Conspiracy theorists at a convention in Rapid City are spreading misinformation about topics including COVID-19.
And they’re gathering at a city-owned facility named for a healthcare organization.
The second annual Red Pill Expo is this week in Rapid City. Dan Happel is the event chairman.
“We're going to be talking about the vaccine programs and what the vaccine programs are about. We're going to be talking about COVID, we're going to be talking about Agenda 21. We're going to be talking about globalism and the push to create a one world global government …”
Agenda 21 is a non-binding United Nations plan to ensure sustainable global development. Red-Pill presenters say it and the pandemic are part a plot by elites to seize global power, and that the vaccine is a bio-weapon and/or tracking tool.
Critics say this type of event spreads dangerous misinformation about the pandemic when the state is trying to get people vaccinated. There’s also irony in the expo taking place at an event center with naming rights belonging to the region’s healthcare provider, Monument Health.
Priscilla Dominguez is the director of corporate sales and marketing with The Monument event center.
“Now obviously, we maybe have some limitations. We would never want to hold something that was openly calling for violence against another or anything like that. But when it becomes something that’s just a difference of opinion or a different belief system than maybe what is the general consensus of the public, we still want to be available for those guests to have their events.”
Being “Red-pilled” is a meme inspired by the movie,?“The Matrix” – where a red pill grants the hero a “true” understanding of how his sci-fi world works.
The Red Pill Expo is billed as an event to “help truth seekers understand how the world really works.”
However, Happel himself admittedly doesn’t know how the world works.
“Do we know who the people that pull the strings at the very, very, very top are? No. But much of it is driven by international corporations and big money.”