Conspiracy
theories will always circle the major disasters and events in the world. Since
China first alerted the world to the spreading disease late last year (2019),
the coronavirus has inspired countless wild stories about its origins, transmission,
effects, vaccine and the cure. This is just natural, as people always seek
explanations for events too frightening to accept as random. So, as anxious
snippets of misinformation warped and refracted through social media, COVID-19
became amongst other dangerous nonsense i.e. a by-product of bat soup, an
escaped bioweapon, and a disease treatable by Lysol, oregano oil, hydroxyl chloroquine
or worse yet, gargling with bleach.
The worst
and most dangerous things about COVID-19 are misinformation and panic. This has
stoked xenophobia, created relentless demand and even profit for products that
are unlikely to help anyone, added considerable confusion to an already
uncertain situation, and has only continued to multiply. At best, the latest
crop of COVID-19 conspiracy theories are wacky bits of hogwash: Did The Simpsons predict coronavirus, or was it a
thriller novel by Dean
Koontz, or was it Disney’s Tangled? At worst, the misinformation has cast doubt on
measures meant to protect people and has encouraged reckless, destructive behaviour
all over the world.
Perhaps
the strangest of all these misinformation is the one that suggests certain
groups of people need not worry about the virus at all. For weeks, a bizarre
idea has been circulating on Twitter and other social media platforms: black
people were immune to COVID-19, or would recover quickly and easily if they did
contract it. To be clear, this theory is false as of April 24, 2020, more than 35,000
confirmed cases and 2,000 deaths were from the black community in Africa and
elsewhere in the world. In addition, the black community is not the only group
wrongly told not to worry about the virus. People have also claimed that Yemenite
Jews in Israel and Yemen are naturally immune (only one case has been confirmed
in Yemen since the outbreak). Twitter has since taken action against accounts
spreading this racial theory (with zero scientific backings).
Then
there are the virus’s disputed origins. You have likely heard some people
speculate that COVID-19 was somehow conjured in a Wuhan lab. That theory has
been popular for a long time, especially since some US pundits let by President
Trump has continued to call the disease the “Chinese virus” or the “Wuhan
virus.” Months have gone but still, this accusation of Wuhan laboratory leak
being the supposed origin of the novel coronavirus has become a well-used
political smear.
Another serious theory is where China is accused of releasing the Coronavirus to destabilize
the economies of the G7 members (the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, the UK
and Italy) and their respective allies. As of April 24 2020, most of the G7
member states were leading with about 65% of all the confirmed cases and about 83%
deaths. Many analysts have a reason to believe China’s game plan is working;
this was also captured when the world stock market crushed. The Chinese government
wants to take control of the world as the superpower.
China has
offered medical aids and other donations worth billions of dollars to
developing countries. Most of these donations have gone to African countries. It
is clear that China has invested in Africa more than any other country even more
than what the Americans did in the last 50 years; it has invested more than the US $200
billion for the last 15 years. Many have seen this as only a manipulation, most
countries might not be able to pay back the huge loans; leave alone the issue
of collaterals. The point behind this theory is that China wants space for
its population, which is expected to explode in the next 20-30 years.
Despite
epidemiologists saying otherwise, Chinese officials are now claiming the virus originated in Italy or from a military
laboratory in the United States. The latter had been espoused by Iran’s Ayatollah A. Khamenei,
who cited the theory as a reason to turn down US medical aid, and by
Philippines Senate president Vincente Sotto. Some accuse Russia of spreading
this conspiracy theory, though the Kremlin strenuously denied it. Proponents of
the theory see China as having something to gain, usually economically from
impacted nations, but the real impact is that aid and medical knowledge are
flowing less freely at a time when unity and transparency would be far more
beneficial.
Plenty of
US citizens think the virus is a hoax or a cover for some shadowy power grab,
too. FEMA has created a Coronavirus Rumour
Control website,
in part to quell conspiracy theories about the US heading for martial law.
Others claim that the virus is a hoax, no more deadly than the common cold, but
that officials are stoking panic to undermine President Trump. Not everyone
names a specific boogeyman—rapper Cardi B had claimed that
celebrities who have tested positive for coronavirus, like Idris Elba, are
being paid to say that they have the disease by somebody for reasons—but if you
have a go-to scapegoat, it’s open season.
Anti-vaxxers think
the virus is an effort to force vaccines on them, possibly orchestrated by Bill Gates. Others
blame 5G Network. Then
there is the one everyone should always be expecting. “One of the oldest
stereotypes about the Jewish people is that they have the power to manipulate these
global events to their benefit,” says Oren Segel, vice president of the
Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “The theory is; that the Jews
have created the coronavirus in order to try to gain power at the expense of
others.” All over the world, from Iraq to the United States, people have been
spreading anti-Semitic memes and messages suggesting that Jews, or Jewish
stand-ins like George Soros, the Rothschilds, and Israel, are to blame for the
outbreak. All of this doubt contributes to behaviours that undermine efforts to
control the virus’s spread. And again, none of these things is true.
In the
internet’s darkest corners, the scapegoating is used to stir a movement that is
less conspiracy theory than actual conspiracy. According to Segel, white
supremacists and other extremists have encouraged their followers to “cough on their
local minorities,” to lick items in the Kosher section of grocery stores and
to use the growing tensions between nations and races as the impetus for “the
boogaloo,” which is what they’re calling the race war. Deliberately coughing at people while having or claiming to have COVID-19 is considered a terroristic
threat, which is a felony.
Simply
put; Minority communities do not need this right now. Violence against Asian
Americans are already rising, and, as Collins-Dexter points out, people of colour
are likely to be disproportionately impacted by both the health and economic
consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. “When America gets cold, black folks
get the flu,” she says. Segel cautions that while the number of people
participating in the most hateful of these discussions is currently low, they
are also happening at a time when the people they target are most vulnerable.
Conspiracy theories spread most easily when they stem from fear—and so does
hate.
Ruzeki is a blogger at SHADOW NEWS,
specializing in politics, internet culture and propaganda, as well as writing
about climate change and other things science-related
Shadow News is
the platform where tomorrow is realized. It is an essential source of
information and ideas that make sense of a world in constant transformation.
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