Love in the Conspirasphere

I have a good friend who regularly attends events on the UFO/paranormal/conspiracy theory circuit. He is in his late-sixties and recently got divorced after being married to his wife for about thirty years. He badly wants to start out again with a new relationship and has joined a dating agency. Unfortunately he has so far not had much success. He told me that on every date, things take a wrong turn when the subjects of interest, hobbies or personal ideas come up. He has to break the news to her that he believes in UFO's, ghosts, government cover-ups, Nessie etc... She looks away and starts fidgeting, and very soon makes an excuse to go home early, promising to call him another day... The problem is that the UFO/para/con community is something of a closed society. It is an exclusive but very marginalized club. Our fundamental notions of the world are so divergent to their conventional counterparts that it is very difficult indeed to find common ground with outsiders on a long term basis. This doesn't only count for partners, but family, work colleagues and friends. The singles industry is booming at the moment and among the rising number of services provided are specialized and themed dating agencies. Some are purely for people of a particular religion, income bracket, sexual taste etc who want to meet others who are like-minded. Now, finally, there are some emerging to cater for us. The official Awake Dating website looks fairly normal, see: https://awake.dating/, but the article about it in Vice describes it as an organization "caters exclusively for conspiracy theory-loving singletons... Most prefer to describe themselves as 'truthers' or the 'awake' because of the negative connotation around tinfoil-hatted conspiracy theorists in popular culture... Some are more into UFOlogy, some are into the 911/Sandy Hook/false flag events, some are into MKUltra and chemtrails. Then there are the flat-earthers and the Illuminati stuff; and the whole Pizzagate thing " One of their customers said: "It's a lonely thing to be a truther." Source: https://broadly.vice.com/en_us/article/d3g78j/hot-for-truther-inside-the-website-where-conspiracy-theorists-find-love?utm_source=vicefbuk. It's a good sign that there are enough of us in society to make such a business model viable. It reminds me of the last US Presidential election and Hillary Clinton's appeal to the "UFO vote", see: http://hpanwo-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/programme-210-podcast-us-presidential.html.

I can't help noticing the Eye of Providence in the insignia of Awake Dating... I think I've thought of a new conspiracy theory! However there is an obstacle to finding a romantic relationship within the UFO/para/con community that no dating agency can help with, indeed it is completely insoluble. The significant majority of UFO/para/con enthusiasts happen to be white adult heterosexual males. You can see this demographic tendency simply by looking at the people who attend any conference on the scene. That is not a criticism; there's nothing wrong here that needs to be fixed. This fact is a result of essential human nature and biology. I have actually spoken out zealously against anybody who suggests forcing change within our community via social engineering. Such an action would be extraordinarily destructive; see here for more details: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/adx-files-38-women-in-ufology.html. However, I am a white adult heterosexual male so therefore I understand the supply vs demand imbalance involved. I sympathize enormously with my friend. Of course if you are not a white adult heterosexual male then it's the opposite situation. The scene is a cornucopia and you have your pick! To answer the question that all readers by now are desperately wanting to ask me: No, I am not going to sign up for Awake Dating. Unlike my friend, I am not actively looking for a new relationship since I split up with Sue Ustane in 2016. Being single has many advantages as well as disadvantages. I did have a "truther soul mate" for eight years which, considering the odds, makes me extraordinarily lucky.

See here for background: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/are-conspiracy-theorists-narcissists.html.

And: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/conspiracy-theorists-more-sane-than.html.

And: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/british-humanist-association-conspiracy.html.