The human mind is a wonderful device and it allows us to invent fantasy worlds, creatures and dimensions in our literature, cinema and television. In the same way the human mind has created conspiracy theories that cover virtually every aspect of Human History and politics.
Conspiracies galore
Despite the overwhelming proof of their veracity people still believe that the 1969 Moon landing was fake, that the contrails of aircraft are the means of spreading chemicals that control human behaviour and that small groups of elites control every aspect of our existence.
And these are the only some of the unusual themes treated by #Facebook.
The existence of the conspiracy pages can be a source of both enjoyment and consternation. The creators of these pages have an incredible capacity to build up theories with no physical evidence, or proof for their ideas. Requests for serious explanations are often answered with references to pages written by the administrators themselves, or badly edited and manipulated YouTube clips that try to give scientific explanations for the most outlandish ideas.
While much of these pages may be light hearted some have serious consequences, such as those that advise against vaccinating children because of a very small possibility of causing autism, or promote other ineffective cures for serious diseases and conditions.
These pages can only cause harm for those who unknowingly accept harmful advice.
Negationists and Historical revisionism
In the same way the sites that attempt to deny the existence of the Holocaust and other war crimes around the world have potentially serious consequences on world politics. Many young people with limited knowledge of History have been recruited into neo Nazi and fascist organizations as they seek seemingly well ordered and highly disciplined societies without understanding the real costs in human lives of these regimes.
Many of these groups came out into the open during the recent presidential campaign to promote their activities, either to promote or seek to sabotage the campaigns of both #Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
History is traditionally revisionist as over time historians gain access to documentation that contemporaries do not have, but denying documented matters, especially for political reasons is something else altogether and not at all legitimate.
We also know that there are pages that support terrorists groups, some openly and others surreptitiously, and these too must be cause for concern for Facebook’s administrators, as well as for the legal authorities around the world and for this reason they keep a constant eye on activities on the social medium.
Without doubt Facebook is a place of entertainment, for maintaining contacts with relatives and friends overseas and many millions use it as such. Sadly there are those with less than open intentions who take advantage of such opportunities and these are the ones who oblige those responsible into taking steps to ensure that it remains a place of enjoyment and not a place of hidden dangers.
