The problem is not just chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and his mad utterances about vaccines allegedly manufactured by the devil. The problem is way bigger than the man who sits atop our highest court. The problem is global. It is dangerous. My view is that the spread of disinformation — medical, political and in other spheres — is one of the greatest dangers to worldwide peace and harmony in the next five to 10 years.
You will know that Mogoeng shocked many when he said during a prayer, mimicking conspiracy theories found in anti-vaccination circles, that some vaccines were “of the devil” and were manufactured to corrupt people’s DNA.
“I lock out any vaccine that is not of you,” he prayed. “If there be any vaccine that is of the devil, meant to infuse triple-six in the lives of people, meant to corrupt their DNA ... Any such vaccine, Lord God almighty, may it be destroyed by fire in the name of Jesus.”
Mogoeng’s prayer reflects a global movement that ignores science, facts, evidence and objective truth to continue spewing discredited information. It belongs among those who say billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates wants to use a Covid-19 vaccine programme as a vehicle for implanting tiny tracking devices in people to gain control in them. Evidence? None.
Mogoeng’s prayer is welcomed among those who, at the beginning of this pandemic, claimed a link between Covid-19 and 5G technology, for example. You will remember them: destroying telecommunications towers in the UK, Belgium, Canada and elsewhere. They said the spread of the virus from China was linked to the rollout of 5G. Evidence? Again, zero.
The likes of Mogoeng dive into social media sites such as Facebook and gobble up any old conspiracy theory by any unqualified, unknown peddler of lies who has time on their hands. They ignore scientists of the highest ranking in the world.
As my friend Barney Mthombothi alluded, these are people who will believe any gobbledegook which comes out of the mouth of someone such as Shepherd Bushiri.
Try as you might to talk sense into them, they will resist. On Friday, Mogoeng, for example, dug in his heels when confronted about the advisability of someone in his position making reckless statements that undermine medical science and, in a country of so many who can be swayed by his words, increasing the number of those who would hesitate to subject them to a vaccine to try to halt the spread of Covid-19.
“I don’t care about the consequences,” he said, as though he were some sort of freedom fighter standing up for the oppressed.
This conspiratorial nonsense has spread like wildfire on social media and infects politics globally, too. On Saturday, thousands of supporters of Donald Trump, the loser of the recent US elections, marched in Washington and several state capitals “to protest what they contended, against all evidence, was a stolen election”, according to the New York Times.
Read those words again: “Against all evidence.”
This is the key thing. These are people who have thrown all reason, all sense, aside. They are enthralled by lies. They are enthralled, for example, by the discredited, far-right global conspiracy QAnon, which says a global child sex-trafficking ring is plotting against Trump. Its adherents are all waiting for “The Storm”, a day of reckoning when members of this cabal will be arrested.
Don’t laugh. Cry instead. Trump has in the past retweeted adherents of this twaddle and QAnon flags are a regular feature at his rallies. There is no evidence of such a conspiracy. Zero. And yet it flourishes on social media and in the minds of people who, like Mogoeng, believe Gates is trying to control their minds.
All this is connected. We are swiftly moving to a world where disinformation (“deliberately misleading or biased information; manipulated narrative or facts; propaganda”) is easily spread and gobbled up by the likes of the chief justice. It means our world has become far more dangerous and, like the Trump supporters who march for a cause that is not supported by a shred of evidence or the 5G conspiracists who attack phone masts, we could easily fall into conflict.
London’s Guardian newspaper on Sunday quoted Michael Waldman, president of the Brennan Centre for Justice at New York University’s school of law, saying Trump’s numerous baseless legal challenges to the election results are worrisome for American democracy.
“Clearly, there is a very strong and previously unseen anti-democratic impulse in the United States that can way too easily be activated and this is going to be a big fight for years,” he said.
If we do not nip these conspiracy theories and cult-like movements in the bud now we will be at war in 10 years, if not less. We need a return to a consensus on facts.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.