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.
Redditor SpecificallyNerd wanted 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 GIF
Giphy
"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 GIF
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"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 CL
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"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 Portlandia
Giphy
"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 Movie
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"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 Arnold
Giphy
"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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Never miss another big, odd, funny or heartbreaking moment again.
When we're intoxicated, or even the slightest bit tipsy from having a little too much to drink, our immediate perspective on things is hazy.
But there's nothing like a bit of alarming news or a jarring incident to snap us out of the fog and focus on the moment.
Sometimes alcohol isn't always to blame for our impairment.
It can be a state of mind, like a perpetual numbness from being complacent in life, and all it takes is one shocking moment to rattle us back to our senses.
Curious to hear from strangers online about this type of scenario, Redditor Known_Challenge_7150 asked:
"What’s one thing that sobered you up real quick?"
These individuals were witness to shocking events that sobered them up right quick.
Bleeding Out
"Got out of a taxi and found a naked man profusely bleeding from his head crawling up the driveway in my condo. Called him an ambulance completely forgot I was absolutely wasted until 45 minutes later when I'd helped him translate and in to an amublance and stepped in my front door."
"Later a few days later learned he'd slipped in the tub and literally crawled out for help. Poor dude. He was fine but I genuinely thought he was going to die there."
– DongLaiCha
Tragic News
"At a bachelor party and we got a phone call that the groom’s father had suddenly passed."
– accountnameredacted
Bottom Of The Barrel
"I went to visit my parents back in July. I was homeless and deep into fentanyl addiction so I lost a lot of weight. My folks could see it. They knew something was up. Anyway, I spent the night and I was getting ready to leave in the morning and I looked at myself in the mirror for a good long time. I finally had enough and told them everything. They took me to detox, from there I went to rehab. Graduated in August and been living with them ever since then. I have 160 days clean and sober."
– Crotch-Monster
A reality check can be enough for some people to snap out of it.
Like Father, Like Son
"Was driving a drunk friend home, he had been on a bender again and was smart enough to call me for a lift rather than try and drive. As I helped in to his house his mother came down the stairs and said 'your as drunk as your father' and went back upstairs. I haven't seen him drunk since then, he still drinks but the thought of turning into his dad scared him out of hard drinking."
– psycospaz
Busted
"Flashing blue lights."
– FiddleOfGold
"This sobered me up just thinking about it."
– redmaple_syrup
Losing Sight
"Woke up to no sight in one eye. I had cataract surgery so just thought one of the lenses had slipped and it was an easy fix. Eye doc says nope, you had a stroke. I loved soy sauce, teriyaki sauce and salty food, which caused high blood pressure, which caused retina damage. Over six months was able to get most of my eyesight back with medication, and all back within a year. Trying to navigate life with one eye was very sobering. Started taking HBP much more seriously."
– MissHibernia
Quitting The Bottle
"Looked up someone I went to highschool with who was an awesome guy. Found out he had been dead for 3 years from alcoholism, at age 33. I made an overnight change. I hadn't started drinking that night yet, 10 months ago. Haven't touched it again since."
– omgtater
These disturbing moments were enough for Redditors to immediately come to their senses.
Unplanned House Guests
"Me and a buddy Woke up in someone’s living room, realized neither one of us knew the people, they were just nice and let 2 drunk guys sleep on their living room floor. We didn’t even say goodbye."
– Oneinsevenbillion75
Serious Health Warning
"Elevated liver enzymes."
"And the knowledge that this sh** was gonna kill me and I just couldn't orphan my family over it."
"So I opted for recovery, instead."
"Clean and sober since June 5, 2009."
– Far_Meal8674
The Joyride
"Grew up in a rural area. The little town hosted dances at the hockey arena, everyone (adults and kids) went and they overserved everyone, regardless of age. I was maybe 16 or 17 and was absolutely sh*tfaced, and jumped in the back of someone's truck with about 8 other people to go back to someone's cottage for after dance drinking. The driver (still don't know who it was) started racing one of his buddies and we whipped around small dirt roads, flying around blind corners on the wrong side of the road, going god knows how fast. It was basically a disaster waiting to happen. It was crazy scary and I was sober and thankful to be alive when we finally arrived."
– foxfood9116
The human psyche is a fascinating thing, isn't it?
How we can automatically focus on something urgent at a crucial time, even after getting buzzed from drinking too much alcohol.
But as we're in the thick of the holidays, it's a good reminder to drink responsibly and stay off the roads if you drive to your celebratory destination.
Cheers. Stay safe. And happy holidays.
We've all complained or vented about something in our lives which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't exactly a problem, or is very easily solved.
Then there are those who complain about things that others almost hope will happen to them at some point in their lives.
These are known as "first world problems", as they are problems that pretty much only the world's one percent faces.
From having to fly business class instead of first class, or being served Roederer instead of Dom Pérignon, these complaints are often met with amusement, bewilderment, or even anger.
Redditor jennimackenzie was curious to hear the most absurd "first world problems" anyone ever complained about, leading them to ask:
"What’s the most ridiculous 'first world problem' you’ve seen people get worked up over?"
"Tale As Old As Time..."
"I once knew a mom who was legitimately devastated, to the point of tears/grief, because a doctor predicted her 8 year old daughter's final height to be around 5'2","
"Which wasn't tall enough to get cast as Belle at Disney World."
"That was the child's (and her mother's) only dream in life, apparently."
"Didn't appreciate my suggestion that she could be Minnie or Mickey."
"Lol!"
"Only a face character would do!"- TravelLovingMom
"Must Be Funny, In A Rich Man's World..."
"My boss from about a decade ago was this insanely rich dude who always went to the bank to get fresh and crisp currency."
"He'd call the bank in advance to make sure they had some on hand."
"I think he was a germaphobe."
"He had a trash can that he'd throw $1 and $5 bills in that he thought was 'dirty' and regularly just donated it vs spending it."
"I asked him why he did this and he said it was too much trouble and asked if I wanted it."
"I said f*ck yeah dumped it into my bag and when I got home it was close to $400 in singles and fives.
"Another time, he wanted to upgrade all the computers in his studio, so we went to a store and bought 10 PCs."
"They all had $150 mail in rebates and he wasn't bothered to go through the trouble of mailing them in."
"3 weeks later I received $1500 after spending a whole afternoon filling out all those goddamn forms."- azninvasion2000
Money Burn GIF by nog
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Who Wore It Better?
"When I was about 19 years old, I was at my boyfriends family BBQ."
"I was wearing this pretty floral sundress."
"His cousins girlfriend showed up in the same dress and she was SO mad that she went and changed."
"I will never understand being upset when someone is wearing the same thing as you.'
"Did you really think that your shirt you bought off the rack is going to be unique to you?"
"No."- mertsey627
Seeing Red! Or Blue In This Case...
"The blue of the balloons wasn't quite the same as the bridesmaid's sashes."
"Years ago my wife and I attended a wedding."
"It was very low key."
"The dinner was in the dining hall at the university where the couple met, cinder block walls and all."
"It was a Baptist wedding - no booze and very serious."
"The dark blue balloons attempting to liven up the hall were a slightly darker shade of blue than the sashes on the bridesmaid's dresses."
"The bride lost here sh*t and absolutely raved for nearly an hour."
"I can't remember how they finally managed to talk her down."- mechant_papa
south park wedding GIF
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See You In Court!
"Rich neighbors who end up in expensive court battles because they disagree about where a tree can be planted or whether the color of a fence fits in with the street’s 'amenity'."
'These disputes get really heated and rack up huge lawyers’ bills."
"The most pathetic part is after the judgement when they are arguing about who should pay the other party’s costs."
"Lots of affidavits filed citing the 'emotional distress' they had to endure, or painting themselves as brave warriors who were forced to take a stand to fight for 'justice'."
"Also lots of pompous litigants insisting that the judge refer to them by their 'Dr' title."
"An absolutely insane dumpster fire of entitled rich people problems."- ElectrocRaisin
It's Always People With Money Who Don't Want To Pay!
"I work in a public library."
"People will get so so mad if they have to be put on a wait list for a book."
"A popular book that just came out."
"Ok our services are not only free but so are the books."
"You’re welcome, a**holes."- Switchbladekitten
A Warm Butt Is A Happy Butt!
"My own."
"We have a bidet toilet seat (Fabulous! Everyone should have one!) and not only does it wash your bum and blow dry it, but the seat's heated!"
"It's shocking how much a heated toilet seat makes the whole process more agreeable."
"Except: We had a power outage and I went to use the toilet and the seat was cold!"
"Unacceptable!"
"This shall not stand!"
"I was really upset because it didn't feel good."
"Then I stopped and thought: This is the most first-world problem anyone's ever had."
"I was really pissed because my heiny was tepid."
"I got over it."- DeathGrover
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Holy Matrimony!
"Weddings are a gold mine for this question."
"People get so hyped up over their 'most important day of their life'."
"They'll destroy friendships, go into debt, and have crazy expectations."
"It's not always the couple who go crazy, either."
"Sometimes, it's the parents or another family member who feels entitled to control the wedding."
"It's just a party."
"Be considerate of guests, have plenty of food and drinks, and enjoy it."- magicrowantree
When Fast Food Isn't Fast Enough...
"Having to pull off to the side to wait for a drive-thru order to be brought out to you because your food isn't ready and there's a line building up behind you."- demanbmore
In Case You Don't Think Customer Service Employees Are Undervalued...
"I was working the return desk at a Target next to a military base so I have so many stories."
"One of my favorites was a lady who had her baby shower before revealing the gender and was livid that she had received floral newborn diapers when she’s having a boy."
"It was a huge box of super expensive, all organic diapers, that we didn’t carry and therefore could not return."
"I cannot accurately express her fury and disgust."
"How dare either suggest her boy could wear feminine diapers."
"I suggested she donate them if she didn’t want to use them and she instead threw away the entire box."
"When she left we pulled it out and threw it in our donate bin."
"There have also been multiple times where mom’s order massive toys and when we bring them out to the car they get furious that they aren’t wrapped."
"We don’t offer wrapping services."
"Here’s the thing, if you don’t want your kids to see the toys you got them for Christmas or their bit to day DON'T BRING THE CHILD WHEN YOU PICK IT UP."
'I’ve had multiple women scream and curse me out that I had ruined their kids Christmas by bringing the toys they ordered out to the car like they requested."- clever-mermaid-mae
Customer Service Waiting GIF by Juno Calypso
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Happiest Place On Earth!
"I used to work for Disney."
"That in itself should tell you everything."
"However for fun I'll give you two specific stories one form our tech department and one from my wife who worked bookings."
"I specifically worked for their call center to help with technical issues with magic band and the website."
"Suddenly got worse huh?"
"A right of passage call everyone has at least one story of is the 'Dome call'."
"Basically there is a subset of Disney Guest (TM) that believes if it rains at Walt Disney world there is someone that will push a button to encapsulate the whole of Disney property in a dome to keep out the rain."
"I'm not kidding."
"If this button is not pushed they call our tech department to angrily ask why."
"My wife worked booking."
"Pretty much everything including Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique and Pirate's league."
"These two things did roughly the same thing difference being price and theme."
"BBB was expensive did more and was focused on princesses, pirates league did a bit less and focused on mermaids and pirates."
"Lady called up my wife, and got pissed about BBB being booked up (It goes FAAAAST)."
"Karen: 'Im going to give the phone to my daughter and I want you to tell her how you are ruining her vacation by not letting her do BBB'."
"Wife proceeds to explain how pirate's league is so much cooler and how she can be a mermaid or pirate and basically gets the kid to start demanding to their parents about how they want to be a mermaid instead of a princess."- trollsong
Disney World GIF
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The horror!
Being booked into a junior suite at Disney World instead of an executive suite!
It's almost as bad as having no money for groceries, or no food to feed you children...
Said absolutely no one.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
tsunami GIF
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
Scared The Launch GIF by CTV
Giphy
"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
Who Are You Reaction GIF by MOODMAN
Giphy
"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.