Question of the day
Wednesday, Jun 9, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Columbus Dispatch…
In a packed hearing room at the Ohio Statehouse, Republican lawmakers gave the microphone to a known conspiracy theorist who has spread misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny, a physician licensed in Ohio and author of “Saying No to Vaccines,” shared her views, promoted her credentials and fielded questions for more than 45 minutes during a House Health Committee hearing on House Bill 248.
“I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures all over the internet of people who have had these shots and now they’re magnetized,” Tenpenny, of Middleburg Heights in Cuyahoga County, said. “You can put a key on their forehead, it sticks. You can put spoons and forks all over and they can stick because now we think there is a metal piece to that.”
Local react…
* The Question: What is the weirdest conspiracy theory you’ve heard since the pandemic began?
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:09 pm:
That the whole COVID thing was a ruse to allow the government to inject microchips into us in order for the 5G towers to monitor all of our behavior.
- View from the Cheap Seats - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:10 pm:
Soylent Green is people
- DuPage Saint - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:13 pm:
I always wanted to be a doctor I think I will move to Ohio obviously the medical test isn’t that hard.
- AlfondoGonz - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:14 pm:
That the CDC was going to research whether ingesting disinfectant might treat covid.
Or that it would go away with the heat. Like a miracle.
- SWIL_Voter - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:16 pm:
Did you see the video of the lady trying to stick things to herself from that same hearing? https://twitter.com/bnodesk/status/1402719882400129026?s=21
I read that keys are not magnetic btw.
I don’t know which is craziest, but they’re all treated as true on TikTok which has like 70 million Americans on its platform
- Norseman - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:19 pm:
Nope. This one is hard to beat.
- Dysfunction Junction - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:20 pm:
Tommy LaSorda is a plant by nefarious dark forces to prevent a nearly unstoppable Southside team from once again hoisting a World Series trophy.
- Biker - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:21 pm:
That outside air is dangerous
- Papa2008 - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:25 pm:
Covid was created to remove the humans, with alien DNA, from the gene pool.
- Bruce( no not him) - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:25 pm:
===spoons and forks all over===
Seems pretty specific, that knives are excluded.
I can’t take seriously, any conspiracy theory that ignores knives.
- Joe Bidenopolous - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:26 pm:
That Trump won the election
- Drake Mallard - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:28 pm:
The one the West Virginia governor had to go on statewide media to debunk. He told the people of West Virginia they would not grow antlers.
- NIU Grad - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:29 pm:
I think my favorite was when the Senate Majority Leader started pushing that it was a lab-made conspiracy and we all just moved on from that.
- Glenn - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:30 pm:
How many steps is it from Tenpenny to burning witches?
- Stu - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:31 pm:
“Tommy LaSorda?”
“Forget it, he’s rolling”
- Dysfunction Junction - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:37 pm:
Lasorda, Larussa, potato, potahto.
When the going gets tough…
- Cool Papa Bell - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:45 pm:
Early on it was the National Guard and Pritzker were going to shut down the boarders… “I know some one in the guard and they are going to shut down the Poplar Street Bridge.”
I remember talking someone out of the they are going to shut down the boarders rumor… the striking thing was how convinced they were of the truth of it and also the total lack of understanding of interstate commerce and also how many different state boarder entries there are.
Then it was just run of the mill, government starts now to take more freedoms later.. My brother in law did cook up some idea how Wal-Mart was going to close all their stores for 30 days…
The vaccines got all sorts of crazy - but the microchip and 5G have to take the cake.
- Cubs in '16 - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:46 pm:
So many to choose from. The weirdest is probably that masks were just a way for ‘the government’ to make everyone collectively compliant so we wouldn’t question when the ‘really big’ shoe fell. They were connecting it to the Book of Revelations and taking the number of the Beast and such. It was truly hard to follow the train of thought.
- Crash - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:47 pm:
It is sort of tough to remember which were Covid conspiracies and which were about the election.
They all sort of blend together but it is safe to say that the last year has been tough on those of us who have a reality based existence.
That being said, the worst were the Bill Gates related theories because they were believed by a disturbingly large group of Americans.
It is tough to have a functioning republic when so many people are so ready to grasp at things so completely devoid of fact.
- ArchPundit - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:48 pm:
I’m still partial to Fauci created COVID-19 is still the weirdest. Also, that surgical masks will kill you.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:52 pm:
That Nostradamus predicted COVID-19 over 500 or so years ago.
- thechampaignlife - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 3:56 pm:
Heard this Facebook conspiracy theory from a year ago:
(The government/Chinese/Bill Gates) discovered that the synovial fluid inside our knees was valuable, so COVID was a facade to lure people who’d just caught a flu to be rushed into the ER/ICU where they were killed and then the doctors could freely extract the knee juice (as per governmental instruction) to be sold. Some folks were claiming 5G somehow ran on knee fluid.
- lake county democrat - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:03 pm:
That COVID is part of a deep state conspiracy that a handful of righteous military and other insiders drafted Donald Trump to run for president and fight against. IIRC, this story has been cryptically leaked over the internet by a recurring character on Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Proud Papa Bear - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:06 pm:
That almost all of the reported deaths were people who were going to die anyway but the hospitals/government were counting them toward COVID deaths regardless of cause.
These are generally the same people who definitely believe the vaccine caused someone’s death, even if it could have been correlative.
- Dance Band on the Titanic - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:07 pm:
That people were dropping like flies from a lack of oxygen due to masks.
- TheInvisibleMan - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:08 pm:
Unfortunately, my county board district is held by a qanon looney. So the craziest conspiracy I’ve heard so far needs to be updated fairly regularly.
The election was a fraud(except the results where I won).
- Glengarry - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:09 pm:
The whole nonsense of elites how they get adrenochrome.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:13 pm:
That COVID-19 is an “opinion”. Was told that again today, and that I was welcome to my “opinion” to take precautions (such as continuing to mask up in certain situations).
- Candy Dogood - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:16 pm:
This question should come with a trigger warning.
After much consideration, I am going with the claim that the vaccine is the first step towards a genocidal conspiracy to kill people who have received the vaccine.
- Wensicia - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:17 pm:
“One day, it’s like a miracle, it [coronavirus] will disappear.”
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:19 pm:
People who thought that drinking Corona liquor would prevent them from getting the virus.
- zatoichi - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:23 pm:
My neighbor: Wearing a mask limits oxygen which will cause brain damage.
Old college friend claims he became magnetic after being vaxed. Showed him a picture from 30 years ago with a spoon hanging on his nose. He is now more magnetic. That vaccine is amazing.
- The Dude Abides - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:26 pm:
40% of the country still love Trump.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:30 pm:
Probably the biggest conspiracy I can think of was the President, Woodward, the tapes, and the people.
The willingness to gamble enough people will stay alive and anguish about “freedoms”, all the while telling Woodward truthful and important life saving things that would make him unpopular with his base voters.
I don’t think the president was that smart, I just think it played out to saying and speaking to the audience in front of him. The callousness and lack of empathy was the feature of personality, not a bug.
- City Guy - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:36 pm:
I can remember people saying that no one was really dying of Covid. It was just crisis actors in the hospital and the only people dying were people who would have died anyway. A related comment was doctors were paid more money if they indicated someone died from Covid, so they listed everyone possible.
Recently I heard that in about 2 years everyone who was vaccinated is going to die as planned by an evil billionaire.
- Original Rambler - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:40 pm:
Anything that refers to a deep state conspiracy unknown to the public. There’s no way government workers can keep lunch plans to themselves much less plans to subvert the Constitution.
- Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:43 pm:
This isn’t really a conspiracy theory. Most of those are easy to laugh off even though too many people believe them. This… is from my esteemed mother-in-law, who said that people and the government are “fools for wasting their money on PPE.” That one sticks out because I immediately reached a very Mickey Mouse-like high pitch that I haven’t achieved in years, “YOU ALMOST DIED OF COVID”(banned punctuation). I just couldn’t believe it. Yeah, you were in the hospital for two weeks and on oxygen for two months, but hey, you didn’t have to pay for it…. /s Just plain cuckoo.
- Mrs. Silence Dogood - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:44 pm:
5G technology caused Covid-19 pandemic. My favorite the vaccine has microchips in it and if you receive the vaccine you will be tracked by the government using 5G technology.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 4:49 pm:
The whole Bill Gates microchip thing…although, after getting the vaccine, my son trashed his MacBook and I have this strange urge to replace my MacBook with a PC…
- BTO2 - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:01 pm:
I’d love to add something but the government is monitoring my thoughts and actions with the chip they placed in me with the vaccine.
- Commonsense in Illinois - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:04 pm:
Here’s my favorite from the Genetic Literacy Project:
President Trump is a long-time conspiracist and has dabbled in many of the theories. Trump and his acolytes 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 president mentioned the deep state during a press briefing supposedly gave the game away.
- WillRez - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:05 pm:
The Bill Gates “stuff.” So many things said about him I lost track.
Also, that Fauci was hyping vaccinations because he had stock in the pharmaceutical companies
- Huh? - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:07 pm:
That malaria drugs will cure covid.
That covid is a hoax.
That washing your groceries will help prevent you from getting the disease.
- Pot calling kettle - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:18 pm:
With respect to the magnetization thing:
1) I feel like this would be something we could use to convince a few more folks to get vaccinated.
2) If I’m not magnetic, is the vaccine working?
3) Will this effect my cell phone if I’m not careful?
4) Will the magnetization cancel out the microchip?
- JoanP - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:33 pm:
There are some weird ideas noted here of which I’ve never heard.
I do think my “favorite” weird theory is “the vaccine injects a microchip so Bill Gates can track you” one.
Frankly, you’re not that important. Bill Gates doesn’t care where you are.
- The Way I See It - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 5:41 pm:
Anything heard at a Tom Devore/Darren Bailey event
- Southwest Sider - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:06 pm:
It truly is awful. Blaming Fauci for intentionally releasing the virus. Blaming a military base Ft. Detrick for the origin of the virus. And finally the vaccines alter your DNA.
- hisgirlfriday - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:21 pm:
So many to choose from but the weirdest ones to me lacked any logical coherence - like the one that hospitals and nursing homes were intentionally killing people on ventilators because somehow that got them extra COVID money from the government than just treating live patients.
- Morty - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:40 pm:
It will all go away 11/3
- thisjustinagain - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:50 pm:
“I heard this on (social media platform), so I KNOW it’s true.”
- filmmaker prof - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:55 pm:
that Trump won.
- filmmaker prof - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 6:57 pm:
Oh where was the Amazing Randi when we needed him?
- Excitable Boy - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 7:43 pm:
Tom Devore has been successful at anything.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 8:00 pm:
Mayor Langfelder thinking he can still safely shake hands with people, as long as he uses sanitizer, and sing drinking songs at the Alamo on the day of what would have been the 2020 Springfield St. Patricks Day parade (Mar. 14, 2020). But later that day the first Sangamon County COVID death is announced.
- Ducky LaMoore - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 8:03 pm:
After much deliberation, I think the secret Jewish space laser that started the California wild fires gets my vote. I know, not COVID related, but who knows what that George Soros is up to…?/s
- justaguy02 - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 8:11 pm:
I for one CANNOT wait for the bamboo fiber studies to be released. Millions of dollars has been spent to perform the best bamboo forensics the world has ever seen.
- EssentialStateEmployeeFromChatham - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 8:15 pm:
I’m surprised that no one here in Chatham (at least none that I’m aware of) who are no fans of the South Sangamon Water Commission’s water supply here in town, has come up with a theory stating that COVID got its start in SSWC water about 10 years ago after Chatham’s switch from CWLP water to SWCC. Then somehow a bird entered a puddle and ingested SWCC water, and the bird flew to China–and that water was infested with what was determined to be COVID.
- ChrisB - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 8:28 pm:
Rich missed a golden opportunity for an Insane Clown Posse reference.
- Space Cowboy - Wednesday, Jun 9, 21 @ 9:05 pm:
Others have mentioned the whole microchip thing…I was at my parent’s place over Christmas and this neighbor came by told us how we were going to be tracked and be controlled by the deep state if we got vaccinated. Went on and on and was dead serious.
We didn’t know how to respond…just sat there wide eyed until she concluded her public service announcement and moved on to the next neighbor.
Come to find out, she rounded the whole 3 block subdivision that day. I’d imagine that not everyone was as polite as we were…
- Dan from Aurora - Thursday, Jun 10, 21 @ 1:06 am:
The first crazy conspiracy theory I heard was from my Dad who said all the doctors and nurses reporting COVID-19 deaths and illness were lying and working with the Chinese to discredit Trump. The most recent conspiracy theory I heard from a co-worker is that President Biden will shut off gasoline production this summer so she went out and bought a $600 battery operated lawn mower.
- BigD - Thursday, Jun 10, 21 @ 8:13 am:
I was told by a guy that he couldn’t get the vaccine because if he put anything experimental into his body it would null and void his life insurance policy.
- Ken - Thursday, Jun 10, 21 @ 10:10 am:
Our own government released COVID to kill off older people in an attempt to keep Social Security solvent.
- Cool Papa Bell - Thursday, Jun 10, 21 @ 11:45 am:
One other odd one was the “I knew a person in line to get a COIVD test and they left before they could get swabbed and still got a letter sent to them that they tested positive.”
I pleaded with someone to send me the letter. I was told well I didn’t see the letter but this is a very trustworthy person…