Life is really at a crazy point.
I mean every day you watch the news and wonder if it's written by "The Onion" or if we're living in SNL sketches.
Or even worse, our dystopian books of yesteryear were correct all along.
Conspiracy theorists. We laughed at them.
Mocked them. And as it turns out... they were the actual prophets.
I'm exaggerating, but not by light-years.
RedditorSpecificallyNerdwanted to hear about what so called "unreal bonkers" idea turned out to be true. They asked:
"What were the conspiracy theorists right about?"
I figure that conspiracy theories are like gossip magazines, there is a morsel of truth somewhere.
Oh Norma Jean...
marilyn monroe hello GIFGiphy"Marilyn Monroe was being spied on by... everyone. Seriously. When another owner of her former residence decided to renovate, the number of wires and bugging they found was astounding."
MidorBird
What's Due
"Propaganda Due: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due. Propaganda Due, an Italian masonic lodge that included many high profile people like Berlusconi, the house of Savoy pretender to the throne, heads of secret services, bankers, religious figures etc."
"The stuff they were up to is insane, and also resulted in the government of Italy passing a law prohibiting secret societies. They were behind journalist murders, press takeover, government policy, bombings etc. They had an organized plan to effectively take over Italy and rewrite the constitution."
emix75
'undesirables'
"There were, in fact, incidents where 'undesirables' (certain races, disabled people, etc) were sterilized without their consent, going back as far as the 1800s. And there are still allegations of this happening, today."
TheRealPyroGothNerd
We See You
"PRISM :- Turns out the government was spying on you. There is a deluge of information from millions of people so while the government may have your data there isn't someone actively looking at it. Should you get yourself noticed by the government however, I'm sure they can filter through that trash very quickly."
Kaiserhawk
"ECHELON was public knowledge for decades, people are just too lazy to read and too stupid to understand that spy agencies are paid to spy."
Realistic_Truck
SOS
Looking Back Britney Spears GIFGiphy"They were right about Britney..."
Rex_Lee
"Ms. Spears posted weird videos on instagram, seemingly normal at first glance but extremely creepy and weird the more you watch them. Some people said she was calling for help."
Swawks
God Bless Ms. Spears. We did it! She's free!
News Everywhere...
daily news GIF by CLGiphy"Operation Mockingbird. The 'news' is the same everywhere even the local news."
Dismal_Scale_8604
"I remember seeing a compilation of different news stations with the EXACT same speech, the video would cut from anchor to anchor but the monologue was seamless."
Flightless_Rocket
Murder
"The FBI did want Martin Luther King Jr dead . They may not have put a gun in James Earl Ray's hands, but they were happy with the outcome."
huncamuncamouse
"I had a professor who worked on that FBI team. Told us lots of stories of the phone calls that they had tapped, the notes/threats they sent MLK, things they sent to MLK's wife, etc."
Quesabirria
"I've had a longstanding theory that the government has been involved in the death of almost every civil rights advocate in American history, including MLK Jr., JFK, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield, and Eazy-E."
Gabzop
In the paperwork...
"Pretty much everything in the Panama Papers was part of one conspiracy theory or another and they were all proved pretty much right."
DisownedByMother
"The point is that the Panama Papers pulled the wool back even further to show how the ultra wealthy is robbing the rest of us blind through tax evasion. People around the globe unnecessarily live in misery and even die because some morons don't want to be a tad less rich by paying their taxes. This is very tangible harm, it's immoral, and in most cases blatantly illegal."
"Meanwhile, people get distracted by finger-pointing about the occasional strange sighting of something zipping around in the atmosphere. This is worthy of more investigation, but it should not take priority over the thievery of the masses that causes pain and suffering. The elites love it when people focus on UFOs instead of issues that actually impact us all."
YorockPaperScissors
Ops
"Not officially confirmed as far as I know, but I think Gary Webb was likely correct about the CIA flooding black neighborhoods with crack in the 1980s to fund thier ops in Nicaragua. This was covered in his book series 'Dark Alliance.' He was later found with two gunshots to his head and his death was ruled a suicide."
DanishWonder
They Knew
season 2 hair flip GIF by PortlandiaGiphy"The 1960 weed-smoking hippies complaining about the rising police state and the federal surveillance programs? We owe them a whopper of an apology."
Uriel-238
Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
"Effective lies require repetition. Repeat a lie enough times, from multiple sources. From trusted sources. People will start to believe it is true."
croc_socks
"This isn't always true, sometimes you need to support effective lies with false criticisms that actually support the original thesis. That's another way to subtly repeat the lie, but also make it seem critical, and through that repetition, from multiple sources, including falsely critical sources, people will start to believe it's true."
TacticalDM
Not for me...
"Remember: it isn't a left vs right issue. It is a top vs bottom issue."
"Edit: What I mean is it is those in power (top) vs those not in power (bottom). It is completely off balance with the majority of us being on the bottom and subject to those up top. 'Rules for three, but not for me.' Divided we fall. Whatever division we choose to quarrel about doesn't help the top vs bottom problem."
ndividualistic
In Cahoots
"MKUltra like someone above said, the FBI seeking out mentally disturbed people to help them plan attacks so they can arrest them right before they carry it out, COINTELPRO, Operation Northwoods and literally everything the CIA dabbles in. I also believe most people don't realize the government has worked directly with media companies since at least WW2."
"In an effort to sway public opinion in their favor. Add on the theater of left/right politics, 24hr talk shows posing as news and an executive order allowing the US people to openly be bombarded with harmful propaganda."
No-Statement-9406
Hello?
eavesdropping bel powley GIF by Carrie Pilby The MovieGiphy"Our phones listening to everything."
GayTr4sh
Invasion
"There were no WMDs. The US government used that lie as an excuse to invade Iraq in the early 2000s."
CutEmOff666
"Google 'Project for a New American Century' if you want to understand why they invaded. They weren't after Iraq's oil, it was a stupid plan to 'democratize' the region and make it friendly and safe for US business and military presence."
"Hell, it's not even a conspiracy theory, it's just an example of how clueless Americans can be. They had a website spelling it all out, and the day of 9-11, most of the signatories were in the Bush admin or involved with it."
mcarterphoto
Deep Deep
"That Tor the program that allows access to the Deep Web was owned by the CIA."
PhillHasNoCheese
"This isn’t really a conspiracy lol the deep web was literally created by the military then they realized they need to let the public have it so people won’t know when the government is doing stuff."
PepsiMangoMmm
"Honestly, I assume all encryption services are developed/infiltrated by feds."
HeatAndHonor
World Domination
"This isn't even a conspiracy but BlackRock trying to own the world. It's too much to talk about here but I suggest looking into it."
SweetRart
"BlackRock was able to get loans from The Fed at zero percent interest (overnight loans) which they used to buy up real estate everywhere."
ssjaken
"BlackRock: the company that owns everything and you've probably never heard of it."
Ph1L_474
Stay Still
Media Nick Splat GIF by Hey ArnoldGiphy"The mainstream media has an agenda to keep the status quo in power."
proximalfunk
Destroying Generations
"The CIA put crack in black communities. As a black person you just kind of grow up knowing this. Imagine my surprise when I grew up and found out that this actually happened just like they said. No conspiracy to it. There are tv shows about it now."
IreallEwannasay
She Knew
"Sinead O’Connor was right about the Catholic Church."
Arkady2009
"Could not agree more. She deserves an apology for how she was treated for calling them out. She was RIGHT."
princessangry83
Well there you have it. The truth is out.
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.