– It was easier to believethat there was someone, something out there to get you and that's why my lifewas as bad as it was. (child playfully shrieks) (Karen laughing) Hi, I'm Karen Robertson. I'm 30, and I'm a single mom. We're here to talk about thefact that I actually believed in conspiracy theoriesonce upon a time ago.
(suspenseful music) – I'm Makenna Mead, a student reporter basedhere in Mississippi. I wanted to understandmore about Karen's story. – Hey! – Can you tell me a coupleof the conspiracy theories that you believed in? – I was definitely a anti-vaxxerat one point or another. There was one that I don'teven know how to describe.
Apparently, our birthcertificates look like some type of shipping things wherewe're selling stuff to China. Basically, China ownsus or something crazy. And there's a movie called”Zeitgeist,” or a documentary. They talk about how Jesus's birth wasn't the first virgin birth. They're trying to show you that a lot of what you've been taught isn't factual. And then at some point,.
They go into 9-11 being an inside job. I didn't wanna believe thatour government would do that, but I kinda just straddledthe fence on that one. – What resonated with youabout the conspiracy theories? – I was in an abusive relationship that I didn't realizeat the time was abusive. I got out, and I got one that was worse. I was trying to make the world make sense, and it was easier to believethat it was a bad place.
And something was out to get you and that's why my life was where it was at and as bad as it was than it was to realize I had made bad choices. – Can you tell me why you kind of went off and researched all of thethings that you believed in? – There were a veryspecific night, actually, that caused this. This guy and I were talking, and he knew.
About all these differentconspiracy theories that I did. Then towards the end of the conversation, he was like, “Get this, flat Earth.” And I was like. I thought he was joking. And he is like, “Dude, there's evidence that the Earth is flat,” and he tells me to look in the sky. A little while later, I sawhim use a very, very hard drug.
It made me realize if I'mthinking like someone like that, that I should reconsider my belief system. So the very next daywhen I got on YouTube, I actually searched how todisprove a conspiracy theory. A month, maybe even less went by before my brain just kinda clicked, and I was just like, “Allthis is a bunch of hog wash.” (laughing) And I kinda startedgoing in the other direction. – During the course of youworking through misinformation.
And figuring out what was the truth, what was kinda mixed up, howdid Azlynn fall into this? – I'm gonna say roughly ayear before she came along was when I became theversion of myself I am now. – Yeah. – And that's gonna be whereyou put your carrots, okay? – Yeah. – When I was pregnant, mybest friend made me onesies for Azlynn that said, “Scienceis not an alternative fact,”.
And there's a bunch ofdifferent books for kids, and there's a women in science book. She and I were actuallyworking really hard to make sure the baby had plenty of stuff. And I even had a parentreach out to me who was like, “I think it's so cool thatyou're over here planning on making sure your child's educated.” – I know that you're writing a book that's gonna help kids withcritical thinking skills.
Tell me about it. – It's a story about a kidtrying to build a block tower, literally based on us hangingout in the living room one day and my daughter tryingto build a block tower. And she's throwing this tantrum'cause everything's falling to the floor. And I was like, “That's gravity! You're learning a lesson in physics.” And most people don't talkto two-year-olds that way.
We treat children like theyare not smart, and they are. They're little scientist,and they're ready to absorb all this information, and if you put the rightinformation into them, amazing things are gonna happen. – If you could go back in time and you could talk to ayounger version of yourself that believed all those years ago, what would you say to her?.
– I don't think I couldnecessarily say anything that would change her mind. You can't make people believe differently. I definitely would tell her that things are gonna get better. (Karen playfully shouting) Because I think thatwas part of her problem. I might grab her phone and type in “how to disprovea conspiracy theory”.
And click on a video and hand it to her before I disappeared. (Makenna laughing) If you're someone who doesbelieve in conspiracy theories, maybe just for a day, dowhat I said that I did, and just kind of look into the possibility that maybe not all, butsome of what you think, it could possibly be wrong. It's hard to change minds,.
But that would ultimately be really cool if just a couple of peoplecould decide to get out of whatever online forumit is that they're on, go look up something andchallenge their own beliefs. That's gonna be the moral of my story 'cause when I challenged my beliefs, it changed my world, andit made my life better. – I see the tiger. – Yep.
(pensive music)
