Be careful what you believe

The CN&R over the years has been contacted by people who can’t resist passing along a good conspiracy theory. One, a woman in Chico who’s genial but insistent, emails links to exposés of such hidden “truths” as an environmental regime plotting world domination and a sex trafficking ring, run out of a pizzeria, tied to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Needless to say, her emails go in the round file.

There’s a fine line between vigilance and paranoia. While we don’t claim to be mental health professionals, we’re pretty good at sorting out plausible explanations from dot-connecting that’s absurd.

Take the growing buzz about lasers causing the Camp Fire. If you haven’t heard this already, feel free to pause and process: People believe lasers caused the Camp Fire. Writings, videos and photos—including one of a SpaceX rocket launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base—keep popping up online.

Internet “experts” posit that the government used “directed energy weapons” to ignite the blaze. Why? One explanation cites creating a distraction from the mass shooting in Las Vegas—subject of other conspiracy theories, incidentally. Another explanation puts the Camp Fire in a continuum with other California wildfires that purportedly clear private properties for a proposed high-speed rail route. As if the bullet train would ever stop in Paradise.

This nonsense is relatively innocuous. Laser talk feeds off anti-government sentiment already rampant in far right-wing corners of the internet and far-Northern California; it’s not doing much damage that we can see. We’re more concerned about conspiracy theories that actually harm. In this, we point the finger squarely at anti-vaxxers.

A measles outbreak that started in southwest Washington had spread to 10 states, including California, by the CN&R’s deadline. The initial outbreak occurred predominantly among unvaccinated children. That means this health crisis—measles can be fatal—was preventable. Parents let this happen, to their kids and others.

The MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) is 97 percent effective after two doses, 93 percent after one. There’s no credible scientifically established link between the MMR vaccine and autism. Don’t believe us? Myriad medical sources offer this information.

Anti-vaxxers on the progressive side may not like being lumped with the Infowars crowd. Sorry, the tinfoil hat fits. Conspiracy theories may be good for a laugh, but when they jeopardize lives, they’re no joke.