspiracies do not follow the scientific methods, only picking and choosing of few facts to fill in certain ideologies. “I hate corporations. I just need a few tidbits to connect the dots why Big Pharma is hiding cure for cancer.” “I hate Barack Obama. I just need a few tidbits to connect the dots how he is a Kenyan-born Muslim.” And my fellow believers and myself are in a righteous struggle against a vast army of experts, media, ‘elites’ and anyone else I already do not like.

Have healthy skepticism. It is important. But everyone, including myself, must be aware of our blind spots and ideologies before we spread misinformation. As a liberal if I see a meme that said “Donald Trump said there are hundreds of governors”, my instinct would be to think “it proves my belief that he is an idiot and therefore he must have said it”. But healthy skepticism is checking if the meme is actually true. Different ideologies will always exist, but doesn’t mean we should be beholden to sharing false information no matter the dopamine hit it gives us when we share it.