Someone Asks People To Share Conspiracy Theories That They Actually Believe In, Here Are 30 Answers
The US seems to be the home sweet home of conspiracy theories. From Area 51 and Bigfoot sightings to chemtrails, New World Order, Freemasonry, Illuminati, Sandy Hook, “stolen election,” COVID-19 pandemic… Well, we don’t have that much time for naming them all. But you get an idea.
But wouldn’t it be great to look at the minds of people who actually believe the conspiracy theories and see what it is in there that makes them tick? Thanks to a redditor who posed the question “What conspiracy theory do you believe to be true? What evidence led you to this conclusion?”, we are now able to do just that.
Let’s see what exactly made people believe in one conspiracy or another, and don’t forget that the truth, it’s just out there.
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Modern art exists solely for money laundering.
I believe that modern/minimalistic art exists solely for money laundering. It's just a way for rich people to move money around. There's a reason why paintings of plain geometric shapes sell for millions of dollars, and it's not because the buyers are really into shapes
Women's fake pockets are a marketing ploy.
Women's pants have fake pockets to make us buy purses.
YES. i have soooo many jeans, but their front pockets are either fake or have the size of a quarter full of room. smh
The US will never publicly fund college because no one would enlist in the military.
The US will never add colleges to public funding like they did high schools because then the enlistment rate for the military would plummet.
Definitely. Same goes for universal healthcare, the US government's first priority is the military; the people who elected them come second. They could use 50% of the military's budget to be the first country to completely eradicate homelessness and drastically improve quality of life for all of us AND still have the almost powerful military in the world but no.
Conspiracies are covered under a veil of unknown, much like these theories they represent. They appear from seemingly out of nowhere, start surfing around on social media, some become a part of urban legends, while others disappear until new speculations emerge.
To find out how exactly conspiracies work and what goes on inside conspiracy theorists' minds, Bored Panda reached out to Thomas Roulet, a Senior Lecturer in Organisation Theory and the Deputy Director of the MBA Programme at the University of Cambridge. Thomas is also the author of the 2020 book “The Power of Being Divisive: Understanding Negative Social Evaluations” published by Stanford University Press.
When asked a rather broad question on why people believe conspiracies, Thomas said that there are two main mechanisms in charge: “a sensemaking one and an identity one.”
All my devices listen in on me. The other day I was arguing with my Dad about some chicken I thought had gone off (it was frozen for about a month so we weren't too sure but my Dad was insistent that it was still edible). Dad decided to ask Google, and low and behold the related searches even from the first letter were: "Is chicken edible after being frozen for a month" and "How long can you freeze chicken before it goes off".
Also, my Mum and I use this tactic where if we need to ring up a company about something and it puts us in a queue, we swear at it. It then puts you on a priority list and you don't have to wait as long. Kinda sketchy on the company's behalf.
I do legit belive in this, for example i was talking with a gf about matracess, and look at that, add on facebook suddenly become an ad for matracess... And no, i didnt google it
Totally is true. Bf and I talk about a specific food or ingredient and he opens up Pinterest to find recipes for whatever it was we were talking about. Obviously the smart home devices have to be constantly listening to you in order for them to hear their "wake up" command (like Hey Alexa". I firmly believe because his Alexa is connected to his Amazon account, which is on his phone, is why HIS Pinterest does this but mine doesn't.
Load More Replies...My husband worked in a call centre. Can confirm that they can hear you on hold and the policy is to escalate if they hear swears.
Anyone remember the lady who made the news because her period calendar believed she was pregnant? Her period was late but even she didn't notice, until she started receiving ads for baby products.
This isnt theory. Edward snowden documented how various platforms are always listening
This crap happens all the time, one time I was THINKING about and item. Legit just thinking about something and it showed up in my feed I was like wait.....
Omg. This is so weird, but I have exactly same experiences. And I thought that I'm crazy or something :D
Load More Replies...I turned off the microphone permissions on the majority of my apps that didn't use it directly and so many of these coincidences stopped. It was interesting just how many apps used it too.
One time my friend and I were talking about how I had to clean the floors in my apartment and later that day I got ads for swiffer wet jet broom 0_o
It is not a conspiracy. I do not have a dog, I do not want to buy dog but to test the theory, near my phone I talked ten times during conversation for half an hour that I want to buy a dog . Then open my phone and looked at the ads: dog food, dog house, dog toy...
They do listen. I had a discussion/talk with a friend a while back - must be 2019 because it was before quarantine. We even went to a "study room" in a library so we could talk alone because it was going to be about heavy sh--. My friend (who knows way more about psychology than I ever have) spoke to me about some theories/reasoning etc. NONE of this was ever searched on a comp or spoken of/texted over the phone/through messenger, etc. Next day - in my "pocket articles"... an article came up about the **EXACT** psych theories my friend had spoken about.
And even with the microphone permissions turned off this still happens.
Load More Replies...The same thing happened to my dad but with Amazon, he was talking to a neighbor about borrowing a Thatcher and he went on Amazon and they had deals for Thatchers.
Amazon has the most advanced algorithms for marketing. Even Jeff Bezos is sceptical about the tech used to target customers, but he's all in it for making money so he really doesn't care how invasive it is, or how much it impinges on your privacy, cause at the end of the day, you're willing to put up with massive privacy invasions to get the next trending item.
Load More Replies...One night as we lay in bed, I told my husband I'd buy him a new pillow. The next morning, there was a pillow from one of my wish lists sitting in my Amazon cart. Not listening my a**e.
I can't believe Bored Panda censored a r s e. I literally censored myself by writing that. Ridiculous.
Load More Replies...Your tv has listening microphones so your ads are targeted to what you talk about. There are warnings on the packaging box in tiny letters and also on the product info leaflet. Very small print
I used to buy tv ad space for GM and later worked at Comcast. Ads on TV are the same except local ads vs national. Your neighbor has same ads as you ALWAYS.
Load More Replies...Simple remedy: get off Facebook, Twitter and all the other social media where you show us your private life up to the detail of when you last visited the bathroom including a full report on the color, dimensions and estimated weight of your turd, with a picture to prove it.
My family hates me for it but I will never be on Facebook or anything like that. and not just because of the lack of privacy and all the horrible social media things, but because it seems like it destroys intimacy. people don't call anymore to say something good happened they just post it they don't even text. Didn't she see my post they say and then nobody calls anybody anymore
Load More Replies...I hate conspiracy theories - just get that out there, but I think this one is even more sinister . . . I have an old pre-'Smart' Samsung I hardly ever look at, but my friend Adrian came round with his i-new-whatever the other day, we chatted, he finished his coffee and left . . . I go upstairs and fine topical stuff pertaining to our chat appearing on my Faceplant feed? Stuff we had discussed within earshot of his smart 'phone, but also within signal-overlap of my laptop, which had been online upstairs . . . make what you will of that! TL-DR; friend's ear-wigging i-phone apparently affected output of my Facebook feed?
We joked about my SIL's blur tooth hearing aid listening to us. Had a conversation in the car with her about "funky looking socks". Yup, had ads for "funky looking socks pop up online. Also my nephews hoverboard started playing the conversation taking place on my neighbors front porch.
I told my husband that I like the garden tub in the house we are staying at and that I want one in our house. I didn't google anything, just talked about it and now I'm getting flooded from every direction about garden tubs. Random coincidence?
i was talking about getting a new helmet at dinner... phone was right next to me.... and the next day there was an ad about some kind of new helmets in stock---------------------------------------------- im still suspicious
They do not listen but they do monitor key strokes and this is in writing when you agree to use certain apps especially emoji keyboards or the google keyboard. You sign off on it when you use the keyboard. I figure that they know everything about me that works for capitalism.
I do believe in this. On many occassions I would talk with my siblings about certain topics or interests like movies or games, and the same day Google would start flooding my feed with things related to it. I never searched any of it on the search engine before.
Odds are, somebody is watching you, but I assure you, you aren’t nearly important enough for it to be the government.
I was speaking on whatsup with a friend that is getting bold and wife is insisting that he should take medicine that can cause impotence. Guess what kind of publicity/suggestions I was receiving all the time? Impotence medicament and hair implants. I didn't Google. Was a conversation call over wattsup.
i once mentioned to my boyfriend that they sell materials for sushi in the store next to us and since then my facebook is BOMBARDED with sushi!!! every 3rd post is an ad of a sushi place.... i thought it was a coinsicence till i told my brother and he held my phone to his mouth and said " laptop" 10 times and half of the adds changed from sushi to laptops........ that's creepy
Not a theory, this is a fact. Just start talking about buying a cat and then go on Facebook, see what ads you get.
It’s legit. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/amazons-alexa-never-stops-listening-to-you/amp/
Mine has never given me ads or google searches after having a conversation. When I google something then ads will pop up related to google searches or just ads for apps on my phone.
Was it literally coming up after "I" or was it "Is ch..." as that makes a world of difference to an algorithm. Did it offer a lot of suggestions or just the frozen chicken one alone? I think it was because a LOT of people have asked the same question. We often underestimate how unoriginal we are. :)
They don't listen to what you are talking about. They do put a lot of information together and try to predict based on that what you might be interested in. For example if you were near someone who looked product A up on the internet and your social media and search profiled matches that of the other person who looked it up close enough they will push advertisements of product A to you too. So yeh they are tracking you and no they are not listening to your conversations. Look it up, there are a bunch of articles that explain it much better then I can.
Have a look at this video, maybe then you'll realise how what is true and what not. Nicely explained. → www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYW7gr7lIXI&t
I'm going to bet the poster has an Alexa or similar device and just didn't mention it.
I have only my phone and this happens to me. I don't have Google assistant or anything else like that.
Load More Replies...Shane Dawson even did a video on this so it's not surprising ( ̄o ̄) . z Z
so if an entertainment youtuber makes a video on this, it’s not a conspiracy?? form your own thoughts based on facts, not because someone paid to told you
Load More Replies...I once texted my sister in law about a certain product- didn’t mention product out loud- and my entire household started seeing ads for said product. As for the call waiting. I don’t see how that’s possible. Our company has a key system that has a timed recording only when certain wait times are predicted by the algorithm.
That the government uses social media to manipulate, and measure public sentiment and opinion.
This is true for some countries. Britain, Australia, Scotland have prosecuted people with the wrong opinions on social media. China is a few steps ahead, using social media to "ferret" out nonconformists and their friends. They also track Uighurs this way.
The 10-year challenge was used to collect facial recognition data.
The 10-year challenge all over social media is actually a way to record and gather more facial recognition data.
That's why I refuse to show my face unless I'm in cosplay on the internet somehow I'm to shy to put my cosplay on and take a couple photos
“In an increasingly complex world, people want to make sense of their situation and their social environment. Seemingly unconnected events or clues are constructed as a coherent whole in the most successful conspiracy theories.”
Thomas added that “in a world where social connections are numerous but often meaningless (for example, on social media), people want to feel part of a crowd and a group—there is a need to find a tribe and identify with it.” As a result, “Conspiracy theorists have a strong sense of group identity, which made them attractive to those who might feel marginalized or excluded in society,” he explained.
I believe that the government probably makes some conspiracy theories to try to make questioning the government seem somewhat crazy.
Area 51 is not a place for secret government/military testing with aliens and stuff, instead Area 51 is a scapegoat while shady behind the scenes stuff is going on at another military base that the general public doesnt know about.
I mean if you were really going to do something in secrecy, would you do it in the place where everyone thinks it is? Hell no! I dont have any specific evidence to back this up but it makes sense right?
This makes sense. The only reason Area 51 came to light was because of the Roswell Incident. Otherwise it would have maintained it's secrecy. Area 51 is so notorious now that there is no way the military would have anything covert going on there other than normal military operations.
Banks and landowners conspire to manipulate urban land prices. Turn an area into a ghetto by marking it as a high-risk loan proposition, denying loans in the area. Property values plummet on a down-town area because no one can sell, because no one can get a loan. Once things are down enough, you can buy up prime location land at pennies on the dollar then re-develop it into being worth the 'real' market value of such a central location, plus what you invested in the actual development.
According to Thomas, “People buy into conspiracy theories are in all parts of society—from the most to the least educated, from the richest to the poorest,” so no particular group of people is safe from believing in conspiracies. It’s because “everybody needs to be able to make sense of their reality, and everybody needs to feel part of a group and socially integrated.”
I used to tell people that I believed the government listened to or phone calls. Years later some guy named Snowden proved me right.
I believe the US military went to Afghanistan in order to seize control of the Poppy fields and instead of destroying them they manufactured black tar and other forms of heroin and sent it back to the states. I have several friends that were marines in Afghanistan and they've confirmed these suspicions. The drugs got worse after being in Afghanistan not better or more contained. The USA military is the biggest cartel in the world
The lines on the detergent caps are higher than they should be so you use more detergent for each load of laundry. It's so easy for them to get away with it
It's not a conspiracy theory. The recommended dosage for detergent is more than enough to be effective. There are a lot of factors that can affect the performance, so they can't recommend a lower amount because if it didn't work, everyone would think it was crap. They need something that covers everyone. The added advantage is that people tend to use more. The sensible thing to do is to adjust your dosage to factor in the soilage, water quality and your machines performance. Most people can drop the dosage quite considerably.
Many new conspiracies have emerged in times of the worldwide pandemic, and Thomas says that it has to do with the fact that the current situation adds complexity and changes on a daily basis.
“It is hard to comprehend, to understand, and it's brutal and sudden. All of this makes people want to make sense of an incredible, unprecedented, and difficult-to-accept situation. Such a unique situation calls for an out-of-the-ordinary explanation—and lends itself well to conspiracy theories.”
Moreover, “People are looking for information, and they are looking for culprits to explain the terrible situations they have to experience. They want to believe this can be pinned on a specific actor,” he concluded.
Priceless artwork and historical documents are replicas.
I’ve always speculated that a lot of priceless artwork and historical documents are actually replicas or copies.
Obviously a painting by a world-famous artist using a very specific technique would be very hard to fake, and I don’t think that every art scholar in the world is paid off in some grand conspiracy. Rather, I just think that either the national treasures never left their vaults or that some national treasures actually were lost to history but they were copied.
A few museums actually place their most expensive items in a secure vault and only display replicas to the public. However, according to all information available, the original Mona Lisa is on display.
Modern drug prohibition is a "for profit" endeavor perpetrated by governments for the benefit of pharmaceutical corporations, prison industrials, and warlords.
The countdown timers on ads for games or streaming services are actually longer than seconds. Seems too long sometimes.
Disney only named a movie Frozen to distract from 'frozen head' Google searches.
That Disney made a movie named Frozen so that when people google things like 'frozen' and 'Disney' together, info about the movie comes up instead of stories about Walt Disney’s frozen head.
The Hawaii nuke false alarm was a test.
The Hawaii nuke false alarm last year was actually the US government testing to see how the general population would react if an actual nuclear war broke out.
23 and Me is run by the government to collect your DNA and database it for later.
How is this a conspiracy? They are already using the DNA collected to solve 'cold case' murders. I don't know about this company specifically, but all it would take is a warrant for them to have to share their data.
UFO sightings are just humans from the future on a time-traveling safari.
All the UFO sightings throughout history are just humans from the future on a time-traveling safari meant to observe how we were in the past. They are supposed to keep out of sight, but thanks to human/mechanical errors, there have been hiccups with their cloaking which have resulted in being seen. That's why there have always been so many reports of them throughout history, but there has never been an attack. It's just us.
Also the reason why we don't see as many examples of UFOs now even though pretty much everyone has a camera is because people are not that interested in this time period since we already document aspects of human life all the time.
When Ted Kaczynski (the unabomber) was at Harvard, he participated in a brutal psychological experiment led by professor Henry Murray. The experiment lasted for three years and by many accounts they seemed to have an extreme impact on Kaczynski’s psyche. I think this experiment was part of the CIA’s MKUltra project and destabilized Kaczynski enough to where he eventually went on his reign of terror of sending bombed packages around the country.
During the MKUltra project, the CIA collaborated with university professors on these mind-control experiments but a lot of the documentation was destroyed when people started to look into it.
TL;DR: The unabomber participated in an experiment that was a part of the MKULtra project that eventually led to him becoming a mass-murderer.
I believe in the mattress store conspiracy, so the conspiracy is that mattress stores are for money laundering. I went onto google maps and typed in ‘mattress stores near me’. There were 4 MATTRESS STORES IN THE SAME SHOPPING CENTER. There was a road that had 5 mattress stores less than a mile apart. So I definitely believe in it.
Or places like vacuum stores or fan stores that only sell one type of thing in a small town. If there is no way they could possibly get enough business to make it; it is suspicious.
I believe that chapstick causes lips to become more dry a couple hours after usage. I base this on the fact that my lips are more dry 5 hours after using chapstick than 2 days after using it
I’m starting to believe anti-dandruff shampoo actually causes dandruff.
Anti-dandruff shampoo is only for people with an oily scalp. If you have dandruff caused bydry, scalp this shampoo will only make it worse. Then you need a mild shampoo tgat will moisturize your scalp.
Apple started the AirPod memes.
I believe that Apple started the 'wearing AirPods = cool/rich' meme intentionally to boost sales. They became the best-selling wireless earbuds worldwide after the meme.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 wasn't an accident. There were definitely external forces that catalyzed its disappearance. The flight path was diverted many times and there was a lot of shady stuff about some of the passengers and the pilot of Flight 370. We may never know unless the plane is found.
What sort of 'external forces'? This one is so vague as to be pointless.
Michael Jordan's father was murdered in retribution for Jordan not paying off massive gambling debt. Jordan didn't retire and then come back, he was suspended for gambling. In the mid 90's, Michael Jordan was an industry. The truth about his gambling habits may have cost a lot of people a lot of money, so the cover story was presented.
Does anyone have any idea how much Michael Jordan is worth? If he couldn't pay off a gambling debt, he was in deep
Tinder gives fake 'You got a new match!' notifications to get you to swipe more.
I have a theory that Tinder gives fake 'You got a new match!' notifications so people get excited and open Tinder, which leads them to swipe more.
I would say "you got new people like you" not "you got a match". Matching would mean both people liked each other so you would know if you liked them. But you can't know if someone liked you without actually swiping right!
Restaurant owners sing 'Happy Birthday' to embarrass you.
Restaurant owners know how awkward it is to be sung to in front of the whole establishment, and they do it to discourage people from taking advantage of their free birthday food.
I'll never be discouraged from cashing in on free birthday food. Sing to me, dance for me, whatever..give me my free sundae
Gas station owners are the ones putting the card scammers on the pumps. They don't want your info, they want you to distrust pay at the pump so you'll come inside and make an impulse buy. Most stations barely make any money of gas, the money is in the stuff they sell inside.
The bacon industry is ever so slightly making normal sliced bacon thinner every few years,so that eventually,what was once considered normal sliced bacon becomes thick cut,thus saving the big bacon industry money.
My only evidence is the fact that my bacon,which I have always and will only buy from a specific brand,seems to be getting thinner and thinner,more flimsy,more likely to fall apart as I get it out of the package.
So the one brand you use is doing this, according to you, so all the industry is?
Note: this post originally had 42 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
TLDR - People believe weird, stupid s**t about almost everything, rather than seek out the actual facts.
Especially since some of these are widely disproven.
Load More Replies...Whoever this John Louis guy is, he needs to learn what a conspiracy theory is.
Conspiracy theory: John Louis is a government agent trying to discourage people from believing in conspiracy theories that are true
Well, they _are_ “conspiracy theories’” not “facts”
Load More Replies...Lots of silly stuff here, but there are a few thought-provoking ones.
I don’t think Epstein killed himself. I know I’m obviously not the first person to have said this, but it’s way too fishy. I’m not a whack job though, I understand that this is just a theory with no proof and I don’t get angry at people who disagree.
some are true in this like the pockets for women. I mean it did begin as a witch thing sure. but once that was gone they could put them back but no its to get more money.
How it started: "Atlantis is real and the Mona Lisa is fake" How it's going: "Vaccines have chips in them #StopTheCount" Conspiracy theories are a gateway drug to cult behavior.
Most of these are already proven facts. Some are dumb. But there were a couple that were pretty good. I love the idea that DIsney named Frozen... Frozen. When I was a kid, the whole Walt Disney froze his head thing was HUGE! LOL!!!
Facebook, Microsoft and phone companies are doing more and more options to sign in by fingerprint, retina scan and facial recognition, not JUST for the added personal security, but in order to provide the government and law enforcement with a data base of recognition information that WE AGREE to provide in the eula that we never read.
money is printed on a material that collects dna and ATM's are built to scan all of that for future use. there, thought of that in like 10 seconds I could fill a post like this in a day, an actual talented writer like Douglas Adams could write 10 books about this if he wanted. it's not conspiracy, it's over-functioning imagnation
here are categorical lists of the current conspiracy theories: https://www.ufoinsight.com/conspiracy
you left out the ufo cover-up... the covid vaccine is in wide scale test worldwide right now.. all sorts of horrific side effects are showing up... that's why the governments of the world never allowed wide-scale testing or approval... google search for the side effects of the vaccine... yes, small percentages affected, but nevertheless, severe intolerable side effects to loos on the unsuspecting public... latest side effect reported: miscarriages by pregnant females who take the vaccine... the baby says, "hell no, I don't want that virus in me, I'm leaving"....
Venn diagram: folks who believe that the holocaust and the 2020 election results were faked, and people who believe THIS crap is real = a complete circle.
A little research would disprove a lot of these 'theories.' I'm just grateful no one questioned the Warren Report.
It's very clear on the title that these are conspiracy theories! Just theories! If they provide who,what, when,where then it's not conspiracy anymore! It is fact!
Load More Replies...TLDR - People believe weird, stupid s**t about almost everything, rather than seek out the actual facts.
Especially since some of these are widely disproven.
Load More Replies...Whoever this John Louis guy is, he needs to learn what a conspiracy theory is.
Conspiracy theory: John Louis is a government agent trying to discourage people from believing in conspiracy theories that are true
Well, they _are_ “conspiracy theories’” not “facts”
Load More Replies...Lots of silly stuff here, but there are a few thought-provoking ones.
I don’t think Epstein killed himself. I know I’m obviously not the first person to have said this, but it’s way too fishy. I’m not a whack job though, I understand that this is just a theory with no proof and I don’t get angry at people who disagree.
some are true in this like the pockets for women. I mean it did begin as a witch thing sure. but once that was gone they could put them back but no its to get more money.
How it started: "Atlantis is real and the Mona Lisa is fake" How it's going: "Vaccines have chips in them #StopTheCount" Conspiracy theories are a gateway drug to cult behavior.
Most of these are already proven facts. Some are dumb. But there were a couple that were pretty good. I love the idea that DIsney named Frozen... Frozen. When I was a kid, the whole Walt Disney froze his head thing was HUGE! LOL!!!
Facebook, Microsoft and phone companies are doing more and more options to sign in by fingerprint, retina scan and facial recognition, not JUST for the added personal security, but in order to provide the government and law enforcement with a data base of recognition information that WE AGREE to provide in the eula that we never read.
money is printed on a material that collects dna and ATM's are built to scan all of that for future use. there, thought of that in like 10 seconds I could fill a post like this in a day, an actual talented writer like Douglas Adams could write 10 books about this if he wanted. it's not conspiracy, it's over-functioning imagnation
here are categorical lists of the current conspiracy theories: https://www.ufoinsight.com/conspiracy
you left out the ufo cover-up... the covid vaccine is in wide scale test worldwide right now.. all sorts of horrific side effects are showing up... that's why the governments of the world never allowed wide-scale testing or approval... google search for the side effects of the vaccine... yes, small percentages affected, but nevertheless, severe intolerable side effects to loos on the unsuspecting public... latest side effect reported: miscarriages by pregnant females who take the vaccine... the baby says, "hell no, I don't want that virus in me, I'm leaving"....
Venn diagram: folks who believe that the holocaust and the 2020 election results were faked, and people who believe THIS crap is real = a complete circle.
A little research would disprove a lot of these 'theories.' I'm just grateful no one questioned the Warren Report.
It's very clear on the title that these are conspiracy theories! Just theories! If they provide who,what, when,where then it's not conspiracy anymore! It is fact!
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