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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Conspiracy Theories & Claims

Hmmm. I drank two Coronas earlier today. I may be fucked (though not American and apologies to our American friends here).

Nearly 40% of beer-drinking Americans won’t buy Corona due to coronavirus, study shows
A new study found people may be skeptical of Corona beer because it shares part of its name with the virus making people ill across the world.

5W Public Relations, an independently-owned PR agency, conducted a phone survey of 737 U.S. residents who considered themselves beer drinkers this week.

The survey revealed 38 percent of beer-drinking Americans would not buy Corona under any circumstances now. Among those who said they usually drink Corona, only 4 percent said they would stop drinking Corona. Fourteen percent said they wouldn’t order Corona in a public venue.

Meanwhile, 16 percent of beer-drinking Americans were confused about whether Corona beer is related to the coronavirus. We’ll save you some time: it’s not.
https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-worl...nt-buy-corona-due-to-coronavirus-study-shows/
 
Hmmm. I drank two Coronas earlier today. I may be fucked (though not American and apologies to our American friends here).

Nearly 40% of beer-drinking Americans won’t buy Corona due to coronavirus, study shows

https://www.nbc4i.com/news/u-s-worl...nt-buy-corona-due-to-coronavirus-study-shows/

Sadly, this reminds me of the attack on the office of a paediatrician at the height of the paedophile panic of the early 2000. Expertly lampooned, of course, by one Chris Morris.
 
Sadly, this reminds me of the attack on the office of a paediatrician at the height of the paedophile panic of the early 2000. Expertly lampooned, of course, by one Chris Morris.

Wasn't that fake news though, invented by one of the more irresponsible tabloids?
 
Wasn't that fake news though, invented by one of the more irresponsible tabloids?
There was one story from Portsmouth that was fake news, but the story from St Brides, Gwent in south Wales was true. A South African paediatrician called Yvette Cloete had the word 'Paedo' daubed on her rented property.
 
@Tin: indeed, that's the instance I was thinking of. The one of the office being burnt out was an invention, AFAIR.
 
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@Tin: indeed, that's the instance I was thinking of. The one of the office being burnt out was an invention, AFAIR.[/QUOTE]
Haha no worries I'm sure it'll be fine...wait up there's a lady at the door with a pair of handcuffs and a taser...
 
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There was one story from Portsmouth that was fake news, but the story from St Brides, Gwent in south Wales was true. A South African paediatrician called Yvette Cloete had the word 'Paedo' daubed on her rented property.

Ah. Found it now. Looks like it was one stupid individual, who probably thought it would be a good gag.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4719364.stm

I also recall the irresponsible press blowing the story up out of all proportion, so the one idiot became multiple attacks by hysterical mobs!
 
Interesting. I know that infrasound can have a wide-variety of negative effects on health, but linking it to cancer does seem to be a speculation too far.
Do not ever attribute over-thinking or reasoning abilities. It wasn't speculation, it was stream of consciousness.
 
I've never read Revelation. I believe in a benevolent God and Revelation always seemed to me the consequences of eating the wrong mushrooms.

But i do believe we are currently at home to Mr Cock-Up . And that could be worse than actual maliciousness.
Seriously howling at the mushrooms comment :rollingw:
As this is the conspiracy thread, I'll throw out a little scenario which addresses the Mr Cockup part of your post.
/Conspiracy head on
China is heavily invested in Africa which has sporadic outbreaks of Ebola and a high number of HIV cases. In the name of medical assistance they take numerous samples of these viruses and send them back to a certain Level 4 Biohazard research lab in Wuhan. Some barking mad scientists take all the best bits of HIV and Ebola and throw in a bit of SARS for good measure. Take the opening of The Stand et voila!
/Conspiracy head off
There still may be a sting in the tail of this virus, we just need to wait and see.
 
Seriously howling at the mushrooms comment :rollingw:
As this is the conspiracy thread, I'll throw out a little scenario which addresses the Mr Cockup part of your post.
/Conspiracy head on
China is heavily invested in Africa which has sporadic outbreaks of Ebola and a high number of HIV cases. In the name of medical assistance they take numerous samples of these viruses and send them back to a certain Level 4 Biohazard research lab in Wuhan. Some barking mad scientists take all the best bits of HIV and Ebola and throw in a bit of SARS for good measure. Take the opening of The Stand et voila!
/Conspiracy head off
There still may be a sting in the tail of this virus, we just need to wait and see.

What is the point in a moon if you can't howl at it?

I do not have a crystal ball. But I think the apprehension - trying to modulate my language over this outbreak - is actually more damaging than the outbreak itself. We shall see.
 
Interesting. I know that infrasound can have a wide-variety of negative effects on health, but linking it to cancer does seem to be a speculation too far.

Er ... yes Trump made it up of course and in reality I don't believe anything he says as he tells so many lies.

So my original comment was in jest, I live in Ukraine we have loads of turbine windmills. A common joke round these parts is to shield one's eyes when seeing one so you don't get cancer by looking at one.
 
A connection between the emergence of the Coronavirus and the Chinese 5G network?

Apparently Wuhan was the test-city for the new 5G rollout that began on Oct 31 and two months later it's CoronaTime.

Something, something, non-ionizing RF/EMF radiation can weaken immune systems and exacerbate symptoms that patients are already suffering.

Full Story (with irksome popup):
https://humansarefree.com/2020/02/connection-between-coronavirus-and-5g.html
 
I do not have a crystal ball. But I think the apprehension - trying to modulate my language over this outbreak - is actually more damaging than the outbreak itself. We shall see.
The whole thing is a wait and see game. The thing that has piqued my interest in this outbreak is the response from China initially and now the entire worlds governments. China has tanked it's own economy and the stock markets globally are in freefall, add to this the disrupted supply chains and we're in for a rough ride no matter what. If there was genuinely nothing to worry about then they'd have responded the same way they did with SARS, MERS etc, essentially carry on as normal. With this virus they're pulling out all the stops to try and contain it (too late by far). Normally a stock market crash would have the politicians bricking themselves but they seem more bothered by the virus, which beggars the question, what aren't they telling us?
 
Nearly 40% of beer-drinking Americans won’t buy Corona due to coronavirus, study shows ...

Misinformation - self-serving "survey" data collected by a PR agency, then massaged and spewed outward via Twit-turds ...

... Have you heard that 38 percent of Americans won’t drink Corona beer, because they are afraid of contracting the coronavirus?

For the past hours, this finding has spread across the internet like wildfire (or, more apt, a dangerous disease). CNN, the New York Post, and Vice all wrote up the poll.

On Twitter, where “38% of Americans” was the top national trend for parts of the day, many writers with large followings used it as an occasion to condemn their fellow citizens as idiots. “38% of Americans shouldn’t be allowed to roam free,” Benjamin Dreyer, an author, wrote. ...

The problem here is that the poll, published by the PR agency 5WPR, absolutely did not find what the wags on Twitter say it did. Its dissemination, however, does tell us an awful lot about a screwed-up media system that allows unscrupulous companies and individuals to spread misinformation. ...
FULL STORY: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/02/about-corona-poll/607240/
 
I flew back from The Netherlands the other day. After going through passport control I was approached by a be-suited gentleman who sheepishly and apologetically showed his police I.D. and asked if I'd just arrived from Amsterdam.

I replied in the affirmative.

With an embarrassed smile he said I'd no doubt heard of the Corona virus and had I heard much about it on Dutch media while I was there.

I replied in the negative.

He thanked me and I went on my way.

So what was that all about then?
 
I flew back from The Netherlands the other day. After going through passport control I was approached by a be-suited gentleman who sheepishly and apologetically showed his police I.D. and asked if I'd just arrived from Amsterdam.

I replied in the affirmative.

With an embarrassed smile he said I'd no doubt heard of the Corona virus and had I heard much about it on Dutch media while I was there.

I replied in the negative.

He thanked me and I went on my way.

So what was that all about then?
I haven't a clue but it's odd. Just to add that some departments carry warrant cards that aren't warranted officers to get information.
 
Anybody else getting a little less worried about Covid-19 itself, but more and more worried about the disproportionate response the UK government seem to be whipping up in response to it?

I mean for the past 3 weeks a significant number of towns and villages have been flooded out to near record levels. Homes lost, businesses ruined, while the government seemingly did very little. That is still going on.

The Home Secretary is being taken to a tribunal for bullying, we've had a Chancellor of the Exchequer resign over interference from unelected advisors, the Russia report still hasn't been published, a US Trade deal with the UK is only likely to boost the economy 1.6% and the PM has been unavailable for weeks because of being on his second holiday of the year.

But all of a sudden the only thing they now want to talk about is Covid-19. Brush the rest of the bad news to one side. Let's talk purely about imminent danger. The words aren't reassuring. They're talking about imminent escalation, cities being shut down, military involvement. And the only offer of suggestion for prevention seems to be 'don't cough on people' and wash your hands while singing Happy Birthday. Twice'.

While so far there has been no UK death from coronavirus (only a Briton abroad) they're talking this up into hysteria and panic. 1 in 5 will have have to take time off work to self-isolate!

Was a 1 hour program on BBC One last night, telling us very little of worth, actually necessary?

What the fuck is going on?
 
Anybody else getting a little less worried about Covid-19 itself, but more and more worried about the disproportionate response the UK government seem to be whipping up in response to it?

I mean for the past 3 weeks a significant number of towns and villages have been flooded out to near record levels. Homes lost, businesses ruined, while the government seemingly did very little. That is still going on.

The Home Secretary is being taken to a tribunal for bullying, we've had a Chancellor of the Exchequer resign over interference from unelected advisors, the Russia report still hasn't been published, a US Trade deal with the UK is only likely to boost the economy 1.6% and the PM has been unavailable for weeks because of being on his second holiday of the year.

But all of a sudden the only thing they now want to talk about is Covid-19. Brush the rest of the bad news to one side. Let's talk purely about imminent danger. The words aren't reassuring. They're talking about imminent escalation, cities being shut down, military involvement. And the only offer of suggestion for prevention seems to be 'don't cough on people' and wash your hands while singing Happy Birthday. Twice'.

While so far there has been no UK death from coronavirus (only a Briton abroad) they're talking this up into hysteria and panic. 1 in 5 will have have to take time off work to self-isolate!

Was a 1 hour program on BBC One last night, telling us very little of worth, actually necessary?

What the fuck is going on?

I guess the government can't really win.
If they didn't warn of worst-case scenarios and have contingency plans for tough measures, the opposition, not to mention the media, would slag them off for being unprepared and complacent.
At least our government doesn't seem to be quite as knee-jerk panicky as their Canadian, Italian or French counterparts (yet!).
As for floods, they have hit us every year that I can recall, but a global pandemic thankfully doesn't come around quite as often.
 
What the fuck is going on?

Good question. A few of us have said there's more to this virus than we're being told. I've said before that China wouldn't tank it's own economy if this wasn't somewhat serious. As for the floods, there's sod all to be done about biblical amounts of rain dropping out the sky all at once. As for the other stuff it's just the usual shitwitchery coming out of Westminster, nothing to see here.
 
I guess the government can't really win.
If they didn't warn of worst-case scenarios and have contingency plans for tough measures, the opposition, not to mention the media, would slag them off for being unprepared and complacent.
At least our government doesn't seem to be quite as knee-jerk panicky as their Canadian, Italian or French counterparts (yet!).
As for floods, they have hit us every year that I can recall, but a global pandemic thankfully doesn't come around quite as often.


The most surprising revelation to me? That in 2020 we actually have to *tell* people to wash their hands. And to not go about coughing over others.
 
Good question. A few of us have said there's more to this virus than we're being told. I've said before that China wouldn't tank it's own economy if this wasn't somewhat serious. As for the floods, there's sod all to be done about biblical amounts of rain dropping out the sky all at once. As for the other stuff it's just the usual shitwitchery coming out of Westminster, nothing to see here.


I can't help but think that the virus itself has likely been here since September / October last year. Symptoms wise it's not really any different from any heavy cold or flu. And obviously Flu kills more people each year. What concerns me is that we've skipped straight from telling people to be sensible, cautious but vigilant to effectively telling them that we'll all but be under martial law in the coming months.

The rhetoric being used right now is either spectacularly poorly chosen or has been deliberately intended to create a heightened level of fear. If it was intended to calm people it has missed the mark considerably.
 
I can't help but think that the virus itself has likely been here since autumn last year. Symptoms wise it's not really any different from any heavy cold or flu. And obviously Flu kills more people each year. What concerns me is that we've skipped straight from telling people to be sensible to telling them that we'll all but be under martial law in the coming months.

The rhetoric being used right now is either poorly chosen or deliberately intended to create a heightened level of fear. If it was intended to calm people it has missed the mark considerably.
The thing is that the cold and flu viruses are endemic, this is a new virus which in 3 months or so has gone from patient zero to infecting 10's or possibly 100's of thousands people. It kills 3.4% of infected people and spreads more effectively than the cold or flu viruses. It also invades cells almost exactly the same as HIV and Ebola. Everyone is pretty much clueless about how this is all going to pan out, but I for one am going to take it pretty seriously due to my health.
 
I have been wondering about that myself. Especially after the apparent spontaneous clusters of cases in seemingly random places about the world. Perhaps it was there already but just that no-one was testing for it.

That's largely my thought.

Possibly China just happened to be the Country it spread furthest in a short period. Impossible for any of us to conclusively say, obviously. But still...
 
That's largely my thought.

Possibly China just happened to be the Country it spread furthest in a short period. Impossible for any of us to conclusively say, obviously. But still...
It may still have come from there, just sooner than we realised. If that is the case though and it has been spreading about for months then perhaps it is not as infectious or as unpleasant (requiring hospitalisation for quite a lot of people) as we first thought. And it does seem to be pretty infectious. I don't know. It is all strange. :thought:
 
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