Basic common sense is not particularly in vogue these days. Social media has made it easy for anyone to broadcast outrageous misinformation as fact, which then finds a wide audience due to public distrust of mainstream media.
Corey Taylor recently addressed his feelings regarding the motives of conspiracy theorists.The frontman of Slipknot and Stone Sour spoke out against “people who may or may not be as intellectually inclined as other people,” who spread “absolutely fucking batshit fucking ideas just so they can make themselves feel special and feel like they are on to something.”
As he tells the NME: “I miss facts. I miss when we lived in a world where facts weren’t met with such disdain because they fly in the face of something that you believe.
“Belief is not a fact. And not only that, but the fact that people who may or may not be as intellectually inclined as other people have decided to kind of conflate these grandiose notions of conspiracy theories and absolutely fucking batshit fucking ideas just so they can make themselves feel special and feel like they are on to something.
“The fact that they do that just to make themselves feel special, and that it is attractive to other people like that and that now that is very much a norm is absolutely fucking terrifying to me.
“And unless that gets nipped in the bud fast and soon, it’s gonna get worse.”
Taylor goes on to conclude: “It doesn’t take intelligence to be an ‘expert.’ All you have to do is be confident enough in your own stupidity and you’re an expert. And an ‘expert’ doesn’t have to be anything that you recognise.”
Corey Taylor is currently working on his upcoming second solo album, CMF2, which is due to be released towards the end of 2023.