The American right is now largely defined by various debunked conspiracy theories such as the big lie about the 2020 election and, of course, those involving all things COVID. While some conspiracy theories are intentionally manufactured by those who know they are untrue (such as the 2020 election conspiracy theories) it does seem possible that other theories get their start by people simply being bad at reading things correctly. For example, consider the claim that there are microchips in the COVID vaccines because of Bill Gates.
The Verge does a step-by-step analysis of how this conspiracy theory evolved, which is an excellent example of how such conspiracy claims can arise, mutate, and propagate. The simple version is this: in a chat on Reddit, Gates predicted that people would have a digital “passport” of their health records. Some Americans who attended K-12 public schools have already used a paper version of this; my old report card envelope from my elementary school has my relevant health records in it. The idea of tattoos to mark people who had been vaccinated has also been suggested—as a solution to the problem of medical records in places where record keeping is spotty or non-existent.
Bill Gate’s prediction was picked up by a Swedish website focused on biohacking and they put forth the idea of using an implanted chip to store this information. This is not a new idea for biohackers or science fiction, but it was not Gate’s idea. However, the site used the untrue headline, “Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus.” As should surprise no one, this led to my adopted state of Florida.
Pastor Adam Fannin of Jacksonville read the post and uploaded a video to YouTube. The title is “Bill Gates – Microchip Vaccine Implants to fight Coronavirus,” which is an additional untruth on top of the untrue headline from the Swedish site. This idea spread quickly until it reached Roger Stone. The New York Post ran the headline “Roger Stone: Bill Gates may. . .
The Verge does a step-by-step analysis of how this conspiracy theory evolved, which is an excellent example of how such conspiracy claims can arise, mutate, and propagate. The simple version is this: in a chat on Reddit, Gates predicted that people would have a digital “passport” of their health records. Some Americans who attended K-12 public schools have already used a paper version of this; my old report card envelope from my elementary school has my relevant health records in it. The idea of tattoos to mark people who had been vaccinated has also been suggested—as a solution to the problem of medical records in places where record keeping is spotty or non-existent.
Bill Gate’s prediction was picked up by a Swedish website focused on biohacking and they put forth the idea of using an implanted chip to store this information. This is not a new idea for biohackers or science fiction, but it was not Gate’s idea. However, the site used the untrue headline, “Bill Gates will use microchip implants to fight coronavirus.” As should surprise no one, this led to my adopted state of Florida.
Pastor Adam Fannin of Jacksonville read the post and uploaded a video to YouTube. The title is “Bill Gates – Microchip Vaccine Implants to fight Coronavirus,” which is an additional untruth on top of the untrue headline from the Swedish site. This idea spread quickly until it reached Roger Stone. The New York Post ran the headline “Roger Stone: Bill Gates may. . .
News source: A Philosopher’s Blog
