Covid, Disinformation and conspiracies (Yay!)

As with anything i write...
Little disclaimer: I'm just putting my thoughts out there and i'm easily distracted.
So if i tell a story by telling 5 sidestories first...That's what's going on :)
tldr: Don't try to silence a subject, any subject.

So... i know what you're thinking.

Sid, We've been dealing with this situation for well over a year now, We're tired of anything to do with covid.
Okay...Yeah, fair. Me too. But hear me out.

So, here's the situation.
I live in the Netherlands, and now that there is a vaccine, it's not mandatory to get...but it kinda is.
There's this little QR code we need to show at the door of just about any public place and there's all but signs hanging out in the streets saying "prohibited for the unvaccinated".
Now, it's not -that- dramatic just yet but there is another thing going on here.

The spread of articles on social media has lead to a vast amount of disinformation and halve truths being picked up on by....anyone that will listen.
This on it's own leads to conspiracy theories and....well. It turns out i've got three people like that in the family.
Now, the common opinion and the new laws that are being created every other week are impacting all of us, conspiracy theorists included.
But the division that's being created...It's ripping families apart.

So here's a situation i have to deal with about a weekly basis:
I come home to my mother and stepfather, We're having a family dinner.
Someone asks me about my medical treatment and how it's going....I evade every question because i'm not about to get punched in the gut by a slew of unwanted advice.
Then they ask me about some other small things they've asked me about a million times before...they get the same answer.
Now with that out of the way we'd usually be in for a good evening until we all go home.
But lately, every time this subject sneaks in: Covid.
Now...I don't get my stubborness from any old person...i get it from my mother...As does my sister, who believes in conspiracy theories.
And that, that's the crutch of the evening. At some point this covid discussion pops up.
And there we go ,right, my stepdad and I get caught in the crossfire in a discussion between an unstoppable force and an immovable object.

Not for long though, At some point the two will decide to just silence the subject alltogether and just try to get along without voicing their opinions, concerns, beliefs...
And that... That's what's driving the wedge in between us all.
My sister, she feels like she can't talk about the things that bother her most, she can't vent.
My mother, She feels like her opinion is right and feels like my sister is a fool for believing in those conspiracies in the first place.

Enter: Aunt and uncle.
They too believe in conspiracies. From 5G to nanobots, Total government control, brainwashing and mind slavery.
The thing that bothers me the most about this?
It's the fact that they get so worked up in telling their stories because they automatically think i'm about to say they're full of it.
They're so unaccustomed to people listening without judgement or prejudice that they come out guns blazing.

So what do you do with it right?
Like...How do you put out that unexthinghuisable fire?

Well...You don't, i think.

I think instead of trying to change something or the way someone thinks...
It's best to just, listen. Let them vent and tell them ,in a way that doesn't make them feel stupid, that you assume they've done their research (well) and that you'd like to see it.
Because honestly, nothing is less productive than a conversation going like this:
"Open your eyes, Do your own research!" -"You're blind! you can't see what's real if i presented it to you!".
Instead i just like to take the passenger seat and see what their research is all about.
And hey...If the sources don't check out, i just tell her that this is likely not to be the truth even if it's a story she wants to believe.
Yeah, maybe she'll react poorly, maybe ignore me for a week... But at least she's able to talk about her feelings, her experience...and while i can't speak for her...i think she can appreciate that i listen with very little judgement.

Example...
I had my uncle tell me that the virus has never been isolated, that scientists were just copy/pasting the model they have received from the scientists in Wuhan.
I told him: Okay, I think that's unlikely but if you say so i assume you've done your research.
What did he come up with? An article that was supporting his statement...The person that wrote the article...Eh...yeah that was a dentist who presumably had a little too much time on his hands.
The next day i've found the whole genome online, including the names of all the researchers attached to all the articles...But i haven't used this. This research of my own is just to get the story straight for myself. Because i don't care if anyone in the discussion is right or wrong...
I just don't want them to feel unheard, unloved or unwanted.

So...While i can type a whole novel about my own experiences with life around the coronavirus and living in a family where it's regular practice to just be at each others throats over a subject or just silence it instead...
I'll spare you that. I think this whole post is long enough as-is.
That is, assuming you guys haven't quit reading this post halfway through :)

I feel like it's just about time that we started to change the way we look and listen to conspiracy theorists.
If we can listen without judgement, Reply without defending or offending, yet be assertive, and respect each other as the people we know each other to be... We can spare a whole lot of hurt feelings.
...Because the effects of anything to do with the coronavirus are much more disabling (mentally) than the virus itself. (hence me posting it in the depression forum)
...Because at the end of the day...My sister is still my sister and my mother is still my mother.
Neither of their morals, values, beliefs nor integrity are in question for me.
I love them just the way they are, conspiracy or no conspiracy.