- It was easier to believe that there was someone,
something out there to get you
and that's why my life was 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 the fact that I actually believed
in conspiracy theories once upon a time ago.
(suspenseful music)
- [Makenna] I'm Makenna Mead,
a student reporter based here in Mississippi.
I wanted to understand more about Karen's story.
- [Karen] Hey!
- Can you tell me a couple of the conspiracy theories
that you believed in?
- I was definitely a anti-vaxxer at one point or another.
There was one that I don't even know how to describe.
Apparently, our birth certificates look like some type
of shipping things where we're selling stuff to China.
Basically, China owns us 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 that our government would do that,
but I kinda just straddled the fence on that one.
- What resonated with you about the conspiracy theories?
- I was in an abusive relationship
that I didn't realize at 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 believe that 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 the things that you believed in?
- There were a very specific night, actually,
that caused this.
This guy and I were talking, and he knew
about all these different conspiracy 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 saw him use a very, very hard drug.
It made me realize if I'm thinking like someone like that,
that I should reconsider my belief system.
So the very next day when I got on YouTube,
I actually searched how to disprove a conspiracy theory.
A month, maybe even less went by
before my brain just kinda clicked,
and I was just like, "All this is a bunch of hog wash."
(laughing) And I kinda started going in the other direction.
- During the course of you working through misinformation
and figuring out what was the truth,
what was kinda mixed up, how did Azlynn fall into this?
- I'm gonna say roughly a year before she came along
was when I became the version of myself I am now.
- Yeah.
- And that's gonna be where you put your carrots, okay?
- Yeah.
- When I was pregnant, my best friend made me onesies
for Azlynn that said, "Science is not an alternative fact,"
and there's a bunch of different books for kids,
and there's a women in science book.
She and I were actually working really hard
to make sure the baby had plenty of stuff.
And I even had a parent reach out to me who was like,
"I think it's so cool that you're over here planning
on making sure your child's educated."
- I know that you're writing a book
that's gonna help kids with critical thinking skills.
Tell me about it.
- It's a story about a kid trying to build a block tower,
literally based on us hanging out in the living room one day
and my daughter trying to 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 talk to two-year-olds that way.
We treat children like they are not smart, and they are.
They're little scientist, and they're ready
to absorb all this information,
and if you put the right information into them,
amazing things are gonna happen.
- If you could go back in time
and you could talk to a younger version of yourself
that believed all those years ago,
what would you say to her?
- I don't think I could necessarily 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 that was part of her problem.
I might grab her phone
and type in "how to disprove a conspiracy theory"
and click on a video and hand it to her
before I disappeared.
(Makenna laughing)
If you're someone who does believe in conspiracy theories,
maybe just for a day, do what I said that I did,
and just kind of look into the possibility
that maybe not all, but some 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 people could decide to get out
of whatever online forum it is that they're on,
go look up something and challenge their own beliefs.
That's gonna be the moral of my story
'cause when I challenged my beliefs,
it changed my world, and it made my life better.
- [Azlynn] I see the tiger.
- Yep.
(pensive music)