Paul Cairney - It implies undermining the rules and notion of rules. It tends to be sensationalised. Media presence express conspiracy but in real life people behave ‘normally’. Stephen Reicher - Don’t engage with it on social media – it supports the algorithms. What does it tell us? It tells us about their relationships to the source. Why do people have that level of mistrust. How can Government challenge that. We need trust and rebuilding of respect and empowerment. Paul Cairney - Conspiracy and how to deal with it – The needs to be one to one conversations, and show respect for views. We live in a UK liberal democracy. There are clear limits to the state with assumptions that people are responsible for their own behaviour.
There have been a number of Covid patients, medical staff etc who by providing their testimonies of survival and support, are in effect challenging the negative theorists / those with conspiracy fears. The Scottish Government's role is to focus on the actual problem of Covid and the impacts it has on people, not challenging the "playground" gossips.
@Audrey - These issue is the actions of these people don't just affect them, they affect the whole of society. The greater the number of people not following restrictions or getting the vaccine, the longer it's going to take to 'eradicate' the virus. Someone not wearing a mask or refusing to get the vaccine can infect someone who is unable to (eg. immunocompromised).
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