Time - Conspiracy theories, especially about vaccines, spread like wildfire during the COVID-19 pandemic, but such anti-science thinking is extending far beyond COVID-19. There are now conspiracies about sunscreen, the causes of cancer, and wifi—among other alleged ills—and they are going global. Anti-vaccine conspiracies have even begun to influence dog owners. A recent study published in the medical journal Vaccine found that around 4 in 10 dog owners in the U.S. thought vaccinating their dogs against diseases like rabies could cause the dogs to get autism, an entirely unscientific belief.
One reason for this expansion in conspiratorial and paranoid beliefs is a new alliance between two groups that might, at first blush, seem to have little in common. Some New Age spirituality and wellness influencers are aligning themselves with extreme right-wing anti-science activists, a merging of interests known as conspirituality. British journalist James Ball calls it “the-wellness-to-fascism pipeline.” The pipeline also runs in the other direction: in the U.S, for example, the far right-wing conspiracy monger Alex Jones sells a variety of wellness products, including diet pills, fluoride-free toothpaste, and tinctures that are claimed to boost male virility.
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