Conspiracy Theorists Imagine Which Secret Experiments The Government Is Testing On Society
The more we learn about governments around the world and the kinds of things they've done in secret, the more horrified we get. Things that people thought could never happen because they were just too awful have, in fact, happened. Governments have experimented on minority groups, they've destroyed entire cities, they've poisoned communities, etc. But that stuff is in the past, right? We're better than that now and these sorts of things would never fly ... or would they?
One Reddit user asked:
What experiments/tests do you think the government are doing that we have no idea about?
Honestly, the responses were interesting and terrifying. Here are some of the ones that really stood out. Some of these are compilations of the initial comment as well as some supporting responses. Brace yourselves, the possibilities aren't pretty.
Social Media
They're learning so much about us through social media I doubt they need to do human testing right now.
Misdirection
Misdirection. Some real sh*t goes down and we're preoccupied by things on purpose. Remember that "this is the calm before storm" awkward statement from Trump? If not, it's because within 4 days kneeling became the alleged top concern of our entire country.
Your comment made me think of Melania's "I Really Don't Care" jacket. There is absolutely no way she or their team didn't know it was going to be an outrage and all people would be focused on for days.
The panama papers thing just flew right the hell under the radar simply because no major news organization said a word about it. That's all it takes for something that huge to be buried, is CNN doesn't talk about it.
- zennz29
23 And Not Me
23andMe!!!
Hear me out: the FBI and CIA have been known to secretly sponsor programs similar to this. Not only are they getting DNA samples of their citizens but they're getting citizens to PAY for it.
In the contracts for them, it says that the company owns your DNA sequence.
The "Boring" Stuff
All these borderline conspiracy theories, while mine is pretty mundane: Military and Intelligence.
No one had any idea about the B-2 Stealth Bomber or the SR-71 until they were used (and not even for a while after that, with the SR-71), and there's still plenty of things we don't know about them! Lots of theory crafting on how to get a spy network or just intelligence in general into other countries, both friendly and enemy, because knowledge is power.
Y'know, the "boring" stuff.
#ThrowbackThursday
I've always been a fan of the conspiracy theory that the government was behind #ThrowbackThursdays as some sort of social experiment to get people to digitize and upload old pictures of themselves online so that they could use them to make facial recognition/age progression algorithms better.
- -eDgAR-
Mood Manipulation Through Media
Manipulating what we see and how we react:
Show people sad stories, they get sad & post sad stories. Show them happy ones, they get happy and post happy.
Facebook already got in trouble for doing this without user consent. I have zero doubt the government was either in on it, and/or is still doing it. I'm surprised but not surprised that so many people are unaware of this. I remember a few years ago there was a different article posted every day about a parent leaving their child in the car and that child dying. That shit was shared connnnstantly! You never hear of it anymore. It still happens, but it's not as public. Facebook isn't favoring those stories in their algorithms at the moment.
This stuff even predates Facebook. Remember 2001's Summer of the Shark? For a whole summer, the media was absolutely obsessed with shark attack stories, despite no increase in actual attacks.
It's Still Happening
Everything we have caught them doing in our recent past is still believably going on because we haven't really given our government a reason to change.
That includes illegal human experimentation, editors from major publications (like the NYT) being on the CIA payroll, mass surveillance by the NSA, torture at blacksites...
The Hawaii Scare
I'm about 99% convinced the nuclear scare a while back in Hawaii wasn't an accident at all, but a dry run to gather data in case we get to a point where the real deal might happen.
What if it was a real threat, but the government handled it before it happened. Then they just play it off as an accident.
The Solution Is Worse Than The Problem
Geoengineering. So that if we don't get our act together before global warming gets out of control, we can do something like blast monatomic sulphur into the stratosphere or into strategic points in orbit to reduce the amount of sun hitting the planet and cool the earth if all else fails. And as we don't seem to be getting off our duff as a species really fast, it just might.
Sadly, this is one of those SyFy Saturday Night solutions, right up there with Sharknado, where one "solution" breeds 100 unexpected and deadly side effects that taken together could be even worse.
Up to the point where the concerned scientists try to storm Mission Control to stop the launch screaming NO NO NO while President-for-Life Pence presses the button and launches the rocket. And everything looks great for about two days until the shit starts coming down.
Learning Your Patterns
Cryptography and statistical/entropy analysis of online users to be able to identify someone by their speech and text patterns online, regardless of any other connections between profiles or websites.
Banks and other sensitive companies use this type of analysis to prevent fraud. They build a profile of how each user interacts with their platform and flag suspicious activity when usage changes. (e.g. Time of day, ip address, scroll wheels vs scroll bar, Common clicks, amount of time it takes to type password.) They even temporarily make the cursor disappear to prompt the user to shake their mouse to find it, giving a distinctive mouse movement pattern. The combination of all these data points gives companies high levels of confidence to determine if each user is who they say they are. Here's a link from the NYT.
H/T: Reddit
We've all played the "What I would do if I was rich" game.
Admit it.
You've imagined a trillion scenarios for what you would do (after you paid off your debt, of course) with wads of cash. In your imagination, you've given money to friends, started charities or businesses, and probably bought your fair share of imaginary real estate.
And that's all just the basics. We haven't even gotten into all the rich-people hobbies you could take up like SCUBA golfing, sailboat customization, or learning how to melt down antique jewelry to make gem-encrusted bongs for yoga Wednesdays at the gym-slash-coffeehaus.
Reddit user BabySuperfreak asked:
"What's your fantasy 'rich person hobby'?"
Reddit is absolutely right there with you, folks.
Carpentry
"Woodworking, which I already enjoy. But I'd have a huge workshop with all of the expensive tools."
- AMeatPopsicleIAm
"It's fun to figure out how you could spend increasingly large amounts of money on a hobby."
"$10k? Sweet garage shop."
"$100k? Build a huge shop and tweak it out. Loan it out to people who don't have access to shops."
"$1M? I have no idea. Train under the best woodworkers in the world? Visit exotic locales to see how materials/supplies are produced?"
- RedSpikeyThing
"I just want my own bandsaw and I'll be happy, but yeah it's my dream to have my own little shop in a quaint little building in my backyard. It would be the cutest girliest little grandma-core workshop out of a fairytale picture book."
"I'd have little organized stations for everything and it would be so satisfying!"
- BetterRemember
"I've built a pretty decent 'shop' through marketplace and estate sales. Taken a while but I have most of the major tools I need. Affording wood is another story"
- allf8ed
Want To Grab Lunch?
"I want to be a 'lady who lunches'."
- suzy7517
"You could even step up your game and do 'Brunch' on Sunday! They would say 'wow she is so rich'.”
- Ok-Suggestion-7965
"Word. Except I think I would hate those people and just lunch w people who are self-employed artists and/or homeless."
- MidLifeHalfHouse
"Those are the only two groups you'd eat lunch with?"
- wandering_ones
Miniatures
"I love building miniatures. I helped my dad build a few models as a kid. Then I stumbled onto those miniature rooms you can buy on Amazon. Surprisingly cheap for the decent quality. I've done about 10 of them and have another 20 on my wishlist."
"I went to a hobby store the other day in search of a material for a custom mini, and my friend brought to me a giant box of a model of the Enterprise. For $1200. 3 months' rent."
"I know my first stop after winning the lottery"
- samtheflamingo
"As a gamesworkshop fan I feel you. I’ve got a wishlist too."
- LordHamu
"Being rich, you could build 1:1 scale miniatures."
- d!ck_schidt
Sailing
"Sailing sounds fun as hell"
- WorkingContext
"Sailing is fun as hell. I’ve been crewing now for about 7 years."
"Sailing is cheap. It is owning a boat that’s expensive. I pay $350 a year for access to my local club’s boats if I do want to go take a boat out myself."
"Boat owners frequently spend $350 on parts for a single event, and people always need dependable and reliable crew."
"I’ve even gotten flown out to tropical places and had my accommodations paid for at bigger events! I don’t even own a boat, just pull lines!"
"If you live near a racing community, you can get into sailing at the cost of maybe some sandwiches for the team, or occasionally replacing sunglasses you drop in the drink, you just need the right attitude."
- lifeinexile42069
"I agree, but only during the day as the ocean according to videos seems pretty terrifying looking at night"
- 2020-RedditUser
"Sailing is it for me too, particularly cruising. I'd like a nice, 45 ft catamaran that I could cruise around on with the family."
"I have more immediate ambitions to get a little beach cat (Hobie cat, etc) or a dinghy and improve my sailing skills."
"My local 'yacht club' has a learn to sail class that's pretty affordable for a two day introductory class and going out sailing twice (~$100). I did it last year, but I'm considering doing it again as I didn't exactly consolidate my skillet with practice in between."
- TryingSquirrel
Traveling
"Traveling. I know it isn’t much of a hobby, but traveling can be very expensive, and I’ve always wanted to travel the world."
- Im_a_noodle_101
"Beside the cost, getting time off from your full time job can be very hard. I want to spend the summer traveling in XYZ, not fly in, have a couple of days looking around then fly back to work. There's no time to really relax and enjoy the experience"
- PecanSama
"Be one of those people perpetually on vacation."
- wazzle13
"I'm with you on that. I see all the wonderful places to travel and will never be able to go to them. At least many are on streaming channels now."
- Laura9624
"Traveling without budget or ANY money worries. I'd like that. No more sh*tty third-grade hotels and public transportation *joys* and just enjoying the trip."
- Khalae
"I'd travel the world till I physically can't lol that sounds fun"
- Several-Orchid9640
Esthetic Farming
"Owning a hobby farm/garden with *small breeds of farm animals (mini cheviot sheep, serama chickens, bantam call ducks, miniature jersey cows) *lush vegetation (english garden/new cottage style landscaping) *an orchard with a huge range of different kinds of each fruit and climate controlled greenhouses for plants that wouldn't grow in my region"
- RK_Killer
"Would they be miniature fruit trees? I want the small animals walking amongst the small trees with small fruit."
- phobosmarsdeimos
"I would love it to have ducks, cats, dogs, rabbits anything to be honest and just watch them enjoy their time and play around. A small pond for the animals to cool down, big trees for nice cool shadows and also some fruits that drop for them etc."
- Bfnti
Prehistoric Collection
"I'd like to have a large collection of really cool fossils. The really neat ones are expensive."
- revtim
"Oooh, good thought. You know there's a tech billionaire somewhere (I'm blanking on which one) that got really into collecting gemstones after he got swindled into buying some fakes."
"He found the geology of them fascinating and now he has the biggest jewel collection outside of a royal family and was in a documentary talking about them."
"I think pure geekery unfettered by financial restraints may my favorite use of a large fortune."
- gonegonegoneaway211
"Like a complete T-Rex skeleton and a complete Triceratops skeleton and make them fight like action figures... I'm not going to judge."
- phobosmarsdeimos
Preservation Of Wildlife
"I'd really like to hire a ton of experts to help me find and preserve a wildlife habitat with all native species."
"Get rid of all the invasive plants and whatnot and make it how it was before we got here. I'd be the anti gardener."
- AmericanGoose23
"Same goals club! I’ve got a good 100 acres chugging away just woods. Have had several offers to buy it but they’re gonna have to wait til I’m dead."
"Last guy asked me why I wouldn’t sell. 'Because somebody already lives there sir.' Him-' but your house is way up there.' Me- 'yea but the birds and bugs live here.' Also learned that old people get pissed off when young people own land and don’t develop it into housing editions. 'People could live here!' People could live somewhere else too."
- Abrahamlinkenssphere
"Mine is similar: I want to make a huge bee sanctuary filled with all sorts of wildflowers and plants, with an absolute ton of pollinators like bees, butterflies and moths."
"Also all sorts of other interesting plants like oak trees and wild grass."
- -Reddit_Account-
"Yours is my favorite I think :)"
- gonegonegoneaway211
'Paying' It Forward
"Anonymously paying debts or giving things to people in need."
- DarkleCCMan
"Robin Hood, that you?"
- Numerous-Rough-827
"I'd help with that if I could!"
- Several-Orchid9640
"I think it would feel pretty amazing to sit in a bankruptcy court and pay off a defendant’s judgment. Idk how it works, though, like whether you can make a payment anonymously on someone else’s behalf."
- LevelPerception4
"I wouldn’t pay off debts (other than to immediate family members), but I like the idea of randomly paying for groceries or gas for strangers."
"Especially at the last week or so of each month. Have some type of set up so I could have an arrangement with a store’s manager to call down to the cashier to just tell the customer after they scan everything, 'It’s your lucky day! You don’t have to pay!'."
- OhiobornCAraised
Community Spaces
"Operating a maker space that enriches the community and enables everyone to have access to tools and space to create anything they need / want."
- Ximidar
"oh yeah my husband and I have talked about doing this"
- seven_seacat
"I'd love to have this for music. Like a rehearsal complex for certain younger artists I see potential in."
"Also have a recording studio nearby as well. Just try to develop some sort of niche community of musicians that focus on certain aspects of music"
"Have all the stuff like drumkits, guitar amps, all that in each room already (kind of like a normal rehearsal space you pay for). Maybe even some cheaper guitars so that even if you don't have money you can use them"
"Maybe do some community events with all the people, and who knows. Maybe some amazing bands or groups could come from it."
- appleparkfive
Alright bougie broke friends, it's your turn at the mic.
We know what Reddit would do for hobbies if they got rich, but what about you?
Anybody suddenly feel like funding a documentary into Tevin Campbell's life, music, and how homophobia robbed him of a bigger career and the community of a cornerstone personality?
No? Just me and my love for Mr. Campbell acting up again?
When it comes to expressing love, there is a multitude of ways to go about it. Most people stick to the classic: using the words "I love you."
But that's not the only way.
Using thoughtful gestures, love languages, special messages, or even just remembering little details about another person are all great ways to express love.
Curious about all the different ways of expressing love, Redditor sadesspresso asked:
"What is the best way to say “I love you” without actually saying “I love you”?"
Different Languages
"The moon is beautiful...."
"Some old japanese man told me some story and 'the moon is beautiful ' is supposed to mean I love you...."
– yankiigurl
"Minä rakastan sinua"
– boulomai_mathein
"Just say it in another language, and keep learning new languages."
– oniwolf382
Through Their Stomach
"I made your favourite food"
– HellaBlazeIt420
"This is the way. I bake my husband his favourite treats even though he’s the only one who likes them. That way if he’s having a blah day at work he opens his lunch and feels love"
– awkwardlyherdingcats
"Definitely the way! I would love to just receive some homecooked food without having to ask first!"
– silkinator3000
Pride And Pride
"I’m proud of you"
– Alpha099
"This."
"My wife pulled me aside after an especially brutal day at work and hugged me and whispered this in my ear. This was two weeks ago. I'm still floating."
– gibletgun
Appreciating The Superstitions
"Kissing my husband goodbye before he goes to work."
"I read somewhere that men who kiss their wives before leaving for work live five years longer than those who don't. So even if I'm not a morning person, I drag myself out of the bed to make sure that I give him a kiss before he leaves for work. It might or might not be true, but I wish to do everything I can so he could live longer because I kinda like him."
– MinutesTaker
"I kiss him when he arrives at work. He will live long."
– Rayzor_debiker
Using Their Love Language
"There are different kinds of love languages aside from saying I love you. Giving gifts, physical touch, doing acts of service or nice things for them, and spending quality time. I think for me, time is such a selfless love language, because you’re showing that person that they are actually worth your time. And it doesn’t have to spent doing anything extravagant."
– jns042
"Figuring out their love language and doing something that speaks to them most."
– Nizzan370z
"Depends on what their love languages are. That shi* works."
– jamie831416
Little Things
"Remembering the small details."
– justgonnaknowaway
"Remembering their likes and dislikes, favorite color, personal style, etc. Using the knowledge to please them often."
– Bebe_Bleau
Small Things
"The best way is to show how you care."
"Eg, you're making a coffee or cup of tea and you make one for them without asking, because you already know they'll say yes if you ask."
"Or they're working outside in the sun and you come out with a cold drink for them."
"Small things that show you're thinking about them."
– d38
"Surprise them with their favorite food or snacks/dessert. Ask them how their day is. Do their chores before they notice."
– rhaizee
"Making sure their phone is fully charged for them before they leave the house."
– GalileoFigaro1
Getting Home Safe
"Text me when you get home"
– suzy7517
"This. My BF and I say this every time and do text each other when we do get home."
– biggmamakass02
I Choose You
"If I had to choose between rescuing you or my PC from a fire, it'd only take me 10 seconds to choose you."
– DanaRicef
Chores
"I cleaned out the cat’s litter box so you don’t have to."
– DrFridayTK
"According to my wife... Doing the dishes."
– Doright36
"Came home from work yesterday knowing I had to do laundry."
"In my apartment complex that just means walking up a flight of steps, walking down an outdoor hallway, and unlocking a door to the laundry room. But it's such a pain in because you have to set alarms for yourself and come back out to move the clothes to the dryer and collect them before you even get to worry about folding them."
"So yesterday I came home from work and my bf had done my laundry for me. He didn't fold it, but it was sitting, clean and done, by our bed ready to be folded and put away. No alarms, no trips, just a quick little in-place chore and it was over."
"That to me is love."
– wscuraiii
Well, after all, actions speak louder than words.
It doesn't have to be all about action, however. Just finding a new way to say, "I love you" can do wonders for you and the people you love.
Humans, we fall in and out of grace with one another constantly.
But there are reasons.
People change one another's mind through behavior.
At first you can really like someone.
Enjoy their company.
Spend tons of quality time with them.
Then one day, they drop the facade of their character and show you some true colrs.
And those colors can be stomach turning.
Then respect goes out the window.
And all you can say is...
"I can't even look at you anymore."
Redditor MissMona_69 wanted to talk about all the people we can longer be face to face with. They asked:
"What types of people have you no respect for?"
I can't stand hypocrites. I lose all respect there.
WTF?!?!
"People who fake mental illnesses for attention."
Booklovercoffee2019
"SO TRUE. In middle school, I had a friend who faked mental illnesses (not 100% sure but at least 99.9% of the things they said were self-inconsistent). Screwed up my perspective on mental illness and I'm still trying to change that."'
the31stsemiprime
Definitives
"People who don’t understand the difference between opinion & fact and assume that their opinion is a fact."
BurghPuppies
"For some reason I see a crap ton of this in a horror movie group I'm in. Horror is such a subjective genre with many various subgenres and the amount of people that just absolutely crap on movies and state their opinions as fact is annoying as hell. Of course the music groups I'm in do the same thing too."
PeeB4uGoToBed
Thanks Ma
"People who can't admit they are in the wrong and sidestep by blaming you for something that happened years ago."
SwerdlowM
"My mom does it to me too. If she screws up, she blames me, and once proven wrong, she immediately brings up how I screwed something up from like 14 years ago, and somehow uses that to make me feel like it is my fault."
Beastie730
Liars
"People who take advantage of old, senile people. What caliber of piece of crap must you be. Fucking cowards, I spit on you."
Bugger_my_puppet
"I used to work in supportive housing for folks with various disabilities, one day a client came to be crying because he didn’t have rent for the month. The reason?"
"He was scammed by someone pretending to be from social security. They called him to say that he had to pay back money from a (fabricated) overpayment or he would go to jail. It was extremely sad. Also saw lots of lonely elderly folks get scammed by internet 'girlfriends,' F**k scammers."
livehorribly
Be Clean
"Litterers."
ihopeurpillowiswarm
"YES! Here is where the true rage comes in! I live in a beautiful city and the amount of litter is revolting. It makes me so angry. I never chuck anything on the damn floor as there will undoubtedly be a bin nearby. It’s just laziness and carelessness."
UglyFilthyDog
Why do people litter? It's so gross. Save the world.
The Real Truth
"People who speak 'truth' without trying to understand perspectives outside their own."
SkulldersIre
"Along those lines, people who describe themselves as 'brutally honest.' Nah, chances are you're just an a**hole."
caesar____augustus
Order Up
"People who are rude to wait staff and people who leave their shopping carts around the parking lot."
tokenlesbian21
"I have always believed there are two types of people, those who return the cart to the corral and those who don’t. And this simple action tells me more about a person than a 2 hour long conversation."
acableperson
Look In
"People who have no introspection and always play the victim."
Memesthecat
"So I see you have met my brother. In the process of being sentenced for armed robbery but he still blames his pregnant dope head gf with some bs about how it was to support them and regularly busts out the alligator tears to get our mom to put money on his books."
No_Quantity4955
Wages
"People who crap on retail workers or lowest wages just to feel better than them with no reason, screw them all."
Ismaelum
"I had a coworker like this, dude was brainwashed into believing the franchise license and stock when the giant corporation had very negative company health and it reflected... Most popular chains in retail encourage low wage and try to establish an odd seniority hierarchy."
Mundane-Candidate101
Big Puffs
"People who smoke around children, especially in the same car."
monkey-food
"I 100000% agree with you and I’m a smoker. I don’t care if it’s cold, raining, windy, hot I’m going to stand my a** outside and have a smoke. I don’t smoke inside my house and I never have."
Fine-Bet
"I think you’d like to meet my neighbor that lives downstairs. She smokes all day long with an infant strapped to her chest."
Eyfordsucks
Well this is a long list of nonsense people. Steer clear.
So many animals are only dangerous because of their need for survival or hunger.
Humans make the relationship with the animal kingdom worse.
Is there no way to co-exist?
One Redditor wanted to discuss aspects of the animal kingdom.
"Which animal gets undeserving hate?"
Tigers and lions. Have you seen the videos of the tigers and lions who have bonded with their human? It's possible.
Bless You
"Bats. They eat billions of insects. You should be thanking them."
Flying Goths
"Vultures, eating dead bodies might seem ugly to some but other animals do the same thing but also murder them so how is just finding something that’s already dead and eating that worse, also eating a carcass removes deadly diseases like botulism from the environment."
Anuniqueusername20
"I always show my appreciation to the local goth turkeys."
iamquiteunhappy
The Yeeted
"Blob Fish... they just get yeeted out of the water and the massive pressure difference makes them look 'strange.' Kinda rude I guess. Like if we get yeeted into space and Aliens would laugh at our disfigured forms and print T-Shirts of it."
tinylittletoe
"I think I read somewhere that the pressure change causes their cells to explode and that’s why they look so horrific after being pulled out of the water. Dunno how factual that is."
0utlandish_323
Not the Villain
"Hyenas, partially because a whole generation grew up watching them help kill Mufasa lol."
Natural-School5690
"They’re awesome. They have a unique matriarchal society and they’re pretty smart, as well as tougher than hell. Wouldn’t want to smell their breath though."
Ermaquill
"I've seen people arguing this before but people hate hated hyenas years before the lion king came out. They were constantly used in folklore as villains and opportunist and were often considered unlucky in most african cultures."Eaglekingoftheskies
Skunks? Um... from afar, they're cute. But stay away...
Genius
"Crows. Yes, I understand the caws can be annoying, but they're far more intelligent than a lot of people give them credit for."
anotherrroom
Loners
"Possums! They eat pests and won't typically bother you unless rabid or provoked."
DrChefAstronaut
"Quick reminder then you need to specify which kind of possum, because not everyone here is from America. There a lots of possums here in Australia but they are completely different from the American kind in temperament! Only annoyance with possums here is if they get into your roof. Meanwhile in New Zealand, possums are ALWAYS a pest."
theexteriorposterior
Bad Movie Vibes
"Sharks!"
TurbulentWeek897
"The guy who wrote Jaws ended up writing another book explaining how misunderstood sharks are. Because the movie Jaws scared everyone, and fishermen began to hunt sharks, making them endangered."
ChronoLegion2
"I was gonna say this! They're not bad guys they are just doing shark stuff! It's the freakin' dolphin types you gotta watch out for. Orcas will kill for fun. A shark is just trying to eat and don't see that well."
Genderneutralbro
Powerful Babies
"Black Cats.They aren't evil and they don't bring bad luck."
SuvenPan
"It's a frequent mistake, but black cats actually bring good luck and blessings from The Void!
"Be sure to tell all your friends. If we work together to insist that black cats are good luck, we can help turn over the discrimination. Also, I have proof that they are good luck - whenever I see a black cat I become happy. Coincidence? I think not!!"
theexteriorposterior
Heroes
"Frogs. They eat the mosquitoes and other bugs you don’t like."
dragonborne123
So many animals need some PR help.
Which ones would you add to this list? Let us know in the comments below.