WEBVTT - 😖 When Did Conspiracy Theories Become Unfunny? 😖

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<v Speaker 1>Flex and Frooms, Flex and Frooms. This is the Flex

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<v Speaker 1>and Frooms catch up podcast. Should you fear ai? Potentially?

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<v Speaker 1>But how much do you fear the spread of misinformation

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<v Speaker 1>for a bit of a joke. I'm no stranger to it.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm actually more of an acquaintance to it. I didn't

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<v Speaker 1>know that people lied on the Internet as much as

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<v Speaker 1>they do. Case in point, when we read out listener

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<v Speaker 1>submissions and things like that, I honestly think they're all real.

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<v Speaker 1>And there have been a few on occasion where rooms

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<v Speaker 1>might say that's definitely fake, because I'm like, why would

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<v Speaker 1>it be? Why wouldn't it be? Because I just for

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<v Speaker 1>far less. Yeah, if you over the last few weeks

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<v Speaker 1>have seen the rise of this eighties horror z Apothera

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<v Speaker 1>that's somehow this cult classic, but you've also never heard

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<v Speaker 1>of it, You're actually not alone. This has been one

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<v Speaker 1>of the I would say one of the fastest growing

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<v Speaker 1>internet hoaxes I've seen in a little while. It went

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<v Speaker 1>from zero to one hundred in literally two or three days.

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<v Speaker 1>So this movie Zepither started popping up online. Where were

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<v Speaker 1>you when it started? I was at home dodging these tiktoks.

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<v Speaker 1>People were like oh you look just like Zepether. I

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<v Speaker 1>love this movie. I'm so glad people are talking about it.

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<v Speaker 1>I don't really care about indie films like that, so

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<v Speaker 1>I just didn't think it was for me. Come to

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<v Speaker 1>find out, it all started because a TikToker by the

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<v Speaker 1>name of Emily Jeffrey E. M I l y je

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<v Speaker 1>double FRII uploaded a video captioned okay, so new bit ideas.

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<v Speaker 1>What if we created a fake eighties horror movie called

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<v Speaker 1>Zeppether and started commenting on people's TikTok saying things like,

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<v Speaker 1>oh my god, you look exactly like that one girl

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<v Speaker 1>from Zepether. Oh wait, you look exactly like in character

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<v Speaker 1>from Zepether. They added that we can make new law

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<v Speaker 1>and new main characters as we go and convince thousands

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<v Speaker 1>of people that this weird titled eighties horror film actually exists.

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<v Speaker 1>And it sounds strange, but it literally worked. The hashtag

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<v Speaker 1>is over one hundred and twenty million views, and someone

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<v Speaker 1>even created a twenty twenty four remake of the fake

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<v Speaker 1>eighties movie in a trailer. But the thing is, if

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<v Speaker 1>we're losing the ability to fact check, or we're believing

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<v Speaker 1>that when things are expressed with conviction that they're true, Like,

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<v Speaker 1>what is that spectrum of danger? Because how many ways

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<v Speaker 1>could we recreate this hype for fun? How many in

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<v Speaker 1>cell groups, far right groups, far left groups, whatever, could

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<v Speaker 1>just decide? Why don't we just spread this thing because

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<v Speaker 1>it's fun, and we'll do all the things that make

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<v Speaker 1>it seem legitimate. We'll get a website, we'll make social

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<v Speaker 1>media pages for it, We'll get a Twitter, an x threads,

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<v Speaker 1>a TikTok, we'll get little shirts made, we'll get a letterhead.

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<v Speaker 1>How would we know that it wasn't real? And then

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<v Speaker 1>the worst thing about not being able to discern if

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<v Speaker 1>something is real or not, you doubt yourself. Yeah, then

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<v Speaker 1>you think you're unreliable and become more susceptible to this information.

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<v Speaker 2>Honestly, this is not new news.

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<v Speaker 1>It's not. But then I think, for me, it's just

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<v Speaker 1>like how quickly things become popular, Like I saw the

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<v Speaker 1>remnants of this Zeppether stuff before I even knew what

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<v Speaker 1>it was, So it had already peppered my timeline enough

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<v Speaker 1>for me to clock that I had seen it. It's

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<v Speaker 1>already in my brain. I didn't even consent to that.

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<v Speaker 1>And if I went to go seek information, I would

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<v Speaker 1>find it and it would affirm this fake narrative. I

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<v Speaker 1>think when I initially started hearing the term of fake

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<v Speaker 1>news around Trump's election, I thought that it was just

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<v Speaker 1>so aligned with a certain demographic of person who just

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<v Speaker 1>wasn't that Internet savvy. Yeah, you know, an older demographic

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<v Speaker 1>who's stuck on Facebook, stuck on WhatsApp is easily kind

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<v Speaker 1>of shocked into acting. You know, you put the bright

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<v Speaker 1>red font on the news article and you use like

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<v Speaker 1>the salacious headlines, and everybody's freaking out. But young people,

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<v Speaker 1>will we know better? Right? Like we can? You know,

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<v Speaker 1>it's the letterhead's got to be in Times New Roman.

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<v Speaker 1>That's legitimate. You know, we're not writing articles in calibri, okay,

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<v Speaker 1>But it's so much more than that. And I feel

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<v Speaker 1>as though I also assumed that fake news was coming

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<v Speaker 1>from an organized source initially, like it's an organized group

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<v Speaker 1>of people or people with a single mission or a

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<v Speaker 1>single mind gathering together to disseminate it far and wide

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<v Speaker 1>with a group of people who are all like minded, right,

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<v Speaker 1>organizational gathering. This was just a single person doing a

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<v Speaker 1>little bit, and people opted in on their own, and

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<v Speaker 1>then it was able to spread just with that minor

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<v Speaker 1>opt in, and it wasn't like people were adding heaps

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<v Speaker 1>of juice or heaps of depth to the law. It

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<v Speaker 1>was just a little bit here and there, a TikTok

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<v Speaker 1>here and there. But I saw one too many that

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<v Speaker 1>I was like, Oh, it must be a real thing.

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<v Speaker 1>What if I didn't know it was fake? And then

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<v Speaker 1>I talked to someone in the office and I was like,

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<v Speaker 1>what about Zeppatha, Like, yeah, I love that cult movie.

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<v Speaker 1>Because people would do that, they would be like, yeah, no,

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<v Speaker 1>I've seen this so much about it, I can't wait

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<v Speaker 1>to watch it. It's strange. You are one of the very

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<v Speaker 1>few people I know that read news often. So clearly

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<v Speaker 1>you're going to reputable sites, right, studying smah whatever. But

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<v Speaker 1>we're assuming that information is reputable because of the banner

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<v Speaker 1>that it's on. That information can change. New sites have

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<v Speaker 1>uploaded information that's wrong before, but you're going to the source.

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<v Speaker 1>Most other people rely on the information to come to

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<v Speaker 1>them through social media, and usually we measure the importance

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<v Speaker 1>of this information by how frequently we're seeing it. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, I saw one or two tiktoks about the

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<v Speaker 1>wildfire in Maui, right, and then I was like, Oh,

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<v Speaker 1>that's crazy, and then it was my whole feed and

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<v Speaker 1>I was like, oh, I should research this. This is hectic,

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<v Speaker 1>this is this is really important. Had i've not seen

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<v Speaker 1>those initial two tiktoks, I don't think I haven't seen

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<v Speaker 1>on the news.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't idly know that was the thing.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah see yeah, and look you go to new sites

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<v Speaker 1>and they're not talking about it, so like, how are

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<v Speaker 1>we meant to discern what is important to keep track of?

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<v Speaker 1>And then I feel like, because it's really difficult to

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<v Speaker 1>tell what news is real and not real, we get

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<v Speaker 1>into conspiracy territory really really quickly when you preemptively have

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<v Speaker 1>this like skepticism about information, which is not helpful either.

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<v Speaker 2>The reason why I know that, like life is moving

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<v Speaker 2>fast is because I lied to really remember when conspiracy

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<v Speaker 2>theories were funny, Like there was actually a time where

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<v Speaker 2>like nine eleven conspiracies were like a meme and the

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<v Speaker 2>term conspiracy theory wasn't common parlance, Like it wasn't a.

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<v Speaker 1>Thing that actually gets us.

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<v Speaker 2>And also we can't be thinking where above it, Like

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<v Speaker 2>there's been exactly times where I've like almost hit on

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<v Speaker 2>the oz post link that I'm.

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<v Speaker 1>Getting ready to ship. Yeah, yeah, oh no that yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>I mean no.

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<v Speaker 2>You Mickey showed me one today.

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<v Speaker 1>What was it, Mickey? Your Spotify has finished? That might

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<v Speaker 1>have goropped me.

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<v Speaker 2>And also, you know what, Spotify messaged me a little

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<v Speaker 2>while back to tell me that they'd taken down through

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<v Speaker 2>me Fridays, which seems been restated. The email they sent

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<v Speaker 2>me look to so fake.

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<v Speaker 1>When you posted it. So there was no letterhead, there

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<v Speaker 1>was no nothing.

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<v Speaker 2>It looked like the most like stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>And I guess there's no incentive for it to be changed, right,

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<v Speaker 1>because if we think this is for sinister motives, most people,

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<v Speaker 1>corporation's brands can benefit from fake news. Right. You can

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<v Speaker 1>deliver information in a way that it's meant to be

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<v Speaker 1>polarizing and it's meant to start conversation. But after we've

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<v Speaker 1>started conversation, people aren't doing additional research. I'm finding that

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<v Speaker 1>a lot of people struggle to dismount off the cliff

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<v Speaker 1>of conspiracy. They kind of just get there and stay there,

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<v Speaker 1>and then everything becomes painted with the same brush of

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<v Speaker 1>skepticism and there's nothing you can do about it. Well,

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<v Speaker 1>on that note, sorry, friends, but I will say if

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<v Speaker 1>we take out anything sinister about what could possibly happen

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<v Speaker 1>with the way this was spread. I'm kind of impressed

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<v Speaker 1>from a little a little TikTok about what if we

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<v Speaker 1>did this one thing and everybody got on board. It's

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<v Speaker 1>because we desire a community, truly. Bye. Mickey's actually the

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<v Speaker 1>cult leader. You've been listening to The Flex and Froom's

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<v Speaker 1>daily podcast.

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<v Speaker 2>For more, tune Indicator on DAB or stream it on iHeartRadio.