COVID: Top 10 current conspiracy theories.

 COVID: Top 10 current conspiracy theories.

As the COVID-19 crisis worsens, the world also faces a global misinformation pandemic. Conspiracy theories that behave like viruses themselves are spreading just as rapidly online as SARS-CoV-2 does offline. Here are the top 10 conspiracy theories making the rounds.

COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist

According to professional conspiracy theorists like David Icke and InfoWars’ Alex Jones, COVID-19 doesn’t actually exist, but is a plot by the globalist elite to take away our freedoms. Early weaker versions of this theory were prevalent on the political right in the notion that the novel coronavirus would be “no worse than flu” and later versions are now influencing anti-lockdown protests across several states in the US. Because believers increasingly refuse to observe social distancing measures, they could directly help to spread the epidemic further in their localities and increase the resulting death rate. The pandemic is being manipulated by the ‘deep state’

Some believe that a “deep state” of America’s elite is plotting to undermine the president — and that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of the US coronavirus pandemic response — is a secret member. Fauci’s expression of disbelief when the deep state was mentioned during a press briefing supposedly gave the game away.

Blaming 5G

This conspiracy theory should be easy to debunk: it is biologically impossible for viruses to spread using the electromagnetic spectrum. The latter are waves/photons, while the former are biological particles composed of proteins and nucleic acids. But that isn’t really the point — conspiracy theories are enticing because they often link two things which at first might appear be correlated; in this case, the rapid rollout of 5G networks was taking place at the same time the pandemic hit. Cue a viral meme linking the two, avidly promoted by anti-vaccine activists who have long been spreading fears about electromagnetic radiation, egged on by the Kremlin. It’s worth repeating, as the World Health Organization (WHO) points out, that viruses cannot travel on mobile networks, and that COVID-19 is spreading rapidly in many countries that do not have 5G networks. Even so, this conspiracy theory — after being spread by celebrities with big social media followings — has led to cellphone towers being set on fire in the UK and elsewhere. Bill Gates as scapegoat

Most conspiracy theories, like the viruses they resemble, constantly mutate and have several variants circulating at any one time. Many of these plots and subplots seem to involve Bill Gates, who became a new target of disinformation after gently criticizing the defunding of the World Health Organization. According to the New York Times, anti-vaxxers, members of QAnon and right-wing pundits have seized on a video of a 2015 Ted talk given by Gates — where he discussed the Ebola outbreak and warned of a new pandemic — to bolster their claims he had foreknowledge of the COVID pandemic or even purposely caused it. A recent variant of this conspiracy theory, particularly beloved by anti-vaccination activists, is the idea that COVID is part of a dastardly Gates-led plot to vaccinate the world’s population. There is some truth in this, of course: vaccinating much of the world’s population may well be the only way to avoid an eventual death toll in the tens of millions. But anti-vaxxers don’t believe vaccines work. Instead some have spread the myth that Gates wants to use a vaccination program to implant digital microchips that will somehow track and control people. The spread of misinformation has meant that ID2020, a small non-profit that focuses on establishing digital IDs for poorer people around the world, has had to call in the FBI. (The Cornell Alliance for Science is partly funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.) The virus escaped from a Chinese lab

This one at least has the benefit of being plausible. It is true that the original epicenter of the epidemic, the Chinese city of Wuhan, also hosts a virology institute where researchers have been studying bat coronaviruses for a long time. One of these researchers, Shi Zhengli, a prominent virologist who spent years collecting bat dung samples in caves and was a lead expert on the earlier SARS outbreak, was sufficiently concerned about the prospect that she spent days frantically checking lab records to see if anything had gone wrong. She admits breathing a “sigh of relief” when genetic sequencing showed that the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus did not match any of the viruses sampled and studied in the Wuhan Institute of Virology by her team. However, the sheer coincidence of China’s lead institute studying bat coronaviruses being in the same city as the origin of the COVID outbreak has proven too juicy for conspiracists to resist. The idea was seeded originally via a slick hour-long documentary produced by the Epoch Times, an English-language news outlet based in the United States with links to the Falun Gong religious cult that has long been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Epoch Times insists on calling COVID “the CCP virus” in all its coverage. The theory has now tipped into the mainstream, being reported in the Washington Post, the Times (UK) and many other outlets. COVID was created as a biological weapon

A spicier variant is that COVID not only escaped from a lab, but it was intentionally created by Chinese scientists as a biowarfare weapon. According to Pew Research, “nearly three-in-10 Americans believe that COVID-19 was made in a lab,” either intentionally or accidentally (the former is more popular: specifically, 23 percent believe it was developed intentionally, with only 6 percent believing it was an accident). This theory that the Chinese somehow created the virus is particularly popular on the US political right. It gained mainstream coverage thanks to US Sen. Tom Cotton (Republican, Arkansas) who amplified theories first aired in the Washington Examiner (a highly conservative media outlet) that the Wuhan Institute of Virology “is linked to Beijing’s covert bio-weapons program.” This theory can be easily debunked now that there is unambiguous scientific evidence — thanks to genetic sequencing — that the SARS-CoV-2 virus has entirely natural origins as a zoonotic virus originating in bats. The Examiner has since added a correction at the top of the original piece admitting the story is probably false. The US military imported COVID into China

The Chinese government responded to the anti-China theories with a conspiracy theory of its own that seeks to turn blame back around onto the United States. This idea was spread initially by Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, who Tweeted “it’s possible that the US military brought the virus to Wuhan.” These comments, according to Voice of America news, “echoed a rumored conspiracy, widely circulated in China, that US military personnel had brought the virus to China during their participation in the 2019 Military World Games in Wuhan last October.” For China, as the Atlantic reported, this conspiracy theory, and an accompanying attempt to rename COVID the “USA virus,”’ was a transparent “geopolitical ploy” — useful for domestic propaganda but not widely believed internationally. GMOs are somehow to blame

Genetically modified crops have been a target of conspiracy theorists for years, so it was hardly a surprise to see GMOs blamed in the early stages of the COVID pandemic. In early March, Italian attorney Francesco Billota penned a bizarre article for Il Manifesto, falsely claiming that GM crops cause genetic pollution that allows viruses to proliferate due to the resulting environmental “imbalance.” Anti-GMO activists have also tried to blame modern agriculture, which is strange, since the known path of the virus into the human population — as with Ebola, HIV and many others — was through the very ancient practice of people capturing and killing wildlife. Ironically, GMOs will almost certainly be part of any vaccine solution. If any of the ongoing 70 vaccine projects work (which is a big if), that would be pretty much the only guaranteed way the world can get out of the COVID mess. Vaccines could be based on either GM attenuated viruses or use antigens produced in GM insect cell lines or plants. If GMOs do help save the world from the curse of COVID, maybe they’ll stop being a dirty word.

COVID is a plot by Big Pharma

Many conspiracy theory promoters are in reality clever actors trying to sell quack products. Alex Jones, between rants about hoaxes and the New World Order, urges viewers to buy expensive miracle pills that he claims can cure all known diseases. Dr. Mercola, a quack anti-vax and anti-GMO medic who has been banned from Google due to peddling misinformation, claims that vitamins (and numerous other products he sells) can cure or prevent COVID. NaturalNews, another conspiracist site, sells all manner of pills, potions and prepper gear. These conspiracists depend for their market on getting people to believe that evidence-based (i.e. conventional) medicine doesn’t work and is a plot by big pharmaceutical companies to make us ill. Big Pharma conspiracies are a staple of anti-vaccination narratives, so it is hardly surprising that they have transmuted into the age of the coronavirus. COVID death rates are inflated

Another far-right meme is the idea that COVID death rates are being inflated and therefore there is no reason to observe lockdown regulations or other social distancing measures. Prominent in promoting this myth is Dr. Annie Bukacek, whose speech warning that COVID death certificates are being manipulated has been viewed more than a quarter of a million times on YouTube. Bukacek appears in a white lab coat and with a stethoscope around her neck, making her look like an authoritative medical source. Dig a little deeper, however, as Rolling Stone magazine did, and it turns out she’s actually a far-right anti-vaccination and anti-abortion activist, previously noted for bringing tiny plastic fetuses into the Montana state legislature. Her insistence that COVID death rates are inflated has, of course, no basis in fact. More likely the current death toll is a serious under-count. T0 further clarify the issue, the Centers for Disease Control has published information about excess deaths associated with COVID-19. How to recognize and debunk conspiracy theories

It is important to speak out and combat online misinformation and conspiracist narratives, whether on COVID or climate change or anything else. This handbook (PDF) by John Cook and Stephan Lewandowsky, both of whom have extensive experience in combating climate denialism, is an essential tool. BY MARK LYNAS APRIL 20, 2020 https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/blog/2020/04/covid-top-10-current-conspiracy-theories/ Coronavirus, ‘Plandemic’ and the seven traits of conspiratorial thinking.. https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-plandemic-and-the-seven-traits-of-conspiratorial-thinking-138483 How to handle COVID-19 conspiracy theorists in the family.. https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/how-to-handle-covid-19-conspiracy-theorists-in-the-family-1.5101382 The coronavirus pandemic 'Great Reset' theory and a false vaccine claim debunked.. https://www.bbc.com/news/55017002 How Covid-19 myths are merging with the QAnon conspiracy theory.. https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-53997203 Truth Tracker: 'Plandemic' video full of false conspiracy theories about COVID-19 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/truth-tracker-plandemic-video-full-of-false-conspiracy-theories-about-covid-19-1.4935399 Nine COVID-19 Myths That Just Won’t Go Away.. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nine-covid-19-myths-that-just-wont-go-away/ How the 'Plandemic' conspiracy theory took hold.. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/23/how-the-plandemic-conspiracy-theory-took-hold Why the Pandemic is Turning So Many People into Conspiracy Theorists. https://nationalpost.com/opinion/john-robson-there-are-no-covid-conspiracies-just-people-who-believe-stupid-ideas HOW DO STUPID CONSPIRACIES SPREAD? YOUTUBE AND WORD OF MOUTH... Large-scale crises can put a damper on critical thinking skills. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/why-the-pandemic-is-turning-so-many-people-into-conspiracy-theorists Why more highly educated people are less into conspiracy theories By Christian Jarrett (First clue - they read...) In this era of “fake news” and rising populism, encountering conspiracy theories is becoming a daily phenomenon. Some people usually shrug them off – they find them too simplistic, biased or far-fetched – but others are taken in. And if a person believes one kind of conspiracy theory, they usually believe others. Psychologists are very interested in why some people are more inclined to believe in conspiracy theories, especially since the consequences can be harmful: for example, by avoiding getting their kids vaccinated, believers in vaccination conspiracies can harm wider public health; in other cases, a belief in a conspiracy against one’s own ethnic or religious group can foment radicalism. One of the main differences between conspiracy believers and nonbelievers that’s cropped up in multiple studies is that nonbelievers tend to be more highly educated. For a new study in Applied Cognitive Psychology, Jan-Willem Van Prooijen at VU Amsterdam has conducted two large surveys to try to dig into just what it is about being more educated that seems to inoculate against belief in conspiracy. For the first survey, Van Prooijen recruited over 4000 readers of a popular science journal in the Netherlands, with an average age of 32. He asked them about their formal education level and their belief in various well-known conspiracy theories, such as that the moon landings were hoax; he tested their feelings of powerlessness; their subjective sense of their social class (they located their position on a social ladder); and their belief in simple solutions, such as that “most problems in society are easy to solve”. The more highly educated a participant, the less likely they were to endorse the conspiracy theories. Importantly, several of the other measures were linked to education and contributed to the association between education and less belief in conspiracy: feeling less powerlessness (or more in control), feelings of higher social status, and being sceptical of simple solutions. A second survey was similar, but this time Van Prooijen quizzed nearly 1000 participants, average age 50, selected to be representative of the wider Dutch population. Also, there were two phases: for the first, participants answered questions about their education level; feelings of power; subjective social class; belief in simple solutions; and they took some basic tests of their analytical thinking skills. Then two weeks later, the participants rated their belief in various conspiracy theories. Once again, more education was associated with less belief in conspiracy theories, and this seemed to be explained in part by more educated participants feeling more in control, having less belief in simple solutions, and having stronger analytical skills. Subjective social class wasn’t relevant in this survey. Taken together, Van Prooijen said the results suggest that “the relationship between education and belief in conspiracy theories cannot be reduced to a single psychological mechanism but is the product of the complex interplay of multiple psychological processes.” The nature of his study means we can’t infer that education or the related factors he measured actually cause less belief in conspiracies. But it makes theoretical sense that they might be involved: for example, more education usually increases people’s sense of control over their lives (though there are exceptions, for instance among people from marginalized groups), while it is feelings of powerlessness that is one of the things that often attracts people to conspiracy theories. Importantly, Van Prooijen said his findings help make sense of why education can contribute to “a less paranoid society” even when conspiracy theories are not explicitly challenged. “By teaching children analytic thinking skills along with the insight that societal problems often have no simple solutions, by stimulating a sense of control, and by promoting a sense that one is a valued member of society, education is likely to install the mental tools that are needed to approach far-fetched conspiracy theories with a healthy dose of skepticism.” —Why Education Predicts Decreased Belief in Conspiracy Theories Image under licence via Gettyimages.co.uk Christian Jarrett (@Psych_Writer) is Editor of BPS Research Digest https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/04/05/why-more-highly-educated-people-are-less-into-conspiracy-theories/ Conspiracy Theories Might Sound Crazy, But Here’s Why Experts Say We Can No Longer Ignore Them. https://time.com/5541411/conspiracy-theories-domestic-terrorism/ https://theconversation.com/why-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories-and-how-to-change-their-minds-82514 https://youtu.be/8DgomXtiJpM?list=PLQUqKeuiCkk8zSEAQuU5J-ya53I2MDHq4 https://youtu.be/RD8naYLDtiI https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-do-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories.html

Top 10 Excuses Offered For Not Wearing Masks Despite Covid-19 Coronavirus. https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucelee/2020/05/25/top-10-excuses-offered-for-not-wearing-masks-despite-covid-19-coronavirus/?sh=1f7b02fb53d9 2020: MPP Randy Hillier's sons involved in Perth pub mask dispute that led to charges. Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston MPP Randy Hillier took to Twitter like Donald Trump to report that his sons were among those involved in a Friday night dispute in a Perth bar that led to charges against two individuals. Hillier, himself, has been charged under the Reopening Ontario Act after organizing an anti-COVID lockdown rally at Queen's Park in Toronto on Nov. 26. The Lanark Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) issued a press release Saturday, Dec. 5, outlining the incident. Police did not identify individuals or the business in the release, but Hillier later wrote on Twitter: “@OPP_ER tasered my son in the back tonight in Perth. The crime, my sons friend went to the bar to order a beer wasn’t wearing a mask. the owner of the Arrow pub called the cops. My sons stood up & explained their friend is exempt from mask wearing, they’re both in jail.” The son of anti-masker elected official Randy Hillier, independent MPP for Lanark-Frontenac-Kingston, gets tazed. To taze is to attack with a Taser or other stun weapon, typically with the goal of incapacitation but in common usage it is used to refer to the action of using any such device (commonly called a stun gun). WATCH THE VIDEO: https://youtu.be/m_of2IiUq8I

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2020/12/05/mpp-randy-hilliers-sons-involved-in-perth-pub-mask-dispute-that-led-to-charges

10 Valid Reasons to Wear a Mask. The COVID-19 pandemic has been raging through North America for over four months now. And, unfortunately, it’s not showing signs of stopping any time soon. But while researchers are working around the clock to find a vaccine, there’s one thing each and every one of us can do to stop the spread: Wear a mask. While some people view wearing a mask as a political statement, it’s really no more political than putting on a shirt in the morning — although it’s arguably more important. At the current time, we don’t have many weapons for battling COVID. There’s no vaccine. There’s no cure. Treatment is spotty. But for $5, you can protect yourself, your family, your friends, and your community just by wearing a mask. And, as a reminder, when we say “wearing a mask,” we mean covering your mouth and nose. We know it can be uncomfortable, but if you choose not to cover your nose, you might as well not wear one at all. That’s because if you’re not covering your nose and mouth, you’re greatly reducing the efficacy of your mask. You might even be rendering it useless. So, remember: Cover up! Still not totally convinced? Or maybe there’s someone in your life who’s still refusing to mask up? Here are 10 reasons why you (and they) should be wearing a mask. Hopefully one resonates. https://silkn.ca/blogs/home/top-reasons-to-wear-a-mask 10 Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms.. Even the best-behaved children can be difficult and challenging at times. But if your child or teenager has a frequent and persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, defiance or vindictiveness toward you and other authority figures, he or she may have oppositional defiant disorder (ODD). As a parent, you don't have to go it alone in trying to manage a child with ODD. Doctors, mental health professionals and child development experts can help. Behavioral treatment of ODD involves learning skills to help build positive family interactions and to manage problematic behaviors. Additional therapy, and possibly medications, may be needed to treat related mental health disorders. https://www.additudemag.com/oppositional-defiant-disorder-in-adults/ https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/oppositional-defiant-disorder https://10faq.com/health/oppositional-defiant-disorder-symptoms/ https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/oppositional-defiant-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20375831 https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/oppositional-defiant-disorder [Self-Test] Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in Adults Adults with oppositional defiant disorder are angry more often than not, and argue regularly with family members or coworkers. Use this self-test to see if you may be presenting signs of ODD in adults. Symptoms - Causes - Criteria for diagnosis - Treatment Strategies https://www.additudemag.com/category/manage-adhd-life/getting-things-done/time-productivity/ Hospitalizations, deaths will follow Ontario's COVID-19 surge, but how many remains unclear. Cases 415K +6,261 Recovered 329K Deaths 12,661 +76 Location Cases Deaths Ontario 131K + 1,965 - 3,794 +20 https://globalnews.ca/news/7504888/randy-hillier-sons-arrested-mask-dispute/ https://www.insideottawavalley.com/news-story/10283002-mpp-randy-hillier-s-sons-involved-in-perth-pub-mask-dispute-that-led-to-charges/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mask-dispute-covid-19-perth-1.5830211 https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/covid-19-hospitalizations-and-deaths-may-continue-to-rise-in-coming-weeks-tam-1.5174898 https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-reports-spike-in-daily-new-cases-of-covid-19-1.5155984 https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/08/21/ontario-reports-131-new-covid-19-cases-and-3-more-deaths.html https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-19-ontario-case-numbers-hospital-patients-deaths-1.5729837 https://healthunit.org/health-information/covid-19/local-cases-and-statistics/ https://healthunit.org/for-professionals/hospitals-ltc-retirement-homes/outbreak-management-resources/outbreak-status-report/ https://augusta.ca/covid-19-leeds-grenville-lanark-district-health-unit-media-releases-information/ https://www.insideottawavalley.com/news-story/9993858-7-new-confirmed-covid-19-case-in-leeds-grenville-lanark-june-3-due-in-part-to-recent-data-cleaning-efforts-/ MPP Randy Hillier charged after hosting anti-COVID-19 lockdown rally https://globalnews.ca/news/7486860/mpp-randy-hillier-charged-covid-19-lockdown-rally/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/mask-dispute-covid-19-perth-1.5830211 https://thefoxmagazine.com/technology/modern-world/top-10-excuses-why-people-say-they-refuse-to-wear-a-mask/ https://www.prweb.com/releases/top_10_excuses_why_people_say_they_refuse_to_wear_a_mask/prweb17348205.htm https://www.halifaxtoday.ca/local-news/stop-making-excuses-ns-top-doctor-on-residents-refusing-to-wear-masks-3144142 https://www.9news.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/doctor-responds-to-reasons-for-not-wearing-masks/73-d2c5c731-da4a-4fc0-b8d7-b0195e9abf50 Few medical reasons for not wearing a face mask https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/medical-reasons-wearing-face-mask/story?id=72020929 https://youtu.be/m_of2IiUq8I 2020: Testing face masks: Lab tests reveal the safest and most effective (Marketplace) https://youtu.be/EHVyy08L2gM https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-cheat-sheet-1.5678001 Why hand sanitizers keep being recalled; COVID-19's effect on small business: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet. https://globalnews.ca/news/7486860/mpp-randy-hillier-charged-covid-19-lockdown-rally/ https://www.change.org/p/resign-randy-hillier-independent-mpp-for-lanark-frontenac-kingston Anti-Jacketers Rally Outside Burlington Coat Factory To Protest Liberal Cold Weather Conspiracy https://www.theonion.com/anti-jacketers-rally-outside-burlington-coat-factory-to-1845745947 CORONAVIRUS MISINFORMATION: Executive summary The World Health Organization has stated that a parallel “infodemic” of misinformation is undermining efforts to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This study identifies the most prominent misinformation topics that appeared in traditional and online media in the early phase of the pandemic, from January 1 up to May 26, 2020. The results come from a sample of 38 million articles published in English-language media around the world, making this the first fully comprehensive study of COVID misinformation in the media yet carried out. One major finding is that media mentions of President Trump (followed closely by Ontario's MPP Randy Hillier) within the context of different misinformation topics made up 37% of the overall “misinformation conversation,” much more than any other single topic. The study concludes that Donald Trump was likely the largest driver of the COVID-19 misinformation infodemic.” In contrast only 16% of media mentions of misinformation were explicitly “fact-checking” in nature, suggesting that a substantial quantity of misinformation reaches media consumers without being challenged or accompanied by factually accurate information. These findings are of significant concern because if people are misled by unscientific and unsubstantiated claims about the disease, they may attempt harmful cures or be less likely to observe official guidance and thus risk spreading the virus. Quantifying sources and themes in the COVID-19 ‘infodemic How the study worked — methodology The study was performed using Cision Media’s Next Generation Communications Cloud platform, which aggregates content from 7 million-plus sources around the world. This database was queried with an English-language search string for misinformation topics in the context of COVID-19, using an iterative cycle of different keywords. The study evaluated over 38 million pieces of content published by English-language, traditional media worldwide between January 1 and May 26, 2020. It analyzed engagement with traditional media stories on social channels. The study identified over 1.1 million news articles (2.9% of the whole COVID-19 conversation) that disseminated, amplified or reported on misinformation related to the pandemic. What the study found The study identified five categories of misinformation: • Misinformation/conspiracies sub-topics: We identified 11 key sub-topics within this conversation, which are shown in more detail below. • Trump mentions: This topic comprised all mentions of US President Donald Trump within the total misinformation conversation, as a way to quantify the prominence of Trump within the overall COVID “infodemic.” • Infodemic coverage: This topic included articles that mentioned the general term “infodemic” (or related keywords such as “misinformation” or “hoax” combined with mentions of COVID-19) without mentioning a specific additional topic. • Fact-checking: This topic includes articles that explicitly mentioned conspiracies, misinformation or factual inaccuracies in a way that aimed to correct misinformation with the audience. • Trump-only mentions: This topic represents the volume and frequency of articles that mentioned President Trump in the context of misinformation but did not mention a specific other topic at the same time. The table below shows the quantity of coverage in each category. (Note that subject overlaps result in overall a frequency total of more than 100%.) Misinformation Topic Volume Frequency Identifiable Misinformation Threads/Conspiracies 522,472 46.6% Trump Mentions 423,921 37.9% Infodemic Coverage 261,102 23.4% Fact Checking 183,717 16.4% Trump-Only 115,216 10.3% https://allianceforscience.cornell.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Evanega-et-al-Coronavirus-misinformationFINAL.pdf WHY SHOULD I BELIEVE YOUR PANEMIC CONSPIRACY THEORIES? DO YOU HAVE ANY FACTUAL EVIDENCE TO POINT AT OR JUST GROUP OF IDIOTS SPEWWING THE SAME YOUTUBE GARBAGE YOU ARE? The bandwagon fallacy is also sometimes called the appeal to common belief or appeal to the masses because it's all about getting people to do or think something because “everyone else is doing it” or “everything else thinks this. Argumentum ad populum In argumentation theory, an argumentum ad populum is a fallacious argument that concludes that a proposition must be true because many or most people believe it, often concisely encapsulated as: "If many believe so, it is so". Wikipedia Appeal to Popularity (Ad Populum) Appeal to Popularity (Ad Populum) Description: The argument supports a position by appealing to the shared opinion of a large group of people, e.g. the majority, the general public, etc. The presumed authority comes solely from the size, not the credentials, of the group cited.