There is also the question of...
"how does the conspiracy theorist regaining the trust of friends once their theories have been debunked and yet they continue to cleave to them with an almost religious fanaticism? How will they ever be considered mentally normal by their family and friends again? Will they always wear the mental ward frock in the eyes of their peers?"
There is a way to recover their reputation for being of a sound mind and judgment.
I don't think it is a matter of trusting a system but rather...
"how does one find credible source materials to educate themselves on unbiased facts" That is not hard to do and will set one on the right path to extract themselves from a previously committed position that might not be the truth.
Why trust cheesy videos anyone can produce in an attempt to sway people and not believe data published in scientific journals?
Is there a lack of understanding on how scientific journals get published? Maybe by looking into the requirements for the peer reviews and fact checking that goes into that type of publication would give one confidence that it has much more weight than an individual in a video whether he is wearing a lab coat and has medical credentials or not.
When you take the time to fact check using fact check sites that will uncover data you might not have known and give links for credible sources to add to your current knowledge you can consider all of the data instead of what you thought was so glaringly obvious based only on your intuitive natural suspicions and skepticism (not a credible source).
This will at least give a better perspective of why your normal friends and family are thinking that your not dealing with a full deck (because they already searched and know the fact check data) So you owe it to yourself to at least learn what the fact checking sites are saying. If you want to still believe the debunked false accusation you will be expected to give a persuasive argument as to why the fact checking sites are wrong. This would give you some level of credibility showing you have done the basic research necessary to have a valid opinion and then people will be less likely to dress you in that mental ward frock.
Most people who are honestly wanting the truth will not reject a superior resource such as a New England Medical Journal publication and choose instead to believe a fat transvestite in a blond wig talking into a webcam on a video posted on youtube.
If they do they can still recover their reputation for being sane if they simply change their minds and tell their friends they were wrong and they have learned how to look up credible resources and use fact checking sites instead of getting caught up in all the conspiracy theories on the internet. This will make their family and friends very happy and no one will think they are crazy.
Just don't be too proud to admit you went overboard but have learned from it.
It is very common for conspiracy theorist to not believe their own theories but be too proud to admit it to those they have told it to in the past. They feel they have to keep up a facade of belief to save their credibility but that does not actually work. The only way recover their credibility is to admit they got caught up in a sensational theory without first properly fact checking and since then they have changed their minds. Their friends will sigh in relief and trust them even more for their intellectual honesty.
There is a way out.. it is called intellectual honesty. And it is not that hard and it is freedom and a clear conscience. God desires truth in the inward parts and that means being truthful to ourselves as well as others. We can't fool God, He knows what we really think and He knows when we secretly doubt the integrity of a social media post we are sharing but do it anyway, and He knows that you felt that check from Him not to do it and that you did it anyway. And He is waiting for you to repent and quit it. And you will not grow in your relationship with Him until you repent of that and start taking what you communicate to others much more seriously. Truth in the inward parts. As a man thinks in his heart so is he.
