Braden Matejka narrowly escaped the worst mass shooting in US history, and now he鈥檚 weathering another threat.
The Okanagan man recently shut down all of his online accounts as the only way to gird himself against conspiracy theorists and internet trolls who are harassing him, said his older brother Brock Matejka.
Braden has been called a 鈥渃risis actor鈥� and a meme circulating in the days after he went public with his ordeal had the words 鈥淚鈥檓 a lying c***t!鈥� under his image. The vitriol ramped up in the days and weeks that followed and comments like 鈥� I hope you really get shot in the head鈥� became increasingly common.
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Shutting down his personal accounts wasn鈥檛 his brother鈥檚 first choice, said Brock. He tried to reason with the army of conspiracy theorists, but his efforts fell on deaf ears.
鈥淚t bothers him, but he鈥檚 trying to not really worry about what they have to say, too much,鈥� said Brock. 鈥淗e knows the keyboard warriors living in their grandmothers鈥檚 basements have nothing better to do than victimize other people鈥�. There鈥檚 no talking to those people. They鈥檙e so gone in the thought process, there鈥檚 no reasoning with them.鈥�
Plus, Braden has other things to worry about. The bullet that grazed his head caused a concussion and he鈥檚 still suffering the symptoms.
鈥淗is vision gets blurred and he has headaches, and that鈥檚 going to take time to get over,鈥� said Brock. 鈥淗e鈥檚 still not working, but he has an evaluation coming up (next month) and then they鈥檒l know for sure what鈥檚 happening then.鈥�
It鈥檚 surreal, however, to those who love Braden that he鈥檚 had this response as he鈥檚 tried to heal.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 get much more real and realistic than him,鈥� Brock said of his brother.
According to an article published Friday in the Guardian, Braden isn鈥檛 the only victim of the Las Vegas mass shooting dealing with a backlash.
It鈥檚 an increasingly common event after a crisis unfolds and YouTube and various other social media destinations are rife with commentary about survivors from mass shootings being 鈥渆mergency on-screen characters.鈥�
It鈥檚 an idea promoted by InfoWars personality Alex Jones. Through his radio show and website, Jones has claimed the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a 鈥渇alse flag鈥� operation and that Sept. 11 was an inside job by the government.
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While there have always been conspiracy theories, what鈥檚 changed is the amount of tread these ideas are getting, said Andrew Irvine, a UBC Okanagan professor in math and philosophy.
鈥淐onspiracy theories are driven by wanting a conclusion to be true rather than following the evidence where it leads,鈥� he said.
鈥淚f you are a dentist, you don鈥檛 just put in fillings where you want. You do the work, take the X-Rays follow the evidence and then put in the fillings. The same goes when you are a police officer鈥攜ou follow the evidence. 鈥�
Humans have always relied on finding meaningful patterns in the world around us and making causal inferences. We sometimes, however, see patterns and causal connections that are not there, especially when we feel that events are beyond our control, he said.
Historically there were ways we could deal with that. We鈥檇 turn to institutions we trust to guide us through the dark, but we as a society are deep in the throes of an information distribution shift and trust is becoming a rare commodity.
鈥淚f conspiracy theories are going up in popularity it鈥檚 in part because of a lack of trust in our institutions, like politicians, the media or (universities),鈥� Irvine said.
鈥淎 certain amount of skepticism is good and healthy in society but we need to have trust in our neighbours and our institutions to function.鈥�
So what caused people en masse to turn away from the institutions that follow evidence?
鈥淲e have new media鈥攊n one sense it鈥檚 wonderful, it鈥檚 democracy in action and everyone can have a say. People can go online to start a website or a blog inexpensively,鈥� he said.
鈥淚n another way, we have to realize not all news is made equal. Some fact check, some don鈥檛. And we have to understand the quality of output we are getting there.鈥�
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