Conspiracy theorists mistake guitar pedal diagram for “5G Chip”

Re:Conspiracy theorists mistake guitar pedal diagram for “5G... by DoofusOfDeath on Monday January 04, 2021 @04:57PM (#25638790)

> At what point do we label massive shared delusions mental illness and treat them as such?

I'm having trouble imagining how that's compatible with a democratic form of government.

A policy like that would, I think, provide a very clear roadmap for would-be dictators.

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Re:Conspiracy theorists mistake guitar pedal diagram for “5G... by dreamcompiler on Monday January 04, 2021 @05:41PM (#25639296)

Agreed. "Reeducation camps", etc. Which is why I asked the question and think about it a lot. There don't seem to be any straightforward answers.

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Re:Conspiracy theorists mistake guitar pedal diagram for “5G... by cmelbye on Monday January 04, 2021 @05:58PM (#25639468)

There is a long history of using mental illness and "anti-social behavior" as a convenient excuse to silence large groups of people, political opponents, and dissidents. Nazi eugenicists, FBI's COINTELPRO, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry

It's often not until after the fact when a society recognizes the atrocities committed under a false pretense of public well-being.

There is no easy way out of this crisis. "Eradication of a widespread mental illness that causes dangerous political ideas" is a pseudo-scientific way of describing a dictatorship or civil war.

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