Conspiracy theories are all over social media. For some, that's as far as they go. But for reporter Zach Mack, conspiracy theories have infiltrated his family. After Mack's father became obsessed with conspiracy thinking, family relationships began to fray. Today on The Sunday Story, a look at what happens to a family when the people in it can't agree on what's true and what isn't. To hear more of Mack's story about the impact conspiracy theories have had on his family check out his three-part series called Alternate Realities on NPR's Embedded podcast.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is the impact of conspiracy theories on families?
I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is The Sunday Story, where we go beyond the news to bring you one big story. Since the COVID pandemic, lots of conspiracy theories have been floating around the Internet. For some, these ideas and the conspiracy thinking that fuels them may not have had much of an impact. But for others, they can feel urgent and personal. This is the case for journalist Zach Mack.
Mack's father holds a number of conspiratorial views. He believes, among other things, that a shadowy cabal secretly runs the world, a group he calls the globalists. Last year, as Zach tried to make sense of his dad's beliefs, he began recording their conversations with his dad's permission, of course.
Here's a moment from one conversation in which Zach's dad urges Zach to start stockpiling emergency supplies.
So you really want to store up two months worth of food and water because they probably won't be able to pump water throughout the city because that's all controlled by computers and electronics, and the EMP is going to shut down everything electronic. I know, I know it sounds like conspiracy theory, but they're going to do this.
This is what they're planning, and I just want to have you be prepared, okay?
Today on The Sunday Story, a look at what happens to one family in this age of misinformation and conspiracy theories. A conversation with reporter Zach Mack when we return.
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We're back with a Sunday story and reporter Zach Mack, who spent the last year documenting his father's conspiratorial thinking and its effect on his family. Mack says his goal was to bring his father, quote, back to reality. He turned his reporting into a new series called Alternate Realities for NPR's Embedded Podcast. Zach Mack joins us now. Welcome to the podcast.
Hello, Aisha. Thank you for having me.
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Chapter 2: How did Zach Mack's father become involved in conspiracy theories?
My children, 2024 will be a year like no other.
She's part of a growing movement within Christianity that emphasizes spiritual warfare and politics.
And God's saying this, don't put up with this anymore. Global globalism, the elites, global control.
Dad told me he found her a couple years ago and watches her three to four times a week.
Woe to you, enemies of Almighty God. Overthrow the rogue government. Every stolen election will be overturned. I am stopping their ultimate terrorist attack that would bring in martial law and complete shutdown of society as a whole.
So, you know, well, I know about prophets and I've definitely seen people prophesize in my life. And I mean, in general, with prophets, you always got to check the record. Like, are their prophecies correct? It sounds like your dad might have been hearing things that aligned with his view of the world, maybe in a way that's just kind of stretched beyond reality.
What has your dad said that resonates with him about these sorts of prophecies?
Yeah, so this all sort of comes through his faith and his understanding of faith. And he believes deeply now in prophets and just the understanding that God is continuing to speak through people through prophets the way he did in the Old Testament, right? And his belief through prophets comes through that. He explained it to me once.
It's kind of like the old saying is, seeing is believing. But in the spiritual world, it's just the opposite. And by that I mean, you have to believe it first in order to see it manifest.
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