Maybe from that real growth begins.
Redditor AussieDrummerboi wanted to hear the confessions of all the people who came back to reality, by asking:
"A question for former Conspiracy Theorists… what was the moment you realised the conspiracy theory you thought was correct was completely wrong all along?"
I pray the Qanon people are listening.
How they live and breathe that nonsense is beyond me.
And it effects us all.
What makes more sense?
"From roughly ages 16-21, I believed that our impending climate doom was a leftist conspiracy to raise taxes, consolidate power, or whatever else was a right wing parroting phrase at the time. I eventually realized that I just believed that because it was easier than acknowledging the deep shit we're in."
Giphy"A big part of the epiphany was the simple question from a friend:"
"'What makes more sense? A global power grab through thousands of faked studies by scientists in a hundred countries with nothing to gain, or a couple fossil fuel executives sowing doubt to protect their fortunes?'"
"So now, I rationally acknowledge our doom." ~ brainsewage
Old Roots
"Can't say that I was ever a hardcore theorist but I was definitely one of those 'early 20s guy reading weird early internet message boards' types. It's been since the mid-2000s that I stopped following any of that."
"I can't pin down any specific one that steered me away but digging in and finding out just how many political ones find long, old roots in some form of anti-Semitism, racism, or some flavor of authoritarianism was enough to throw that baby out with the bath water as new ones kept creeping into the mainstream." ~ xETankx
The Truther
"I used to be a 9/11 truther. Like hardcore. After spending 6 years in the military and going to work for a federal agency, I realized there was no way the US government could pull something like that off without a few thousand people knowing about it, and a few hundred of them spilling their secrets all over the place I mean for God's sake, it takes a half ream of paperwork to take a freaking vacation." ~ oheffme
I want to believe...
"I don't think there was a single moment where I realized anything. It's not really a case where I believed it because of a lack of information, I believed it because it had emotional pull attached to it. Fox Mulder in the X files has a poster that says 'I want to believe' in his office for a reason: it's that the main reason people believe in these things is because they want to, in spite of evidence to the contrary."
"It had emotional pull to believe that because it made life seem more interesting. My life at the time i believed it was super dull and lonely, when I had very little going on for me. What got me out of it was A) embarking on a new career that I found fulfilling and made me feel good about myself B) got a lot more friends and started engaging in a lot more activities and social outings from hiking to basketball to snorkelling and skydiving. I just kind of stopped believing in that stuff because I no longer had a need to hold onto it, not because I realized it was BS." ~ DoctorWatchamacallit
The Antichrist
"Not necessarily a conspiracy, but as a teenager, I found this website that made a very seemingly convincing argument that George W. Bush was the Antichrist. I believed it could possibly be true, for like a day, then I took a step back and realized how ridiculous it was." ~ TheBoomExpress
GiphyWhere do we even begin with some of this craziness?
I feel like I'm reading fiction.
Oh wait, I'm reading about people who believed fiction.
I'm Lost
"When the entire conspiracy community jumped on the Trump Train and Q became a thing. I was down for Atlantis, ancient aliens, William Cooper, and Coast to Coast with Art Bell. Now I barely cared about all recent disclosures and acknowledgements. Still watched the Bob Lazar documentary though." ~ RexyMundo
GiphyThey're out there...
"I used to be a firm believer in the whole 'Aliens are secretly kept in Area 51' and other related conspiracies until it was pointed out to me that governments are incapable of keeping secrets of that magnitude and if it was really true, it would have been leaked to the public ages ago." ~ Mrgreen37
People Break Down The Nicest Celebrities They've Ever Met | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
They always say, "don't meet your heroes." But here's the thing, sometimes your celebrities are actually just chill, normal people who are overjoyed to meet ..."great awakening"
"My friend went down the rabbit hole a little too hard once and thought that the earth was hollow with entrances at the poles and then he believed some guy wrote an app that let you talk to ghosts. It was a $20 app lmao. He said to just keep waiting for the 'great awakening' for it to work. He could never explain to me what that was or why it kept getting pushed off lol. Eventually me pestering him enough for answers for him off it." ~ Osirus1156
Tupac
"When I was 12, like 16 years ago, I was on a website talking about Tupac really being alive. It had that famous pic of him throwing up Westside. Only thing is that it was actually a gif (which I realized years later), that would wink every minute or so. I saw him wink at me and I closed the site and wouldn't go back to the computer until the next day. I couldn't even muster the courage to go cut some yews on runescape. Absolutely terrified me for months." ~ MuayThaiWhy
The Hole
"I bet that moment is pretty rare. A feature of conspiracy theories is that evidence against them is also evidence for them: 'Well obviously this rock solid alibi shows just how deep the rabbit's hole goes.'" ~ Permanganic_acid
GiphySomething is Off
"Not a former, I think there's still plenty of crap out there that doesn't line up, but I did believe the moonlanding one until a teacher of mine brought up a very good point, if it were faked there's no way in hell Russia with the relationship it has with the US would acknowledge it happened." ~ everyone-is-a-victim
Oswald acted alone...
"I used to be on the Kennedy Assassination, multiple-shooter conspiracy train. I think there was a moment where the more I thought about it, it just made more sense that Oswald acted alone. As someone who likes to work on cars and motorcycles and fix things around the house, I hate over-engineered things, and I hate moving parts. The same applies to this conspiracy theory. If it was a conspiracy it appears that there are too many moving parts. I feel like the simplest explanation is the correct one. Oswald acted alone." ~ Extrasherman
Ho-Ho-No!
"Age 10ish. It was about Santa. The moment was catching my Granny reaching out the window with a doll's shoe on a stick. She had told my cousins every year that those tiny footprints in the snow outside the window were the elves watching us. Being much older than my next cousin, I was recruited to participate in the deception and keep the magical secrets. Actually much more fun than believing." ~ Soggy-Macaron-4612
2012
"I've only had the opposite experience where conspiracy theory I brushed aside as nonsense turned out to be true. Rich and powerful people conspire and collude all the time. The reason hard drive prices never went back down after the 2012 floods is because of conspiracy and collusion between manufacturers to keep hdd prices at their current highs." ~ FunGuyF0rmYuggoth
weather flooding GIF by The TelegraphGiphyThe Teen Years
"As a teenager i enjoyed reading around a few theories in the early days of the net. But is was more fun, when nobody took things seriously. I grew out of them when i realised i was using the ideas as a form of escapism. Responsibilities are a drag... wouldn't it be cooler if ufos are real?"
"Or if you could crack the JFK case for once and all? It's escapism. But as i grew up and learned more about myself and the world it just seemed childish and silly. This is even more reinforced now when I see the hoards of mentally ill people on social media that flock to completely absurd beliefs."
"People want to find some kind of underlying meaning to things they cant control. And i just get disappointed when idiots refuse to get vaccines et cetera because they subscribe to a dumb conspiracy." ~ yr-no
What's out there?
"I used to believe the government was covering up aliens. Now I kinda think they are too inept to do anything that hard. On top of that, the more I learned about astronomy, the more I realized it would be very unlikely that a space faring civilization that could travel at close to the speed of light would actually find us. There are so many stars and it would take such a long time to search them all." ~ thetasteofair
Hollywood Games
"For context, I was one of those people who believed the original Moon Landing by Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong was completely staged by Hollywood. With that being said, even on his deathbed, Neil Armstrong claimed the Moon Landing was real. It's hard to find a viable reasons why he wouldn't confess it was fake on his death bed. After 2012, I couldn't continue to believe the Moon Landin was a hoax anymore." ~ MTVChallengeFan
The Quest
"Not really a moment exactly, but realizing that I was believing in things that I WANTED to be true- mostly because it was actually thrilling to bring fantasy and fiction into my real world- I came to understand it was more about the way they made me feel than any probability of being the truth. Thus, I gave up my quest to battle reptilian aliens in the astral plain." ~ Dante4u2
Evidence?
"I used to buy into a lot of Alex Jones' ravings, but then I noticed that pretty much everything he says is heavily endorsed by Mormons. If they can believe in that, maybe they're not the best judge of what constitutes 'evidence.'" ~ Dirty_Hertz
canadian wtf GIF by CBCGiphyDon't be desperate.
Research is a wonderful thing.
Conspiracies are dangerous, so be sure about what you believe.
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I don't normally subscribe to "theory." Show me the proof! Why is that so hard?
Lights Up
hack my life kevin GIF by truTVGiphy"The lightbulb conspiracy. A bunch of lightbulb manufacturers got together and agreed to lightbulb lifespans and costs for a few decades, holding technology back. Lightbulbs are supposed to outlast the people who buy them by now." ~ Wahooney
All the reasons...
"Chernobyl wasn't lost because of one mistake. Pre-crash checks revealed problems, but no one took it serious." ~ AngryPortal1234
"It's been a long time since I learned about it, but I'm pretty sure there were engineers/scientists that took it very seriously. They were just forced to proceed more or less. I'd be surprised if people didn't take it seriously, as it was a poorly designed reactor, and some people working there had to have known that." ~ somethingIforgot
One Shot
"CIA heart attack gun. A gun that shoots an ice block dart containing some animal Shellfish poison that dissolves destroys in the body. This poison would cause a heart attack, believing the victim dies under natural circumstances."
"https://www.visitthecapitol.gov/exhibitions/artifact/senator-frank-church-and-senator-john-tower-cia-poison-dart-gun-photograph". ~ Motivational-Panda
Societies...
"Propaganda Due, an Italian masonic lodge that included many high profile people. 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."
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due". ~ emix75
Undercover
Avoid The Office GIFGiphy"The CIA was involved in smuggling cocaine into the U.S." ~ MrGiabris
Oof, that is a lot to digest.
dirty business...
Clutching Dave Chappelle GIFGiphy"The King of Spain evaded money and had/has very very dirty business because of his total legal immunity that authorizes him (constitution hasn't changed as for the current King) to literally do anything." ~ Guipucci
Motor Issues
"The Great Street Car conspiracy -- the fact that the USA had one of the most advanced and developed public transit systems in the world in the 1950s, and it was deliberately curtailed, stopped, and dismantled in concert between the government, GM, Ford, and other car companies, leading to the promotion and expansion of the inefficient, wasteful suburban sprawls that dominate America today -- all for the principle purpose of selling more cars." ~ theDashRendar
Villains
"MK Ultra." ~ LyannaCeltiger88
"Part of why it seems so unreal is how much of a total freaking mess it was, and the incompleteness of our knowledge about it! There was no overarching hypothesis being tested, no proper scientific rigor. Just throwing crap against the wall to see what happens. Generally a lot of drugs given to people no-one would miss to see what the effects were, but also other substances to see what the effects could be."
"When we think of conspiracies, we typically think of competent villains, but this was just a mishmash of whatever questions popped into the brains of whoever was giving orders with a large dose of Red Scaremongering thrown in (if mind control exists, we can't let the Soviets discover it first!)." ~ Malaeveolent_Bunny
These Actors Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The Role | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
The Actors Who Seemed Miscast But Absolutely Nailed The RoleFew people bought into the idea of Bryan Cranston in the role of Walter White before Breaking Bad...No Vegan
"Big Egg attempted to run a slander campaign against Vegan Mayo companies. They went as far as contaminating food and causing safety recalls in some cases until it was all exposed in a lawsuit." ~ shadowheart1
"I've worked in management positions in kitchens for over a decade. In the rare case I do receive proper training."
"There's always a section about people freaking with food. And I always think throughout the whole thing. Who the heck is gonna do that? I was always thinking psychos, killers, terrorists. My dumba** never though if the competition." ~ JillsACheatNMean
Into the Woods
Lyndon B Johnson Democrat GIF by lbjlibraryGiphy"Didn't the US government try to commit terrorist attacks against Americans in order to blame Cuba as an excuse to go to war, but Kennedy wouldn't let them?" ~ LR-II
"It was proposed. Operation Northwoods." ~ Re-AnImAt0r
Founded: February 4, 2004
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA_LifeLog
The objective of the LifeLog concept was "to be able to trace the 'threads' of an individual's life in terms of events, states, and relationships", and it has the ability to "take in all of a subject's experience, from phone numbers dialed and e-mail messages viewed to every breath taken, step made and place gone".[1]
The LifeLog program was canceled on February 4th, 2004, after criticism concerning the privacy implications of the system.[4][5]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook
Founded: February 4, 2004;
~ CompositeCharacter
Dear Fred
"Fred Hampton was assassinated by Chicago PD." ~ Wazula42
"Not only was he assassinated by FBI, the only reason we know he was is because a group of ppl broke into the pentagon on Independence Day or something when there was low security and leaked documents to press." ~ UCPines98
"man from Tuared"
"I don't think a lot of people know they found the origin of the "man from Tuared" story. Basically the story goes back in like the 50s a man was stopped at an airport somewhere in Asia. His passport said he was from a country called Tuared. The country does not exist."
"The police couldn't figure out who he was and took him to a 4th floor hotel room. The man disappeared without the guards seeing him. There has been plenty of speculation of who the man was. Secret agent was probably the biggest theory. The whole story was based on an actual event but nowhere near as intriguing as the conspiracy theories."
"Over time it became a legend that's mentioned a lot with stories like the Somerton man. Recently they have found the original story of the man from Tuared and it is very different then the legend it has become."
"https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zegrus" ~ AlfaBetaZulu
Be Humane
Happy I Love You GIF by Looney TunesGiphy"Rabbits were legally classified by the USDA as poultry at the behest of the rabbit industry so that they did not have to comply with the HUMANE SLAUGHTER ACT." ~ slonneck
Pandora...
"Anything regarding the Panama and Pandora papers. It's crazy how people just skipped over this to crap talk streamers for making money." ~ Revenge_Is_Here
"The Pandora Papers are new, so you're not going to see much. They also reported, as did the Panama Papers, that much of what they saw was perfectly legal."
"Panama Papers investigations are ongoing. As of April 2021, various countries had recovered at least $1.36 billion and filed charges against several people, garnering some guilty pleas and jail time. At least 80 countries have opened investigations." ~ NetworkLlama
Absolute Power
"Nixon wiretapped the democrat party headquarters to determine their strategy and then tried to use his power as president to cover the crime. Obviously it's now not seen as a conspiracy but I'm sure there were strong allegations at the time." ~ erisod
"Watergate was bad, and it rightly lost him the presidency. But his backchannel torpedoing of LBJ's Vietnam peace talks should have ended his career years before we got "gate" added to the end of all scandals ever." ~ meeeeetch
Wasted Time
"In the US, tax companies like H&R Block and Turbo Tax lobbied the government to intentionally keep taxes absurdly difficult to file so that you'd be more likely to pay for their services. The IRS has all the information needed to basically just send you a bill to review once a yeah, but they instead ensure that citizens have to fill out needlessly complicated and extensive forms confirming what the government already knows just so tax companies can receive an obscene amount of money annually." ~ Enjolraw
Who Cares?
Who Cares Judge Judy GIF by Lifetime TellyGiphy"People don't care about the NSA monitoring and surveilling everything we do. The idea that the government is wiretapping every phone and computer in the US was considered tin-foil hat ridiculous just a few years back. Now it's been proven by heroes such as Snowden, and no one gives a crap." ~ Yusi-D-Jordan
Lights On
"Planned Obsolescence. Manufacturers actually design their products to fail so we become repeat consumers. I believe it started w/ lightbulbs. The in the 1920s the lightbulb competitors met and agreed to stop making the bulbs last long. There is currently a lightbulb that has been on since 1901–obviously a bulb before the plan was set in place." ~ rot10one
The drama is endless. What will this list look like in 10 years? I shudder to think. But now I have to start some research.
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I have argued and debunked many a nutty belief over the course of my life, but lately, a few thoughts have gotten me wondering. I'm not ready to join a club or even have a heated discussion but I may do a little research. It can't hurt.
Can it?
Redditor Zoozoo95 wanted to hear about the thoughts being floated about that sound suspect, but upon further examination made you wonder... could this hold some water? They asked:
What's a conspiracy theory that you heard that kind of made you think, "huh, what if they are right"?
There has got to be some shady goings-on with this supply chain nonsense. I refuse to believe we can't access our goods without this much drama right?
Meowwww....
Sasha Cougar GIF by University of HoustonGiphy"That the province of New Brunswick is denying the existence of Eastern cougars so they won't have to designate a huge bunch of land as protected wildlife habitat." ~ Numerous_Salt
Run the Clock!
"NBA refs are still rigging games. It's not as straightforward as making sure one team wins, since a lot of high-roller gamblers are betting on things like single quarters, individual players, or over/unders. One example that really stands out is last year, there was a game between the Mavericks and (I think) the Kings where it was the final seconds and the score wasn't close so the players were just letting the clock run out."
"And the ref called a technical on Luka Doncic for seemingly no reason. Turns out, the one free throw for the technical was the difference between the over and the under hitting. When Tim Donaghy was caught fixing games, he said he wasn't the only one and was going to wear a wire for the FBI, but someone tipped off David Stern and it never happened." ~ ElToberino
They were right...
"My mom's choir practice actually being my mom cheating. They were right. My mom had been acting strange and was irritable for a couple of months, so I talked to my friend about it and told him I assume she's going through menopause and it will eventually pass. He immediately said she might be seeing someone else."
"My parents have always been the type of people who cooked and gardened together, traveled and even worked together for a while. My mom never showed any interest in any other men, not even a comment about someone looking good. They got along really well so I just assumed there must be something else going on with her. Turns out he was right." ~ yukiatsusan
Miscavige!
"David Miscavige, the chairman of the Church of Scientology definitely murdered his wife and is getting off scott free for it. Him and his wife got into a pretty heated argument in 2007, and she hasn't been seen since. Lawyers hired by David claim she is still alive and devotes 100% of her time to work at the church of scientology, which is why she hasn't been seen since August 2007."
"In 2013, a former member of the church had filed a missing person report that was closed after a few officers had "spoken and seen Mrs.Miscavige", even though there's no evidence whatsoever of this meeting. All missing person's reports now are turned down since this investigation is forever closed." ~ ihatenuts69
Norma Jean
marilyn monroe hello GIFGiphy"Honestly, Marilyn Monroe's death. I know she was troubled and had her fair share of drug use but I think she got to a point where she was a liability with her involvement with JFK." ~ kyle71473
Poor Norma Jean. Hollywood, heck society as a whole, really ruined it for her.
Tragedy
Martin Luther King Jr Mlk GIF by IdentityGiphy"The FBI had many reasons to assassinate MLK. The FBI saw him as a threat to capitalism for supporting many socialist ideas like universal basic income, etc. The assassin even admitted he was hired by someone who may have been part of the government." ~ Rabbet_yt
Clues...
"There's one crank pushing the conspiracy that there was no single Zodiac killer. Rather the letters were a distraction created by dirty law enforcement officers to cover up killings connected to their drug trade. His theory doesn't quite hold together, but it's based on the idea that the murders were so different, different weapons, different kinds of victims."
"And that the letters and phone calls contain things found in initial police reports, but might have been falsely reported. The idea being that only someone with access to police records could write them. I don't remember all the details, but it's at least an entertaining theory. Much better than the books we get every year "My father was the Zodiac killer because he wore glasses in the 60s." ~ Pontus_Pilates
Genius!
"Germany's government opened the night clubs one week before elections. Some people joked that they did it so young people were to hungover to vote -> less progressive votes." ~ zimzilla
"The reason all UK elections are on a Thursday is because when the rules were written they thought the voters would be the least drunk on a Thursday." ~ TheNewHobbes
Well... DUH!
"A lot of rich and powerful people didn't want Epstein alive. With the number of millionaire/billionaires that are psychopaths or similar, there must be a few super rich serial killers out there. By extension there must be people making money supplying victims in the same way Epstein was supplying girls to the wealthy who wanted to scratch an itch."
"With the money, power and influence would come governments and intelligence agencies willing to overlook or cover up terrible actions for leverage. I'll take the low hanging fruit. The Epstein "suicide" was outrageous. I've never seen an issue in recent memory where the far left and far right were in complete agreement and equally outraged over the same issue."
"Calling it a "conspiracy theory" doesn't do it justice. It's a hypothesis, and a highly likely one, that he was killed or was allowed to kill himself. The cameras malfunctioned and the guards fell asleep... FFS that is some lazy plot writing." ~ ihatenuts69
A-HA!!!
The Goldbergs GIF by ABC NetworkGiphy"The government helps spread some of the more ridiculous conspiracy theories, so when a real conspiracy comes up, no one really cares because it's not anywhere near as wild as all the other dumb crap." ~ JerHat
Epstein is an obvious non-conspiracy. It's a disgrace.
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