James O'Brien reacts to conspiracists who claim Covid jab 'makes you magnetic'
25 May 2021, 14:39
James O'Brien questions mentality of Covid conspiracy theorists.
James O'Brien questions the mentality of Covid conspiracy theorists, Facebook posts have claimed the vaccine "make you magnetic and Bluetooth enabled."
Magnets can stick to your arm after a Covid-19 jab because they contain a microchip or other metals, online posts by conspiracists falsely claim.
Independent fact-checking organisation FullFact has addressed these fake rumours, stating, "The Covid-19 vaccines currently in use in the UK do not contain microchips, or any device that could track a person’s movements."
James, who has often reflected on the Covid conspiracy theorists, said, "I don't laugh at it because what I've learned over the course of the last 18 months is how many outwardly sensible people fall for nonsense like this."
Read more: Caller's tale of Covid conspiracy theory left James with his head in his hands
James O'Brien caller breaks down why people go down QAnon rabbit hole
He referenced calls he took from listeners in March 2020 "who were genuinely convinced that Bill Gates wanted to put a tiny microchip in their bloodstream, and Covid was invented so that when the vaccine came along it would enable him to undertake some form of population control."
He questioned: "What's in it for the people doing it?
"I kind of understand when there's money in it for people, but there's no money in this is there? There's no money in suggesting that Bill Gates wants to control you, or indeed suggesting that by taking the vaccine, you become Bluetooth-enabled.
"If there's no money in it, and it's anonymous so there's no power attached to it, there's no profile, there's no political gain. If you were a foreign power, then maybe that's part of the answer: you want to disrupt and destabilise liberal democracies in the west to sure up your own cleptocracy in the east, then I can see why.
"A lot of the vaccine related nonsense has came out of bot/troll farms in Russia so a foreign regime seeking to disrupt a stable Western democracy, maybe."
James asked listeners again what is in it for people who "tell these lies."
Read more: James O'Brien reacts to this caller who insists she's 'not for the vaccine'
