We spoke about the wild rumours connecting 5G to coronavirus cases over a month ago and, well, we got some “interesting” emails after that (mainly threats).
Over the weekend, in the midst of a global pandemic and a lockdown here in the UK, some people have taken it upon themselves to not stay at home. Instead they’re out setting fire to crucial mobile phone infrastructure and abusing engineers installing and repairing masts.
At least 20 masts have been damaged or vandalised and hardly any of them were actual 5G ones. Instead the destruction has prevented critical comms during a worldwide period of crisis.
I’m not going to embed these here – you can watch someone called “Heapy Fullsesh against 5G” bullying staff here and here. The engineers are described in these YouTube videos as “murderers” and “scumbags” who are installing “death machines” and … err.. (checks notes) “kill grids”. These videos were all recorded during the lockdown.
Wait though, what’s this all about? Initially the “Stop 5G” groups seemed to start from a relatively simple theory -that the higher frequencies used in 5G cause health problems. If you’re talking about the 60GHz mmWave frequency then I’d be prepared to have a chat about this, but the fact is that 5G in the UK doesn’t use the 60GHz frequency and probably never will.
The 5G masts here operate between 3.4 and 3.6GHz – a lot lower than the frequency that modern WiFi routers use (5GHz). Indeed, your neighbours probably have 5GHz WiFi beaming into your brain right now without you knowing. Here’s a scan from my lounge – all these WiFi access points are pumping out at a frequency higher than the ones used by 5G..
All of these are 5GHz WiFi access points.
Unless you rip out every WiFi router in your neighbourhood, you’re not going to stop frequencies higher than UK 5G entering your home.
In recent weeks the conspiracy theories have morphed into higher levels of craziness, including…
- People calling themselves “nurses” and suggesting that 5G is to blame for coronavirus deaths.
- Friends of “Doctors” reporting that coronavirus patients are being moved away from family members so that the “truth” can’t be revealed.
- That “smart dust” is in the air and is being transmitted by masts into your body.
- 5G is “remote assassination” and areas can be “targeted ad-hoc”.
- 50GHz mmWave transmissions are being “secretly tested” in the UK.
- 5G “Chemtrails” can get into your system and a mask should be worn at all times.
- The coronavirus lockdown is really a “house arrest” so that 5G deployment can be accelerated.
Believe me, if you hang around these Facebook groups for long enough, it goes even deeper. Some are even suggesting that the current coronavirus restrictions should be “ignored” and masts should be “burned quickly” to stop the coronavirus. This is a dangerous, baseless and crazy world where reality simply doesn’t get a look in. Instead it’s a link to a YouTube video featuring a “doctor” or a recording of “an ex-boss from Vodafone” or a “friend of someone who knows”.
It’s garbage. Absolute, complete, un-checked garbage, but – as I’ve mentioned before – there’s a growing distrust in mainstream media and scientists. It’s amplified by President Trump, who calls news outlets “fake news” and even disagrees with medical experts to recommend random drugs as a treatment for COVID-19. Our belief system is being altered and twisted.
The people burning masts and abusing engineers are capturing content on smartphones which connect to the very masts they’re destroying. They’re destroying our ability to keep in touch with loved ones during this global emergency and, ironically, the way in which others watch these videos.
Why are people being duped by this? Why are people too lazy to look at the facts? Why don’t they ask basic questions like..
Despite having glorious 5G coverage, why does nobody who stays inside get coronavirus?
It’s a puzzler isn’t it? But the conspiracy theorists will just adapt their posts to work around this.
We can take a look at the 5G coverage and amount of 5G masts-per-state in the USA…
And then we can compare that map to the coronavirus cases in the US. There’s no correlation, but if you mention this fact within the Facebook groups it’ll just start another theory – in this case that the 5G “kill grid” is “targeting certain areas only”.
Now, you won’t get many websites saying this, but this whole 5G coronavirus conspiracy theory nonsense is a Flat Earth level of bonkers. It’s people setting fire to masts that they “think” are 5G (heck, they might not be) and abusing key workers who are trying to ensure that we can all keep connected during a global pandemic. It’s insane garbage which is allowed to propagate on Facebook and other social media outlets without a great deal of control.
Some people who do post reasoned or questioning responses to the conspiracy theories in the “Stop 5G” Facebook groups get their remarks deleted by moderators. There’s a constant hype and hysteria, an admiration and glorification of criminal acts and nonsense “evidence” being wheeled out on a daily basis.
All of this has led to all UK networks joining together to publish the following letter..
In addition, the culture secretary is now to order social media companies to come down harder on these crackpot conspiracy theories.