I used to believe an evil satanic cabal was orchestrating all the world’s atrocities from 9/11 to mass shootings. Now I’m convincing other conspiracy theorists how wrong they are
For 15 years, Brent Lee believed the world was run by a shadowy evil cabal of paedophiles orchestrating almost every atrocity from 9/11 to mass shootings.
But now the 44-year-old works to combat disinformation and says he is ‘totally obsessed’ with challenging the wild theories he once wholeheartedly believed.
The self-labelled ‘recovering conspiracist’ says he used to believe politicians performed ritual sacrifices and that terrorist attacks were government-orchestrated.
But in 2018, he began to question his worldview when the ‘alt-right’ US broadcaster Alex Jones began claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was fake.
The ex-truther saw theories that no one died and the parents of the 20 children who died were actors and thought it was ‘implausible’.
That was the beginning of the end for his belief in the wild ‘alternative’ explanations on the internet.
Now, he looks back at his previous beliefs finds it ‘funny’, comparing it to believing in Santa Claus.
But he warns that the truther community spreading disinformation can be dangerous, and told the Times how ‘conspiracy influencers’ like Russell Brand say they are ‘anti-establishment’ but are really just spreading conspiracy theories.
Brent Lee works to combat disinformation and says he is ‘totally obsessed’ with challenging the wild theories he once wholeheartedly believed. Credit: Brent Lee
In 2018, The 44-year-old began to question his worldview when the ‘alt-right’ US broadcaster Alex Jones began claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was fake. Credit: HC Podcast
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Bristol-based Mr Lee, who will be addressing a conference in Poland on disinformation this month, told the Guardian: ‘I felt, I can’t deal with hearing this any more because it’s no longer what I believe, so I just logged off the internet.’
He added: ‘Don’t try to get me to make it make sense because it doesn’t. This is why I get so embarrassed about what I believed.’
In 2003, Mr Lee was 24 and working behind the till in a garage in Peterborough when he started watching videos that offered alternative perspectives on 9/11.
The videos said the attacks were orchestrated by the US government as a way of justifying military action in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Before he became a conspiracy theorist, he held a strong anti-war stance and a skepticism about politicians’ motivations, but later believed that a network of secret societies and cults was running the world.
The former conspiracy theorist used to believe evil politicians were performing satanic and morbid rituals. Credit: Brent Lee
Mr Lee said he was ashamed of contributing to the spread of misinformation but he didn’t intend to lie. Credit: Brent Lee
Speaking on the HCPod podcast, he said: ‘Within a few years I was thinking that the entire world was run by a secret society or a cult. That they were trying to raise the Antichrist. That we were constantly under black magic to keep us in line.’
One of the theories he believed was that a secret student society at Yale University which George W Bush and Democrat John Kerry were members of – Skull and Bones – performed satanic rituals.
This led him to think there are evil politicians performing satanic and morbid rituals.
He explained: ‘Once you’ve been swayed by these arguments, it’s easy to just keep going down the rabbit hole, finding more dots to connect.
‘Once you have such a skewed view of the world, you can be convinced of other stuff.’
Skull and Bones Society
Founded in 1832, Skull and Bones is a secret society at Yale University.
Many male society members, called Bonesmen, have gone on to achieve prominence in business or government.
Three of them became US Presidents:
- William Taft
- George W Bush
- George W.H Bush
The emblem of the society is a skull and crossbones with the number ‘322’ beneath it.
Skull and Bones is featured in books and movies which claim that the society plays a role in a global conspiracy for world domination, and that it controls the CIA.
‘If I’m laughing at conspiracy theorists, it’s because I’m laughing at myself.
‘It is funny – that you’re adults who believe in Santa Claus or something equally ridiculous.’
Mr Lee said he wasn’t taught how to research and fact-check information and that could have led to his rabbit hole of alternative theories.
When the 2005 7/7 attacks happened in London, he examined footage of the attackers and decided images had been Photoshopped before being released by the police.
He spent months building an alternative explanation for the attacks and blogging about it.
Mr Lee said he was ashamed of contributing to the spread of misinformation about the attacks, but he didn’t intend to lie.
He wanted justice for the victims but admitted that he was wrong.
Mr Lee began to question his worldview when the US broadcaster Alex Jones began claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was fake.
He read that no one died and the parents of the 20 children who died were actors.
But Mr Lee found this unrealistic and started to feel annoyed by other wild theories swirling around the internet.
He said he saw theories that Justin Bieber and Eminem were Illuminati clones, and that a paedophile ring, involving high-level Democratic politicians, was operating out of a pizza restaurant.
But he thought ‘well that’s just stupid.’
That was the beginning of Mr Lee crawling out of his conspiracy theorist hole.
He now works in a factory and spends his lunch breaks and free time analysing conspiracy theories online.
But instead of fueling the misinformation, he is trying to combat it.
The ex-truther has now been ostracised by his former online community because of his efforts to discredit the wild theories floating around.
He said he wanted to bring people out of the rabbit hole but it backfired and his online community of ‘truthers’ have since treated him as a pariah.
But he told the BBC that the support from others has helped him cope with the loss of friends.
He said: ‘It has given me a whole new lease of life – I wasn’t expecting people outside of the truther community to want to hear what I had to say.
‘People found it useful hearing from someone who believed that stuff and why they believed it – putting things into context really helps people understand.
‘That’s what I found with conspiracy theories, putting the theories into context helps dismantle them.’
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