A Redditor in dire need of advice turned to an online community after their mother began sharing a conspiracy theory about the series of wildfires that tore through Los Angeles in early January.
"My mom genuinely thinks that these fires were started by the government/[California Gov. Gavin] Newsom for a land grab so that they can do 'LA 2.0' and turn it into a smart city before the Olympics," they posted in the r/QAnonCasualties subreddit.
The user, who added they lived 45 minutes from L.A., questioned their mother's logic, asking her if it made sense for officials to intentionally destroy thousands of homes and displace hundreds of thousands of people for the Olympics set for the summer of 2028.
"Yes. These people are evil and they don't care about us," the mother responded.
The original poster asked: "How do you guys deal with people who genuinely believe this stuff and have no sense of rationality or logic and are just so deep into the rabbit hole?" They expressed frustration over the politicization of and lack of empathy for the devastation "practically happening in our backyard."
One person shared that heard a similar story from a client but was unaware that the conspiracy had gained traction until coming across the original post. They stumped the theorist by pointing out that California has and will always have wildfires.
"If they do build a 2.0 city of the future, in a few years it will simply be another thing that is on fire," they said. "He didn't have a counterpoint."
While the origins of the fires are still under investigation, high winds paired with hot and dry conditions driven by the planet's overheating compounded the destruction they caused. The largest of the blazes — the Palisades and Eaton fires — have combined to burn over 37,000 acres, destroy at least 16,000 structures, and damage almost 2,000 buildings.
Other commenters noted the contradictory nature and absurdity of purposely setting a region ablaze just to build a smart city.
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Definitely 💯 "Isn't 'they' the elite? The Hollywood elite? So why would they burn down all their homes?" one user wrote.
"Why wouldn't 'they' just create the smart city?" another person asked. "... They don't need a fire. They could just do it."
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