CultNEWS101 Articles: 8/20/2025

MLM, FLDS, Conspiracies, Geelong Revival Centre, Australia

The Guru: A Crypto MLM Scam is Taking Over a Mormon Town—It May Be Run by the Chinese Mafia

A crypto scam has inundated the once polygamous town of Short Creek. A man named Harvey Dockstader has roped hundreds of people into it, including one local who invested $200,000. A man in Sebastopol who invested 1 million dollars was found dead last December

CBC: Young people more prone to believe in conspiracies, research shows

" ... [P]eople younger than 35 are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories than other age groups, according to a recent study by Stockemer and co-author Jean-Nicolas Bordeleau that surveyed more than 380,000 people internationally.

The research was recently published in the journal Political Psychology.

"Conspiracy theories are now for everyone," Stockemer told CBC Radio's All In A Day, noting that between 20 and 25 per cent of the population believes in one.

"But the young are slightly more likely to believe in them."

For example, their research suggests a slight year-over-year drop in conspiracies to the point where an 80-year-old is about 10 per cent less likely to believe one than an 18-year-old."

The Age: I escaped a cult - for years I didn't even realise I was in one

"A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across the livestream for the Victorian parliament's inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups. It was launched after recent claims by former cult members, including from the Geelong Revival Centre, and as I looked at the inquiry's terms of reference I felt an unexpected fear escaping. I read about the coercive practices organised religious groups can use, their methods to recruit and retain members, and the significant psychological harm they can cause and found myself nodding along in recognition.

The next day these feelings came flooding back when I read a news story about a child in Queensland who died within a secretive cult, and the efforts of churches to expose coercion with their ranks.

"Good," I thought, surprised but pleased at this attention being drawn to a reality that has thus far remained largely hidden.

For five years, from late adolescence into my early 20s, I was in a cult. And for decades, I have carried and hidden this early part of my life, feeling great shame that I was gullible enough to be lured into such a group, and even more ashamed of the grievous mental health struggles I experienced upon leaving, as I tried to rebuild my life from scratch.

There is a perception that someone who finds themselves in a cult is different to the rest of us – perhaps more naive or vulnerable. While to some extent this is true, as it was my own early trauma history and psychological vulnerability that made me responsive to the recruitment tactics used, I have also spoken to numerous people who had healthy and safe lives, but still found themselves in these groups.

Many highly intelligent professionals have spoken to me of their time in organised high-control religious groups, and I have come to realise how common some of these groups are. But broadly, societal awareness of their existence is sorely lacking, perhaps led by misconceptions that cults demonstrate their strangest behaviours and beliefs openly for all to see.

In reality, most such groups will have a seemingly normal front, with stranger beliefs and coercion only appearing once you are embedded within the structure of the organisation and have bought in to some of their beliefs. That's when they warn you that changing your mind now would cause distress.

The word cult is often used unthinkingly. Cults are social groups that have extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Devotion to a particular person is another characteristic, and they are set apart from religious groups by the coercion and secrecy which characterises their actions. However, normal religious groups too can have these elements of coercion. Due to their secretive nature, it's difficult to determine how many cults operate in Australia, though estimates suggest approximately 3000, including some well-known ones such as The Family.

The hardest part of leaving a cult is the recognition that you are in a cult, and for me, this early stage took the longest. I was only able to make my way to this conclusion through anti-cult education resources, which allowed me to see the common patterns across high-control groups."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/22/2025

Conspiracies, Science, Victoria's Inquiry Into Cults

Cornell Chronicle: Conspiracy theorists unaware their beliefs are on the fringe

"Overconfidence is a hallmark trait of people who believe in conspiracies, and they also significantly overestimate how much others agree with them, Cornell psychology researchers have found. The study indicates that belief in conspiracies may be less about a person's needs and motivations and more about their failure to recognize that they might be wrong.

Conspiracy believers not only consistently overestimates their performance on numeracy and perception tests, revealing they tend to be less analytic in the way they think. They also are genuinely unaware that their beliefs are on the fringe, thinking themselves to be in the majority 93% of the time, according to the research. The work counters previous theories that people believe conspiracies essentially because they want to, out of narcissism or to appear unique.

"This group of people are really miscalibrated from reality," said Gordon Pennycook, associate professor of psychology and the Himan Brown Faculty Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences. "In many cases, they believe something that very few people agree with. Not only is it something that doesn't make a lot of sense, based on what we know about the world, but they also have no idea how far out in the fringe they are. They think they are in the majority in most cases, even if they're in a tiny minority."

Pennycook is the corresponding author of "Overconfidently Conspiratorial: Conspiracy Believers are Dispositionally Overconfident and Massively Overestimate How Much Others Agree with Them," which was published May 24 in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Jabin Binnendyk, a doctoral student in psychology, and David G. Rand of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are co-authors.

Rand and Pennycook started this research in 2018, observing that people who believe conspiracies seem to have a real faith in their own cognitive abilities, "which is paradoxical," Pennycook said, "because prior work has shown that people who believe in conspiracies tend to be more intuitive."

The researchers conducted eight studies with 4,181 U.S. adults. Four studies assessed participants' levels of overconfidence using tests of perception, numeracy and cognitive reflection. Because overconfidence is difficult to measure – those who are the most incompetent are the least able to recognize their own incompetence, Pennycook said – the researchers used a new measurement approach to account for this effect. Rather than completing specific tests with measurable outcomes, participants were given tasks where actual performance and their perceived performances were unrelated, such as quickly discerning an image so obscured, they essentially have to guess what it is."

The Conversation: Articles on Doing science

Research replication can determine how well science is working – but how do scientists replicate studies?

Amanda Kay Montoya, University of California, Los Angeles

What is peer review? The role anonymous experts play in scrutinizing research before it gets published

Joshua Winowiecki, Michigan State University

Scientific norms shape the behavior of researchers working for the greater good

Jeffrey A. Lee, Texas Tech University

While rarely explicitly taught to scientists in training, a set of common values guides science in the quest to advance knowledge while being ethical and trustworthy.

Lifecycle of a research grant – behind the scenes of the system that funds science

Kelly S. Mix, University of Maryland

A scholar reveals the ins and outs of how research gets funded, including the checks and balances that ensure high scientific standards and financial integrity at every stage of a grant's life cycle.

The Guardian: Victorian government opposes Moira Deeming-backed push to include 'transgender ideology' in cults inquiry

"Liberal MP urges people to make submissions to inquiry as Labor insists it will look into harmful and coercive groups, not target trans communities"

"Victoria's equality minister says the government will oppose a push to examine "transgender ideology" as part of an upcoming inquiry into cults.

Earlier this month, anti-trans lobby group Binary published a blog post saying the Liberal party MP Moira Deeming was "urging people to make submissions" to the parliamentary inquiry into cults and organised fringe groups and had "shared a helpful document with suggested answers".

Deeming has told Guardian Australia she distributed the document that claims transgender ideology "operates like a cult and harms people in the same way".

The six-page document offers "tips" for people who believe "transgender ideology is harmful and cult-like" and stresses submissions highlighting three key elements – manipulation, domination and psychological harm."

" ... [T]he minister for equality, Vicki Ward, said the inquiry would not cover gender identity or healthcare, as the issues were outside its scope.

"This inquiry has been established to examine harmful and coercive groups, not target trans and gender diverse communities," Ward said.

"In Victoria, equality is not negotiable. We will continue to fight discrimination and ensure all Victorians can live safely, wholly and freely as their authentic selves.'"

‘Cults like us’: Why cults are as American as apple pie

Gavin Newsham

NY Post

March 22, 2025

“We all have an idea of what constitutes a cult,” writes author Jane Borden in “Cults Like Us – Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America” (One Signal Publishers). “The word cult conjures a mental picture: a group of beautiful young people dancing trancelike in the sun, probably aspiring actors in Los Angeles who took a wrong turn at the beach and landed in an orgy.” 

But that image couldn’t be further from the truth and in “Cults Like Us” Borden charts not just the murky history of cult ideologies in America, but how the country remains a breeding ground for cult-like thinking.

“It informs our suppositions about American identity and our very understanding of the immutable self,” she writes. “It undergirds every vote, purchase, prejudice, and social-media post. Like fish that don’t know water, we swim through it without recognition.”

Ever since the Pilgrim Fathers arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 with almost cultish puritanical beliefs, the nation has been susceptible to cult ideologies.

“But their Puritan doomsday beliefs didn’t go away; they became American culture,” she says.

And, as Borden explains, the meaning of ‘cult’ has shifted from the original Latin, cultus (meaning any religion or religious practice), to something more derogatory, taking in fanatics, enthusiasts and imposters. “Today,” adds Borden, “cult carries strong valences of deception, abuse, and charlatanism.”

But because of the First Amendment and, argues Borden, a nation ripe for indoctrination, non-traditional groups once treated with suspicion, like the Christian Scientists and Jehovah’s Witnesses, are now established and institutionalized religions.

And with that recognition comes many benefits.

“If they can secure church status, we don’t even ask for taxes,” she adds. 

We all know the notorious cults of our time, like the Manson Family and David Koresh’s Branch Davidians, but today the number of cultlike groups in the United States is growing exponentially and Borden estimates there are now around 10,000 such organizations nationwide. 

Indeed, they might now be viewed as integral parts of our national psyche rather than simple aberrations. “Destructive cults and extreme belief systems are not unique to America, of course,” adds Borden. “But Americans certainly tolerate them more.”

Whatever the group, cults share similar characteristics; a demagogue at the helm, notions of exceptionalism, and, invariably, a ‘Doomsday’ endgame.

They also strive to pit members against a supposed adversary, irrespective of any threat posed.

“When cult leaders, con artists, grifters, demagogues, dictators, domestic abusers, or other selfish dillweeds wish to manipulate or exploit others, all they need to do is raise the specter of an outside enemy,” writes Borden.

“Any will do, it doesn’t matter which.”

Some of the case studies Borden examines in ‘Cults Like Us’ verge on the ridiculous.

Take Arthur Bell, leader of California’s Mankind United cult in the 1930s who convinced 14,000 members to part with their cash so he could take the fight against the conspiratorial web of ‘Hidden Rulers’ who, he claimed, were responsible for all the world’s ills, from wars to famines and even the Great Depression.

Like most cults, Bell’s sales pitch was based on a conspiracy theory where the enemy is “unfathomably powerful” and that only he, with the backing of his members, could do anything about it.

As Borden explains, it’s a common theme. “Cults and conspiracy theories are kissing cousins: they share DNA, often look alike, and sometimes get married,” she says.

But it’s this call to rebel against elites targeting everyday folk that has been the rallying cry of demagogues since the dawn of the nation – and will continue to be, says Borden. “Because these fears are deeply ingrained in us, they are often employed to manipulate us,” she writes. 

For cult leaders, it’s personal gain that drives recruitment campaigns. “Voter feelings are all that matter to a demagogue, who stokes fears, bends the truth or outright lies, and builds fanatic followings instead of platforms,” adds Borden.

https://nypost.com/2025/03/22/lifestyle/why-cults-are-as-american-as-apple-pie/

'Cult' members guilty of trying to kidnap coroner

Lewis Adams

BBC News, at Chelmsford Crown Court

July 30, 2024

Married couple Sean and Shiza Harper were part of a group who planned to inflict "corporal punishment" on senior coroner Lincoln Brookes

Members of an "anti-establishment cult" who stormed into a court with handcuffs have been found guilty of trying to kidnap a coroner.

Mark Christopher, 59, Matthew Martin, 47, Shiza Harper, 45, and Sean Harper, 38, wanted to "shut down" Essex Coroner's Court and abduct senior coroner Lincoln Brookes in April 2023.

They were part of a "conspiracy theory" group who believed they could overrule the judicial system in England and Wales, a trial heard.

All four have been found guilty at Chelmsford Crown Court of conspiracy to kidnap and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.

Christopher was also found guilty of sending a letter or email with intent to cause distress or anxiety.

Martin was cleared of assault by beating and criminal damage by the jury.

The defendants, from Essex and east London, will be sentenced in September, Mr Justice Goss said.

Giving evidence during the eight-day trial, Mr Brookes said the plot left him "fearful for the safety of my family".

He "started driving home as fast as I could" upon being told the group had entered Courtroom 2 at Seax House, Chelmsford, while he was on his way there.

Allister Walker, prosecuting, told jurors it was only "by chance" that a last-minute family matter had delayed Mr Brookes’s arrival at work.

'Conspiracy theory'

Det Ch Insp Nathan Hutchinson said it had been an "intimidating and traumatising ordeal" for all involved.

"The ideologies of this group were concerning and they genuinely believed that they had the power to construct their own legal system, threaten others and were above English law," he said.

The defendants were part of an online subscription-based movement called the Federal Postal Court, which had self-conferred legal powers, the trial heard.

Christopher, from Forest Gate, east London, was the chief judge, with Martin and Sean Harper his sheriffs and Shiza Harper a "postal inspector".

Mr Walker said they had a "significant following" online and described the group as an "anti-establishment protest, cult or conspiracy theory".

The defendants told the trial that Christopher, who sold online courses for thousands of pounds, was their "teacher" and they were his students – and that the allegations had been "blown way out of proportion".

Mr Brookes said he was alerted to them entering Essex Coroner’s Court by his colleague, area coroner Michelle Brown, who told him "they are coming to get you".

"Because of what she said I turned around and started driving home as fast as I could because I was fearful for the safety of my family," he said.

Becoming tearful in the witness box, he added: "I pulled over, in fact, because I was a bit upset."

Ms Brown, who was in the middle of an inquest hearing when the group entered the court, said they accused her of "interfering with the dead".

"I was very afraid. They clearly were not bothered by any authority," she told the jury.

The incident followed Mr Brookes being sent a series of letters between March 2022 and April 2023, accusing him of being a "detrimental necromancer" who must face corporal punishment.

"I thought this was odd, to say the least," Mr Brookes said.

Representing himself during the trial, Sean Harper, from South Benfleet, Essex, said the group had been in Chelmsford to "shed light" on "fraudulent" activities taking place at the court.

"There was no violence from us, we wasn’t there to be violent – we do everything by the pen,” he said.

His wife, Shiza Harper, said they did not want to create "animosity" or "friction" – they intended to "stop the fraud".

Martin, from Plaistow, east London, claimed to have been acting with King Charles III’s approval to tackle "state child trafficking".

Christopher declined to give evidence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0xj25y20nqo

CultNEWS101 Articles: 7/23/2024 (The Saints, Medical Abuse, Australia, Legal, Lev Taho Conspiracy Theories)

The Saints, Medical Abuse, Australia, Legal, Lev Tahor Conspiracy Theories

News AU: 'Already on the other side of death': Flurry of texts from cult-like religious group as diabetic girl lay dying

Alleged texts sent by members of a cult-like religious group as a young girl lay dying from insulin withdrawal have been revealed.

"Texts sent by members of a cult-like religious circle on trial over the death of a young diabetic girl have been revealed in court, including one from her father to the group's leader.

Elizabeth Rose Struhs, 8, allegedly suffered for days after members of the circle – which included her parents and older brother – withheld her lifesaving insulin for days in January 2022.

She spent days vomiting, struggling to use the toilet, and eventually falling into unconsciousness before she died between January 6-7 that year.

Elizabeth's father Jason Richard Struhs, 57, and 62-year-old Brendan Luke Stevens – the leader of the religious group known as The Saints – are both charged with her murder."

JNS: Three leaders of Lev Tahor cult sentenced to more than a dozen years each

"The three brothers Yakov, 34, Shmiel, 28, and Yoil Weingarten, 36—all leaders of the Guatemala-based Lev Tahor cult—were sentenced to 14, 14 and a dozen years, respectively, on Tuesday for "child sexual exploitation and kidnapping offenses," the U.S. Justice Department stated. Each will also have five subsequent years of supervised release.

"The sentencing of the Weingarten brothers holds them accountable for kidnapping children from their mother in the middle of the night, including for the purpose of coercing a child into a sexual relationship with an adult," said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York."

ABC Australia: These former conspiracy theory believers were deep down the rabbit hole. Here's what pulled them out

" ... When Joel Hill's friend and sister were both seriously ill and needed medical intervention to stay alive, it threw his world of conspiracy theory beliefs into chaos.

Joel, who lives in Sydney, was born into conspiracy theories, in a family where alternative beliefs were shared. He grew up being congratulated by adults around him for his knowledge about conspiracies.

They included theories like the government is "trying to dumb us down with fluoride in the water … to make sure that you don't revolt and overthrow the government because they're inherently evil" — and that modern medicine is "the enemy".

He believed vaccines were poison designed to make people more sick so they had to buy more medicine.

It wasn't always a very positive existence."

Vice: Where Conspiracy Theorists Steal Their Ideas From

Hollywood and pulp fiction have unwittingly—and sometimes intentionally—spawned real-world conspiracy theories, from lizard people to the #Illuminati.

"In The Truth Hurts, a series of VICE documentaries, Bupé Bhima explored the roots and spread of modern conspiracy theories: why they're dangerous and how they become violent. After conducting extensive research into where conspiracy theories come from, the results were surprisingly out in the open. In fact, they're right in front of our very eyes.

"Here's an unfortunate red pill for the conspiracy community: Whole sections of your worldview have been ripped off from random bits of pop culture trash. Hollywood blockbusters, daytime TV, pulp novels, and kids' comic books," Bhima said.

One of the most well-known conspiracy theorists is David Icke, a former professional soccer player who declared he was the son of God on a British talk show around 30 years ago. Since then, he's developed countless theories, claiming a race of shapeshifting, pan-dimensional lizard men were set to take over the world. He publicly claimed the coronavirus was a hoax—a narrative that got Icke banned from traveling to much of Europe."

News, Education, Intervention, Recovery

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Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.

CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.

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Conspiracy Beliefs and Consumption: The Role of Scientific Literacy

Conspiracy Beliefs and Consumption: The Role of Scientific Literacy
Nathan Allred, Lisa E Bolton
Journal of Consumer Research, ucae024, https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucae024
Published: 10 April 2024

PDF

Abstract

Conspiracy theories pose risks to consumers, businesses, and society. The present research investigates the role of scientific literacy in a variety of conspiracy beliefs with implications for consumer well-being and sustainability (e.g., regarding coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19], genetically modified organisms, and climate change). In contrast to the mixed effects of education in prior work, we find that scientific literacy undermines conspiracy beliefs and, in turn, conspiracy-related behaviors. This finding is explained by people’s ability to use two dimensions of scientific literacy—scientific knowledge and reasoning—to accurately assess conspiracy evidence. For robustness, we assess scientific literacy through both measurement and manipulation (i.e., interventions), identify two moderators (evidence strength and narration) that attenuate the effect, and further validate our theorizing using national and international datasets (regarding COVID-19 vaccination and Google search, respectively). We discuss the implications of our findings for consumers, companies, nonprofit organizations, and governments.

https://academic.oup.com/jcr/advance-article/doi/10.1093/jcr/ucae024/7643726?login=false

Scientific literacy undermines conspiracy beliefs

Vladimir Hedrih

PsyPost

July 11, 2024

A series of ten studies has shown that scientific literacy reduces belief in conspiracy theories. Improving people’s ability to assess evidence through increased scientific literacy makes them less likely to endorse such beliefs. The key aspects of scientific literacy contributing to this effect are scientific knowledge and scientific reasoning. The research findings were published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

Conspiracy beliefs are beliefs that certain events or situations are the result of secret plots by powerful groups or individuals, rather than by chance or acknowledged causes. In these narratives, the powerful groups are often portrayed as having malevolent intentions towards the general population.

For instance, some people believe the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was deliberately orchestrated, or that genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are harmful while authorities conceal this information. Others think space aliens visit Earth, with governments hiding this fact from the public. Numerous similar conspiracy beliefs exist, and studies suggest that about 75% of the U.S. population either believes in conspiracies or knows someone who does.

While some conspiracy beliefs are rather harmless, other types of such beliefs can cause harm to the society (e.g. by making believers refuse vaccinations and thus prolonging epidemics) or the individual (e.g. refusing a medical treatment for a disease although effective cures are available). That is why scientists intensely study factors that affect the likelihood that individuals will endorse conspiracy beliefs.

One such potential factor is scientific literacy. Scientific literacy is a combination of factual knowledge of scientific topics combined with critical thinking ability that comes from the understanding of scientific reasoning. These two components of scientific literacy, combined together, might allow people to recognize incorrect evidence and flawed reasoning promoted by conspiracy theories.

Study authors Nathan Allred and Lisa E. Bolton wanted to test whether scientific literacy really makes a person less prone to endorse conspiracy beliefs. They hypothesized that educational interventions that improve scientific knowledge or reasoning will undermine conspiracy beliefs and that this will happen because people will become better able to evaluate evidence. They conducted a series of studies.

In their first analysis, these researchers examined Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scientific literacy data from 79 countries, pairing it with data on Google searches about conspiracy topics in those countries and conspiracy belief assessments provided by the YouGov Cambridge Globalism study. Results showed that conspiracy beliefs and Google searches about conspiracies tended to be lower in countries where average PISA scientific literacy scores were better.

Another study by these researchers involved 107 participants from four community events focused on science and COVID-19 skepticism. A survey of 97 Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) workers yielded similar results: individuals with higher scientific knowledge were less likely to endorse conspiracy beliefs.

Next, the researchers conducted two experiments with participants recruited via Prolific. In one experiment, participants watched either a video on a scientific topic relevant to a conspiracy theory or a video on a historical topic, then reported their conspiracy beliefs. The topic was nuclear energy, with the conspiracy belief being that cancer rates increased after the first nuclear reactor was built.

The second experiment had a similar setup but focused on improving scientific reasoning through a video about the difference between correlation and causation. Both experiments demonstrated that enhancing scientific knowledge and reasoning reduced conspiracy beliefs. Participants who watched videos on nuclear energy or scientific reasoning reported lower conspiracy beliefs than those who watched videos on historical topics.

Further experiments confirmed these findings, showing that scientific literacy reduces conspiracy beliefs particularly when participants engage in reasoning about the topic. If participants were simply asked to create a story about the topic without reasoning, scientific literacy did not significantly impact conspiracy beliefs. Another study indicated that the link between scientific literacy and reduced conspiracy beliefs was strongest when the evidence about the belief topic was weak.

“Across 10 studies, we find that scientific literacy undermines conspiracy beliefs and conspiracy-related behavior. We observe this relationship in international secondary data (study 1A), a high-conspiracy sample (study 1B), and a highly educated sample (study 1C) of consumers. We also propose and find evidence via both measurement (study 2A) and manipulation (via short video interventions; studies 2B and 2C) for the role of each dimension of scientific literacy—scientific knowledge and reasoning—and their impact on evidence evaluation and conspiracy beliefs. Specifically, we theorize and find that scientific literacy improves evidence evaluation (studies 2B and 2C; supplemental study); hence, the effect of scientific literacy emerges when evidence is weaker (study 3A) and emphasizes reasoning (rather than narration) (study 3B).”, study authors concluded.

“Lastly, we demonstrated robustness by testing the effectiveness of a scientific literacy intervention on incentive-aligned choice over time (study 4A), for established and novel conspiracy beliefs among consumers more versus less prone to conspiracy belief (study 4B), and in the US population using state-level data regarding vaccination behavior (study 4C). Together, these findings (using individual, state, and international data) shed light on how scientific literacy undermines conspiracy beliefs while demonstrating important consequences for individuals, business, and society.”

This series of studies makes a compelling case for the impact of scientific literacy on reducing conspiracy beliefs. However, most of the studies relied on self-reports about conspiracy beliefs in a situation where the study authors’ goals were likely transparent to participants, leaving some room for reporting bias to affect the results.

The research, “Conspiracy Beliefs and Consumption: The Role of Scientific Literacy,” was authored by Nathan Allred and Lisa E. Bolton.

https://www.psypost.org/scientific-literacy-undermines-conspiracy-beliefs/

Where Conspiracy Theorists Steal Their Ideas From

Vice

For as long as they’ve existed, conspiracy theories have been laughed off by the mainstream for being too ‘far-fetched’. But actually, many of them haven’t been fetched from very far away at all. 

In fact, lots of the biggest ones have been lifted straight from pop culture. Bupe Bhima looks at the books, films, shows and songs that have been giving conspiracy theorists sleepless nights for decades.

These former conspiracy theory believers were deep down the rabbit hole. Here's what pulled them out

Anna Kelsey-Sugg

All in the Mind

July 13, 2024

When Joel Hill's friend and sister were both seriously ill, and needed medical intervention to stay alive, it threw his world of conspiracy theory beliefs into chaos.

Joel, who lives in Sydney, was born into conspiracy theories, in a family where alternative beliefs were shared. He grew up being congratulated by adults around him for his knowledge about conspiracies.

They included theories like the government is "trying to dumb us down with fluoride in the water … to make sure that you don't revolt and overthrow the government, because they're inherently evil" — and that modern medicine is "the enemy".

He believed vaccines were poison designed to make people more sick so they had to buy more medicine. 

It wasn't always a very positive existence.

"[The idea that] there will always be a bad guy who is two steps ahead of you and has something very unpleasant planned for your future — that kind of sucks," he tells ABC RN's All in the Mind.

Listen to All In The Mind

All in the Mind is an exploration of the mental: the mind, brain and behaviour — everything from addiction to artificial intelligence.

Melbourne-based Jules Diamond, a former conspiracy believer and ex-anti-vaxxer, also distrusted medicine, as well as the government.

"I wouldn't even take painkillers … I really took literally that my body could heal itself," she says.

She first encountered conspiracies when she was 15 and homeless, and came into contact with a very insular, alternative community in New Zealand. 

She says they took her in on the condition that she took on the beliefs of the group, like "the government lied to you [and] they're tracking your phone".

Jules Diamond, with brown hair and short fringe, stands inside with windows behind her, smiling with closed mouth.

Both Jules and Joel now firmly reject their past beliefs, but getting to this point hasn't been easy. 

Along with two other former conspiracists, they explain how they escaped the rabbit hole — and what prompted them to change their minds.

How do you get out of the rabbit hole?

A traumatic childhood experience and being completely abandoned as a young person led Jules into homelessness. 

"I was really desperate for meaning and understanding, I was just trying to make sense of everything," she says.

The ideas the alternative group in New Zealand introduced her to were, she says, "keeping me together".

"Those ideas were making me who I was."

How Stephanie finally ditched conspiracy theories

In the depths of the conspiracy world, Stephanie Kemmerer hated herself and everyone around her. Here's how she finally escaped.

But years later, she'd moved to Australia and cut ties with that group. And while she held onto her old beliefs for a long time, they finally started to waver when she found a new community of friends in her late-30s.

Powerfully, they accepted her not because of her ideologies, but just because of who she was.

"I actually get emotional when I think about that, because I think that's the key thing, is that being accepted, which I didn't get because I was rejected. I think that was definitely the beginning," she says.

Another turning point was a confronting conversation with her son.

"He basically said to me, 'You're stupid. You've made the wrong decision. You're an idiot.'

"And I just knew it was a moment where I needed to meet my son and I needed to be the adult and I needed to change my mind. And I needed to educate myself."

Conspiracy theories shift to the right

Joel's faith in conspiracy theories started to waver around the time when US president Barack Obama was elected and "a lot of the conspiratorial usual suspects … became a lot more right wing".

He says blatant anti-Semitism was starting to linger around the edges of some conspiracy theories, and climate change denial was creeping in too, which didn't align with his politics.

"I didn't stop believing in conspiracy theories, I became repelled by them, sort of disgusted by a lot of the voices that I used to respect," he says.

Then his big-pharma conspiracy theories started to come undone when the power of mainstream medicine hit very close to home. 

"My podcast co-host, Peter Hoysted, had cancer and survived through a lot of medical intervention and he would have absolutely died otherwise. My sister [had] brain tumours [and] medical science has kept her alive and that is definitely for the betterment of society.

"It's really hard to see your good friend and your sister saved by the enemy and then still consider it to be evil," he says.

Finally leaving the world of conspiracy theories was a relief. 

"Back then I was much angrier ... I was slightly more narcissistic," he says.

"When you don't feel that those [beliefs] are things you rely on to have a sense of self, or a sense of person, that can be quite liberating."

Escaping the QAnon rabbit hole

When Erica (surname withheld) was most entrenched in the conspiracy theory movement, she wasn't sleeping properly, her weight had plummeted and she was snapping at her kids. 

Her behaviour had changed; she was hateful, paranoid.

"People thought that I was losing my mind — and I was," she says.

Close up of eyes of woman wearing glasses, with laptop screen reflecting in the glasses.

For around a decade Erica had held false beliefs like climate change is a hoax and mass shootings are staged by US government anti-gun lobbyists.

"At first it was fun, you know, finding little clues … it didn't feel harmful," says US-based Erica.

Then, in late 2017, she signed up for Twitter, now known as X.

"It was probably the worst thing I've ever done. It ruined my life ... Pretty much from there I was gone," she says.

It was on that social media platform that she encountered the conspiracy theory QAnon, whose believers broadly and falsely claim that Donald Trump is waging a secret war against corrupt and child-abusing elites, including parts of government or the "deep state".

"They believe that Trump is there to save the world from the child-eating paedophilic Democrats of the world," Erica says.

Over the next couple of years she became so involved with QAnon that she was recruited as an admin for its Telegram (encrypted messaging platform) channels. Her job was to look out for any "nefarious actors" in the channel.

This might include, for example, someone criticising a QAnon higher-up.

It was extremely taxing work and to keep up with it, Erica, a single mum, was spending 18 to 20 hours a day on her phone.

"I unfortunately got stuck with the night shift most of the time [despite QAnon organisers] knowing that I was a single mum," she says.

"These people wouldn't care."

'Silly' vs serious conspiracies

US-based QAnon expert and former conspiracy theorist Mike Rain (not his real surname) says it's important to distinguish between "regular conspiracy theories" and what he calls "grand unifying conspiracy theories" — such as QAnon.

Mike Rain, with glasses and long, grey beard, looks into camera with neutral expression.

"A regular conspiracy theory could be stuff like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster … these little silly niche things," Mike says.

"A grand unifying conspiracy theory explains the whole world and everything that's going on with it. It explains why there was an earthquake, why there was a mass shooting, why the president was elected and who elected him, why COVID happened.

"The prism of reality gets completely distorted."

And the tone of these kinds of theories is consistently negative.

"[They] are basically saying the world sucks … Bad people run everything. We're screwed," Mike says.

"You wake up every day and you're mad at the world.

"So many of these conspiracy theorists will make posts about how 'I can't follow sports anymore because it's rigged'. 'I can't listen to music anymore because I know it's all done by Satan to brainwash me.' 'I can't watch movies because I know it's all Illuminati propaganda.'

"You just create this cocoon around yourself where you can't enjoy anything, because the world is bad and that makes it really bleak and miserable."

Mike says he was only a few steps away from tipping over into grand unifying conspiracies before he managed to get out. 

He spent years believing the JFK assassination was staged by the US government and former president George W Bush was behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.

His turning point came in 2004 when a friend called him a "moron" for thinking that then-resident Bush orchestrated the 9/11 attacks. It was a jarring moment.

"My mindset was just that everyone believed as I believed. I thought that all liberals hated George W Bush and we all thought he did 9/11 and that was just standard."

It shook him to learn that wasn't the case, and to realise "I was actually fringe". 

"I was the person buying into crank stuff ... It really changed my perspective," he says.

Craving 'something normal'

Erica's moment of change came after she began noticing something shocking in one of the Telegram channels she was responsible for tracking, which focused on debunking QAnon theories.

"These [non-conspiracists] were Republicans and Democrats … and they got along, they could have conversations with each other," she says.

"Watching it was fascinating because I thought, well, I kind of want that. 

"I want to talk about something normal."

Her curiosity tipped over into action one day, when she contacted the owner of the channel, who connected Erica with an expert in QAnon — a woman whose family member had fallen into its clutches.

"That person, she saved me," Erica says, beginning to cry.

Erica had questions, and the woman gave answers, offering up detail from disinformation experts and QAnon watchers.

"She was gentle, it was baby steps. It's like learning to walk all over again."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-14/former-conspiracy-theory-believers-changed-their-minds/103999008