If you ever encounter a conspiracy person of any type irl, you can act like you've never heard of
- their particular conspiracy
- online communities
Don't start arguing with them headfirst, or tell them that they're wrong. Make them explain the entire thing to you from the start, and once they have, ask them where has this happened? Whom has it happened to? How do they know these people that have experienced this? Like was that their uncle or a co-worker or who exactly is it that has told them about these things?
And as soon as they mention online forums, just look at them with deeply baffled confusion, and as slowly as possible, ask "so you were told all this by... someone from the internet?" with the exact same cautiously incredulous tone as if they had just said they receive all of their news from a talking dog.
I did this to a man who claimed litter boxes were being used in schools and got him to admit no it wasnt his school, actually it wasnt a school at all and no he had no proof of it ever happening. When he said he heard it on fox news and facebook i just looked at him like 🤨 and he shut up pretty quickly
this is just “people in real life: hey man how’s it going”-ing them. excellent
If you can't find a normie for contrast to highlight how batshit someone is, playing the role of one yourself is fine.