Conversations with my friend Ike are becoming increasingly challenging. I first met him when we were in a car pool to SFU where he was immersed in studying philosophy. Our paths diverged and I didn’t hear from him until he came across my blog and contacted me. We renewed our friendship but I quickly learned our thinking had followed radically different paths. Over the years he became disenchanted with our institutions, system of government, religion, and much more. He had become enmeshed in a variety of conspiracy theories and now embraces them passionately.

Tall, gangly and skinny, Ike lives with his partner Elaine near Williams Lake. Elaine wears granny glasses, has her hair in a bun, and is as keen as he in pursuing theories about everything wrong in our society. They each have a laptop and, sitting side by side, devote many hours to perusing websites that expound on who and what is to blame for the issues troubling our country and our planet. Their lives revolve around conspiracy theories.

It soon became clear to me that Ike considers his knowledge to be irrefutable. Initially I raised several arguments against his current favourite theory. “If you believe that it just proves you are one of them,” he responded. “It shows how crafty people with power are. They work in the shadows behind the scenes, duping the public into believing lies. If people knew what we know, they’d be worried.”

Ike has huge regard for the views of James Corbett, whose website contains innumerable accounts of individuals and corporations allegedly misleading people. Currently Microsoft founder Bill Gates is receiving a lot of Corbett’s attention, (and therefore Ike’s).

Corbett is convinced Bill Gates is manipulating the covid pandemic with lock downs and other strategies to push untested vaccines for economic benefits. He also claims Gates is seeking to establish population control with microchip implants. Some believers claim these will be in the vaccine. “He is scheming to leverage his immense wealth,” Corbett contends, “to control the fates of billions of people.”

Listening to Ike’s mini lectures, I’ve concluded he and other conspiracy theorists are suspicious of most official accounts of events. Many harbor a deep distrust of experts in all realms, including scientific and medical. Even in phone conversations, I sometimes sense that Ike’s eyes are glazing over when I raise an objection. He’s so steeped in conspiracy theory ideology, so certain he’s right, he seemingly cannot grasp the possibility that there could be an alternate perspective.

I have observed repeatedly that Ike and Elaine reinterpret random events to show they are part of a broader, insidious pattern. “People in high positions in government and corporations are conspiring to take away our freedoms and our way of life,” Ike has told me several times. “There’s a new world order and it already rules our planet.” According to a European Commission website, “there is a belief among conspiracy theorists that certain situations are secretly manipulated behind the scenes by powerful forces with negative intent.”

Ike has an answer for all contrary evidence. Not wanting him to close his mind to our friendship, I don’t ridicule his views. I do at times question the accuracy of his sources. Occasionally I agree with him concerning a particular issue. Certainly not all is well in our country or on our planet. Wealthy individuals and corporations are contaminating our environment and our values for the sake of profit and power. Governments too often develop policies that undergird destructive enterprises.

Although conspiracy theories are frequently built on speculation, conjecture, suspicion, faulty information and partial truth, they do have, in my opinion, a useful role. That role is to prod us to consider and question what is happening in our institutions, communities and nation. Those in power and authority at high levels know that most citizens are preoccupied with personal pursuits and rarely take notice of developments or conditions around them.

Conspiracy theorists have a knack for unsettling us and attracting our attention with their disturbing views. Although I prefer facts over speculation and rumour, I’ve come to realize that individuals like Ike and Elaine at times provoke me to be less complacent and trusting concerning what is being done behind the veil of government or corporate double talk and intrigue. Certainly conversations with Ike tend to be stretching, but also stimulating. They challenge me to search for truth.