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It seems like there’s a conspiracy for every aspect, event, and occasion in our life. Think of the theory that there is some kind of a connection between 5G internet and the coronavirus pandemic, which has been continually debunked by our experts. In fact, raising these rumors is considered inappropriate, and those who do can even get into trouble for spreading fake news.

But leaving the pandemic conspiracy aside, there are numerous other conspiracies that people genuinely believe in: Area 51, Bigfoot sightings, chemtrails, New World Order, Freemasonry, Illuminati, Sandy Hook, “stolen election,” the list goes on. And while most skeptics cringe at such improbable scenarios, some actually scratch their heads and wonder… “what if?”

So when someone asked “What is a conspiracy theory you actually believe in?” on r/AskReddit, people, skeptics included, shared some very interesting answers. Let’s see what they had to say below and be sure to share your thoughts on conspiracies in the comment section!

#1

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The media is the biggest stirrer of fear and anger and use it in order to stay relevant to keep the funds rolling in

Secret_Agent_Z , camilo jimenez Report

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Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Certain media outlets exist just to stir up fear and anger, because people who are afraid and angry are so easy to manipulate. Certain Powers That Be count on it.

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#2

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That my phone listens to conversations. Far too many situations where I’d talk about something random and see adverts about it on FB and Instagram without me ever searching for it

SingaBored , ROBIN WORRALL Report

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lenka
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is not a conspiracy. It does. There is actually a setting in the phone which allows certain apps (like facebook, chrome etc) to access your microphone. Use the settings and turn it off.

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#3

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Products are not made to last

turkiciconoclast , picjumbo.com Report

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Kaliesin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Planned obsolescence is a pretty well documented thing, and started as far back as the first production lines

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Bored Panda reached out to the redditor Come-What-April and the author of this thread who said they were always fascinated with themes about the paranormal, conspiracies, and scary stuff.“I always wondered if I could maybe get this channel to dedicate a video to a question I could ask on r/AskReddit and that’s how I ended up on Reddit writing my question one night I was pretty bored,” they said.

Come-What-April added that “the conspiracy theory stuff being a subject I know inspires many people, I knew I could get many interesting (and different responses) if I were lucky enough for my post to be seen by many.”

#4

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Aliens 1000% exist, maybe not UFOs and all that but there’s no way in hell we’re the only life in this gigantic galaxy

sanskujo , Bryan Goff Report

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Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I believe that there's life on other planets, but I don't believe in flying saucers or little gray humanoids or any of the UFOlogist stuff. Other life is going to be so different from our own that we'll have trouble recognizing it as life.

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#5

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real This might not be a groundbreaking hot take, but i think that applying for disability status/benefits is intentionally made to be a convoluted mess of bureaucratic jargon and endless hoops to jump through SOLELY so that disabled people don’t take advantage of them, either because they give up trying to navigate an intentionally confusing system, or because they make a mistake along the way, and the process gets f***ed up. I’m really lucky I had my mom helping me with a lot of the paperwork because otherwise I would never be able to get the supports I need in post secondary. It’s like someone purposefully designed the process to be as unobtainable, messy, and overwhelmingly complex for a disabled person as they possibly could.

satan-probably , Josh Appel Report

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Kira Okah
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The successful appeal rates for disability benefits in the UK is very high, because of the bollox applicants are put through. Stories of people in wheelchairs having appointments for a second floor room with no lift; where if they crawl up the stairs they fail as that is evidence that they are fine, and if they can't get to the room they fail for missing their appointment.

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#6

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The US doesn't provide free college because military numbers would plummet

timshel_life , Element5 Digital Report

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Paul Davis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The U.S. doesn't provide free college because Republicans understand that educated people tend not to vote Republican.

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Many responses the redditor received were something they expected. “I know how conspiracies on Covid/vaccination, 9-11 and such are pretty well spread. I loved reading some more 'personal' conspiracy theories, like that guy talking about the weird soup place in his town that seems to be a facade to hide illicit activities.”

When asked if the author themselves believe in a particular conspiracy theory, they said they’re open to the multiverse theory (which is not really conspiracy stuff). “But I like to believe we all evolve on a specific timeline and that other (if not infinite) timelines where things are different exist. I love reading posts on the r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix subreddit.”

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#7

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real There are people out there hired by companies to make dozens of fake accounts that retweet, reblog, etc and act like real people just to advertise products.

Snoo_97670 , Sara Kurfeß Report

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lenka
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not a conspiracy. Also common by political and religious organisations to promote and advance thier ideals.

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#8

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The “Fine Art” market is a scam used/run by the ultra wealthy to hide and preserve their wealth.

-ruddy_mysterious- Report

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Otter
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, the Fine Art market is fueled entirely by speculation. At best.

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#9

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Women's clothing doesn't have adequate pockets because the purse and handbag industry wants to ensure women continue to buy bags to carry their things.

jaspellior , Heather Ford Report

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Isabella
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No pockets in this world would be enough for some women to carry their stuff.😄

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“I believe that as citizens, there definitely is some information we are not yet aware of. I mean, definitely, some things are hidden from us (Area 51 is a good example). By knowing some stuff is hidden/covered up, how can we be sure about what to believe in?” Come-What-April wondered.

“I find the Covid conspiracies interesting,” they said and added that “I am staying very neutral in the Covid category. I don’t take a position regarding the virus’s origin and vaccination theories since the Covid conspiracies tend to divide so much. I strongly disagree with everyone saying the virus is fake, though. I saw people die from it working in a long-term healthcare facility,” the redditor concluded.

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#10

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Trump ran as a stunt. He was never supposed to win and didn't even want to.

janedeaux , wikipedia Report

#11

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That the government creates or at least promotes crazy conspiracy theories to make the true ones seem crazy by association.

RoyalC90 , Marco Oriolesi Report

#12

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Everyone’s going heavy with theirs but I have one that’s less serious.

Baby wipe containers are purposely made so that you always pull 2-3 wipes out at a time and therefore need to buy more often. It’s definitely something I can see Big Wipe engaging in to get just a few more containers out of us each year!

Just_For_ShiGrins , Natracare Report

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Monday
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

They also often claim their wipes are flushable....but they most certainly are not and should never be flushed.

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#13

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That Facebook’s outage the day before the whistleblower went in front of the Senate was no accident.

Its_Lesser_Known , Solen Feyissa Report

#14

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Apps track your location, even if you have the permission turned off.

Johndoe448 , William Hook Report

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#15

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That video game companies got a taste of the kind of money that gambling brings in and changed an entire industry to emulate the casino structure but for children.

Prof_V , wikipedia Report

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Monday
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh it's definitely all about money for sure, and they'll keep monetizing it for as long as regulation allows, but there's a fundamental difference between casino gambling and gacha or lootboxes people seem to ignore: money. In a casino you have the [extremely small] chance to win a life changing amount of money. In a game, you're only ever getting in-game rewards that have no impact on your life outside. It's still scummy, but it's not a fair comparison. Buying in-game currency so that you can try to win some kind of in-game lootbox reward is far more similar to playing for tickets in an arcade than gambling in a casino.

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#16

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That questions like this are market research, and this question in particular is likely to be used for some pretty nefarious purposes.

tim_rocks_hard , Scott Graham Report

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J. F.
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As somebody knowing a bit about marketing - articles like this could indeed be used to get parts of a wider picture

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#17

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The conspiracy that created the term "conspiracy theory". Think back to the 30s, 40s, 50s. There were stories of the black cars showing up and making people that start finding out too much "disappear". Enter the 60s and 70s. Mass media starts growing at a massive rate. A rate at which the government realizes that they cannot ever fully control. Their genius solution is to open the floodgates of crazy. Push a bunch of conspiracy theories into the populace that makes real conspiracy reports be ignored as just "tinfoil hat crazy". Label ALL reports as conspiracy theory. This over time creates a societal misunderstanding in the form of the term "conspiracy theory" becoming equated with "crazy". An example of this is I believe that there really aren't many people that truly believe the earth is flat. There are just some entities planted that push it as a "theory". This then becomes one of the main examples of "all conspiracy theorists are not to be taken seriously".

ShakyTheBear , Kajetan Sumila Report

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#18

The government deliberately works on keeping the populace uneducated. From school funding being tied to local property taxes, to allowing militant religious parties to "politicize" and censor science based education. It's easier to manipulate an uneducated society by pitting it against itself across socio-economic and political lines. In the mean time the civil servants meant to b representing us do favors for the wealthy in return for funding and insider trading privileges.

dude-O-rama Report

#19

That the international establishment are not cracking down on the slave trade because too many of them benefit from slaves, wage slaves, debt slaves, indentured servants, passport hostage victims, magdalene laundresses, unpaid internships, etc. themselves.

Antipotheosis Report

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Vera1
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Unfortunately, everyone in the west benefits from slave labour. Fast fashion? Slave labour. Fresh produce (like fruit and veggies)? Slave labour. Phones, Laptops? Also slave labour. I'm not sure what we as consumers can do about it but that is the only reason those things are so cheap in the first place. Although, buying second hand is always better than buying new

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#20

Republicans/Democrats aren’t as hostile as we’re lead onto believe and actually agree a lot but are using our differences in beliefs to control us.

Smoky_Cave Report

#21

Marilyn Monroe did not die from an “accidental” overdose.

BradleyKWooldridge Report

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Alex K
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

she was threatening to reveal all the things JFK told her during "pillowtalk"

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#22

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's when he was still in office and his advisers told him to write a letter to the American people to be released later after it got too bad to hide. When his condition went public in 1994, they released the letter and it was almost perfect handwriting, spelling, and grammar. Six months later he couldn't carry on a conversation. I'm convinced he didn't progress that fast in 1994 and that the entire thing was constructed over the years to look like he was mentally competent while he was president.

youseeit , wikipedia Report

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H Edwards
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2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Observers at the time questioned whether he was quite all there. However, he died ten years after his diagnosis which is around average. If he'd already had Alzheimer's while he was in office, he would have had a life expectancy around twice as long as the average sufferer.

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#23

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real China is using tiktok to develop a database to experiment and perfect deep fake technology and techniques.

Cambro88 , Solen Feyissa Report

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Bacony Cakes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No that's ridiculous why would TikTok do that? You should download TikTok! You can watch funny vidos and more! 习主席万岁!

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#24

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The cardboard rolls that toilet paper are on have gotten wider in diameter over the years. This is one way to make the rolls look bigger. Because you know 6 mega rolls equals 32 normal sized rolls...

aaronm007 , Isaac Quesada Report

#25

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real The world stock market is rigged, and most trading happens behind the scenes

Steve_warsaw , Yiorgos Ntrahas Report

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Bacony Cakes
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The mega-rich all go "lol everyone's poor now" every 50ish years.

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#26

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real That the government collaborated with tech companies to promote taking "selfies" to advance facial recognition software.

KirbyBucketts , Mimi Thian Report

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DidiRomski
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Good luck recognizing anyone from a selfie with all the heavy editing, filtering and photoshop lol

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#27

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Bic doesn't fill their lighters with as much fluid as they used to.

MFNLyle , Christian Allard Report

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#28

All countries have Ninjas. We only know about Japanese Ninjas bc they're the worst.

superturbochad Report

#29

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Chap stick actually causes your lips to feel more chapped after their affect wears off, causing you to use it more often and buy more chapstick

Dont_trust_ducks2 , wikipedia Report

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Rick
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That’s not so much of a CT as the way the skin on our lips work.

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#30

People Share 30 Conspiracy Theories They Think Are 100% Real Well I don't actually believe the government is putting stuff in our water that's turning the frogs gay

I do however believe the large amount of urine containing birth control waste getting out into the sewage is becoming an ecological problem

thekingamw , Thought Catalog Report

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Lauren Caswell
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2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That accounts for less than 1%. The majority is from effluent overflow and seepage from farms getting into waterways and the ground. "Analysis found that EE2 has a lower predicted concentration in U.S. drinking water than natural estrogens from soy and dairy products and animal waste used untreated as a farm fertilizer. And that all humans, (men, women and children, and especially pregnant women) excrete hormones in their urine, not just women taking the pill. Some research cited in the report suggests that animal manure accounts for 90 percent of estrogens in the environment. Other research estimates that if just 1 percent of the estrogens in livestock waste reached waterways, it would comprise 15 percent of the estrogens in the world's water supply."

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