Corona aktuell: My mother believes in a conspiracy

In a free, democratic society, there will always be people who have questionable opinions, and that's okay. But if your own mother believes in a conspiracy as a high-risk patient during a pandemic, it is difficult to endure – as our author knows from personal experience.

In the early days of the pandemic, my mother and I had a similar attitude towards the virus and how to deal with it. At least as far as I can remember. First and foremost, we were both shocked and scared. We haven't seen each other for weeks, even though we live in the same town, out of caution we refrained from contact. Then at some point we started to meet again. Every week we went for a walk outside and sat on a bench – always at a distance and in the fresh spring air. I can't remember anything strange to me during this time that my mother said about Corona or the lockdown. It must have started around the phase when the measures were relaxed and the mask requirement came.

From questioning to conspiracy theory

"Mask requirement is total nonsense, even doctors say that it doesn't work" or "We should have done it like the Swedes from the start, nothing is going on in Sweden". To be honest, hearing such sentences from my mother didn't worry me that much at the time. Personally, I wasn't particularly interested in these questions because, fortunately, I don't have to make any political decisions. But since even experts * disagreed for a long time on what the right course of action is, it seemed to me legitimate that my ma was concerned with it and had a different opinion than our ruling politicians.

But then at some point there were sentences like: "They want to get rid of cash, soon you will only be able to pay with the cell phone" or "Spahn wants to introduce a health passport – everyone who already had the virus is allowed to move freely, the others should be locked up are and are not allowed to go to work, travel or anything else ". I responded to that, asked her where she got it from, and tried to reassure her that it was surely just rumors or thoughts and that she could still get upset if it really happened. That helped. And I was reassured.

Until one day my mother told me that there was this doctor who now wants to take action against "what they are doing with us". He founded a party that already has tens of thousands of members and more supporters than the CDU (or something like that). She also mentioned the name of this doctor that I had never heard of before. When I googled "Bodo Schiffmann" that evening, I felt sick. All of a sudden I understood what was going on – and how serious the situation was.

Stress test for the relationship

My mother belongs to the risk group for several reasons. I love her more than anything and she is the most important person to me. In principle, it is my very personal main reason why I am grateful that we, as a civilized society, have decided not to "just let the virus rage", but to take measures to protect people at risk and to accept certain restrictions. The fact that she of all people is upset about these measures and supports and believes people who rebel against them shakes me deeply. But I could live with the shock alone. And with the mere difference of opinion between us too.

Of course, it puts a strain on our relationship that my mother and I have different views on the corona pandemic. Even if I do not find all the decisions that our government has made in the past few months ideal, I have a basic trust in our politicians and think that we are generally on the right track. That being said, I make the most of the situation and only deal with things that are really relevant to me. My mother is convinced that we are being duped and kidnapped and we are furiously excited everything on. When I'm in a good mood, I listen to her and ask a little. But when I'm tired or stressed, I piss them off and say things like "I'm really not hearing that anymore". She thinks it's stupid and uncritical of me that I'm contrary to her Not against mask requirements, lockdowns and Co. am. We are now trying to avoid the subject of Corona in our conversations.

Why I am so afraid of the increasing numbers

Until recently, this strategy worked halfway and I was able to sleep peacefully at night, even though I knew that my mother enthusiastically followed some lateral thinker demos and posts on the Internet. But now that the numbers have skyrocketed and Hamburg and northern Germany are also a dark red risk area, I can no longer just ignore my ma’s attitude – because I’m afraid for her. At the weekend, her grandchildren, two teenagers around 16, came to visit her and stayed with her. Then we talked about what the two of them told her: that friends * stay overnight with them, that they will miss their sport so much in the near future and that they will not even know how to meet one person. And that nobody at school obeys mask requirements and distance rules. "I think that's good," said my mother to the latter. My throat tightened.

In this conversation I told my mother that I was afraid for her. That I'm scared of losing her. That she dies if she gets infected. Then for the first time I heard the sentence that I never wanted to hear from someone close to me: "What nonsense! There is no such thing as Corona." That left me speechless. My mother noticed my dismay and added that she was tough and had the flu a few years ago and was fit again after two days in bed. What else should I say or do?

I have only one hope left

I currently see no way to "convert" my mother. I can make her think and talk to her, but I have no chance against the Internet. She doesn't take me seriously when it comes to Corona and is firmly convinced that she knows more about it than I do. My only hope is that our government's actions will work as well as they did during the first lockdown and that my mother won't get infected. I've heard people say or read on social media a couple of times that they wish "these conspiracy theorists" they got Corona and that it would be tough. But we shouldn't forget that all of "those conspiracy theorists" are someone's mother, father, sister, or son.