We at the GBC Strategic Planning Team take our service to the ISKCON Vaisnava community seriously. We do our best to post information that is relevant, informative, inspiring and in line with our teachings. We hope to help with keeping our devotees safe, healthy and in good consciousness.
As far as health, we see that most devotees are taking the recommended precautions surrounding the coronavirus seriously. We are also aware that some devotees have less faith in how medical professionals and governments are presenting the pandemic; they prefer alternative views found on the Internet.
For the most part, we don’t get too involved in commenting on the ideas floating around. We understand that conditioned souls have imperfect senses, are subject to illusion, make mistakes, and have a cheating propensity. Those realities apply to all. Beyond that, we subscribe to the “better safe than sorry” pragmatic approach to this issue. Srila Prabhupada often signed his letters, “Hope this meets you in good health.” We pray that devotees will continue to fulfil that hope of Srila Prabhupada’s.
It is in that mood that we present these concerns specifically about the “Plandemic” video (and similar presentations) that is currently being promoted by some ISKCON devotees – including senior spiritual guides. Unfortunately, the “Plandemic” video contains many unproven claims and factual errors that can lead someone to take a less-than-cautious approach.
There is a need to promote critical thinking and encourage ISKCON members to be discerning when dealing with potentially fallacious content. Therefore, here we share two articles addressing the faults in the “Plandemic” video:
2. https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/08/fact-checking-plandemic-documentary-full-false-con/
A third article – “If Someone Shares the ‘Plandemic’ Video, How Should You Respond?” – deals with the social and relational aspects of receiving this or similar videos. You don’t want to insult or belittle those who send it; but you can tactfully indicate other – and better – sources:
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2020/05/plandemic-video-what-to-say-conspiracy/611464/
We live in a digital age and as such there are no filters on who is qualified or unqualified to speak or post content, thus resulting in an array of confusing and dangerous misinformation.
We therefore ask the devotee community to continue being vigilant, discriminating and only share material that is factual, balanced, supported by evidence, and in line with our core principles.
