I've spent a lot of my life thinking about conspiracies and skeptical versus ideological thinking, and I've come to believe that some worldviews are inherently irresponsible.

And I think this applies to a lot of people, whether they're members of QAnon or members of fandom.

That is: you can play around with ideology, whether you believe in a specific ship or whether you believe the world is flat. Belief is fun and motivating and exciting.

But when it comes to making rational decisions about the world, you need to be able to put ideology aside.

For example: if your belief in a ship becoming canon leads you to adopt a conspiracy theory about why that ship didn't become canon, it's on you to be able to step back and acknowledge that the theory is just speculation--it doesn't justify you harassing the show's creative team.

If you've become convinced that high-powered politicians are trafficking children, no matter how fervently you believe it, it's up to you to treat that theory responsibly and maturely, to acknowledge that it's speculative. To make decisions based on fact-based consensus reality.

I know this is kind of a difficult thread to pull at, because belief is so subjective; but basically, as the epistemic crisis worsens, I feel that adhering to a consensus version of reality, one based on established science and objective fact, is our ethical responsibility.