I've lost count of the number of theories floating about that say almost all of our world is rigged.
Do I believe in darker forces behind the curtain?
Yes. Absolutely. But some of these ideas seem impossible.
RedditorConsciousSloth wanted to know what major world news people actually think is a scam.
"What world event do you think was staged?"
Educate me. I'm probably just naive, I don't believe in a lot of these conspiracy ideas.
MLK
Will Smith Smh GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy"The FBI killed Martin Luther King. I mean, his family recently won a court case that basically admitted that the police did a cover up. Also the Wendigoon Episode on it was amazing."
The_PracticalOne
The Verdict...
"In the UK a spy or someone who worked in intelligence was found dead in his apartment. He drowned in his bath, locked inside a North Face duffel bag. The lock was on the outside of the bag. Official verdict into his death... Suicide... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Gareth_Williams"
zwifter11
"Sounds like what happened to Garry Webb. Exposed a bunch of shady crap the CIA was doing in Central and South America."
lazy_phoenix
false-flag
"In 1964 the USS Maddox was attacked in Vietnam in what became known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This act convinced Congress to let the president put boots on the ground in Vietnam and essentially started the war. However documents declassified in the early 2000s revealed this was actually a false-flag operation."
Looks_at_this_clown
Political Lies
"The War on Drugs. Once you read about how Harry J. Anslinger manufactured the marijuana scare just to keep his job, you’ll realize how crazy the entire situation is. Anslinger was the DEA version of J. Edgar Hoover, and before the DEA even existed."
ghostful86
"There’s a White House memo that talks about how they’re using weed to vilify hippies and heroin to disenfranchise the black population. It even says 'Did we know that we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.'”
SassySavcy
Power King
classic movies eating GIFGiphy"The Erfurt latrine disaster in 1184. I fully believe that Henry VI staged that to create a power vacuum his family was equipped to take advantage of."
Smrtihara
That Henry was a mess. How'd he get so many wives?
Vanishing
david copperfield magic GIFGiphy"That time David Copperfield made the statue of liberty disappear. Definitely something fishy about that."
Gekidami
Infiltrate
"The 2016 'coup' in Turkey was staged to solidify Erdogan's presidency."
leffe123
"100%. The planes that were suppose to shoot him down just escorted him to land safely etc. If there ever was a legit part of it, that was a coup, they had been SO infiltrated that it was over before it started."
Adler4290
"Holy crap glad to see this so high. I always felt that too. One of the few world events I've actually watched live too."
pig_smart
Moscow
"1999 Moscow apartment bombings."
Shawn_NYC
"Hadn't heard of this before, damn. 'Former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko, who defected and blamed the FSB for the bombings, was poisoned and killed in London in 2006.'"
Layer_3
"I’m surprised this isn’t more known about in the West. The FSB was literally caught red-handed planting explosives by local police."
bertiesghost
Speed
"Dale Jr. winning the July NASCAR race at Daytona after his father was killed in an accident there in February."
IdahoPatMan
"I 100% witnessed Nascar hand a win to Dale Jr at MIS in the mid-2000s. It went to a Green-White-Checker and as they were in the middle of turn 1 & 2, a car at the very back of the field ran out of gas and drove down into the in-field."
"At the exit of turn 2, Jr is running out of gas, but they throw the caution and he limps back to the garage, claiming the win under yellow. 2nd place was right behind if not alongside Jr when they threw the yellow, giving Jr the win."
MItrwaway
Don't Listen
sad vincent vega GIFGiphy“Internet Backlash. There are maybe a handful of real people and a million bots making all the news and all the decisions right now."
fishintheboat
a well oiled machine...
"Not an event per se but the fact everyone still thinks that Banksy is just one guy, trust me, it’s a well oiled machine that, even from the 99/2000 had a small team working on it all, it’s been one big money making exercise from the early days, the fact Robin and co are still getting away with it proves it works so good luck to them!"
Puzzleheaded_Song_70
Nero
"The Great Fire of Rome. But I’m not the only one that thinks this. People think Emperor Nero burned down swaths of the city just so he could buy up the land to make his mansion. The fact that that’s exactly what happened after the fire didn’t help his case. Dude was so evil people theorized he might’ve been the Anti-Christ."
BlackDwarfStar
Past and Modern
"At least some of the world’s conspiracy theories must be true but the thing that stops me believing most modern ones is that contemporary politics and business scandals have shown us that the human race is pretty much incapable of keeping secrets."
"Some of the conspiracy theories you hear would require so many different people and institutions, often with conflicting agendas, keeping secrets. That’s the bit that isn’t plausible. It was far more plausible in the time of JFK when info wasn’t as easily stored, recorded or shared."
RefurbedRhino
Ms. Jackson
janet jackson GIFGiphy"Janet Jackson and 'Boobgate.'"
notthesedays
"Janet got cancelled even though JT was the one who ripped off her top."
limbtz
Landings
"I believe the moon landing was real, but they went out of their way to pack as many tv cameras on the mission as possible, so in the most literal sense it was staged as a media production almost more so than a scientific mission."
classyhwale
"Science was an afterthought. It was not a secret that the US was doing it to beat the Russians. It was a commercial for how bad a** America was. Later on NASA used science to keep their budget."
JohnnyBA167
Crisis
"The energy price crisis in the UK right now. I suspect that when Russia Invaded Ukraine the oil companies saw an opportunity to make an unthinkable amount of money and our government are corrupt enough to just let them get away with it. The fact Rishi and Liz seem unwilling to talk about it or sympathise with people is enough proof."
Jacorpes
rumors
"Lil’ol’ Finland attacking mighty bear of Russia back in ’39. I mean, Russian later said it was staged, but the current leader is again going ”what, who said is was stages, does not look staged to me, I haven't heard such rumors before and uh we beat the nazis so we are never wrong.'"
CheesecakeMMXX
"Nothing"
"Shakespeare's plays."
WillCharGames
"Fun fact, Shakespeare's work often played to the lowbrow audience with sleazy sexual jokes. The title 'Much Ado About Nothing' is actually a saucy pun. It's about trying to get a woman married/laid, and what's between a woman's legs? Well. 'Nothing.' So it's much ado about... women's privates."
"He used that joke a lot, actually. It gets used in Hamlet! Basically any time he throws 'nothing' into the script the audience was meant to titter a little."
Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
The BOT situation is out of control.
What would you add to this list. Let us know in the comments below.
If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/
I have been left utterly bewildered by what some people believe is acceptable thought, conversation, and behavior.
Like... "Do YOU hear you?"
It shows when a person lacks life experience and/or brain cells.
Words expose everything.
And sometimes shock is all that is left to grapple with.
Redditor nlwfty wanted to hear about all the things people have overheard that left them utterly stunned, so they asked:
"What's the most out-of-touch thing you've heard someone say?"
I once a friend's friend moan about how she and her husband were nearly destitute.
Almost penniless.
All while she was straightening up the house for the new au pair they had just gotten from Columbia.
The Who?
Over It Maid GIFGiphy"My boss once told me to have 'the maid' drop my car at the shop. WTF!!"
amboomernotkaren
Be Happy
"'You won't be happier at work if we pay you more, but we need to figure out why workplace happiness is so low.' This coming from a guy that made 10x what I did and was born into old money."
Dirac_comb
"I had a job that was paying below market rates and 'expected' daily overtime (unpaid, natch) and was trying to figure out how to improve morale. They were considering bringing in consoles and having video game nights after work... as if we weren't stuck there too long already."
"I did have the fun of leaving, then being asked to come back as a contractor to help out, and taking advantage of being on a short-term contract and giving no f**ks to suggest that maybe they should consider at least TRACKING the overtime people were working, even if they weren't going to pay for it since there was probably a whole extra job's worth of hours in there and maybe hiring another person might improve morale and reduce the risk of the kind of errors tired people make."
"Didn't stay long as a temp. Apparently telling the truth and discussing facts with your co-workers isn't good for morale >_< They told everyone I was leaving because I got a better offer (!), but I told everyone exactly what was really happening when they asked XD."
princess_ferocious
It hasn't?
"My dad (who is now the Director of Accounting for the school district I teach for) was talking about how my starting pay was way more than his starting pay."
"I said, 'Well, yeah... The cost of living has increased a ton since then.' This motherf**ker straight up said, 'No it hasn't.'"
"He started working there in 1992. This conversation happened in like 2017 (about a year after I started working there). Again, he is the director of accounting."
pjsans
Move On
"'You seem sad.'"
"My mother to my sister, at her husband's funeral."
blarg-zilla
"My sister's son was murdered. Two weeks later my mom asked her if she was over it yet."
NeverCallMeFifi
"One of my sons was murdered 12 years ago. Many people started telling me that I needed to 'move on' after 4-6 weeks. My brother refuses to say my son's name, so I no longer speak to him. Sending my deepest condolences to your family from a mom who understands losing a child to homicide."
PDXer328
Good Idea!
New Girl Facepalm GIF by HULUGiphy“'I don’t know why people get big mortgages. Just save up for a few months and pay cash for a starter home!'"
Hopeful-Moose87
People with money always seem to have a plan, unless the plan is sharing.
FInd the Treasure
Dragons Den Television GIF by CBCGiphy"When people were complaining about not being able to afford housing/food/living in general, one of the Dutch ministers (I think he was a minister or at least the leader of a party) said something along the line of 'well, find a rich boyfriend then'. ah, yes, that will solve the crisis!"
pastelchannl
Dumbfounded
"I went to an Ivy League college with lots of children of extraordinarily wealthy families. When discussing inequality and its effects on housing, my professor briefly mentioned how mortgages are out of reach for a growing number of Americans. The girl next to me stopped the class, and with a confused face asked the professor why people don’t just buy their homes in cash outright because 'surely the interest means it will cost them more over time.' The professor was dumbfounded. I found out later that she is the heiress to a major luxury brand that you have all heard of."
wildblue2
The Increase
"My former landlord and his wife dropped by to tell me and my financially struggling 20-something roommates that they were raising the rent, by nearly 25%. They said, 'We noticed on Craigslist that neighbors had higher rent so we’re doing the same.' The wife then earnestly reminded us that we’ve been great tenants but maybe we just needed to find some higher-paying jobs. 🙃."
agingcatmom
Not Me
"I was waxing a woman’s eyebrows once and she was complaining that sometimes after she gets a massage the pillow leaves a circular indent on her face and she can’t go out to lunch after. She then asked me if that ever happened to me? I was like ma'am I wax people for eleven bucks an hour; I’m not going out to lunch lol, let alone getting massages."
lomi08
Investments
Money Invest GIF by ProBit GlobalGiphy"Something like: Give a rich person $500 and they will invest it into $1000. Give it to a poor person and they will spend it in a week."
"Yeah exactly give it to someone who’s needs are met and they can save… give it to someone who needs to eat/pay rent etc they will spend it to survive!"
ExaminationLucky6082
You need money to make money.
One of life's biggest lessons apparently.
So someone give me some money.
Do you ever wonder what it must've been like to experience major events throughout world history when reading about them in text books?
But if you take pause and actually think about it, we're living through many newsworthy current events that succeeding generations will be talking about long after we're gone.
Reading about them online or in newspapers is one thing. But seeing them happen unfold before our eyes is another.
Curious to hear from those who'll have anecdotes to tell in the future, Redditor "What is the most historically significant event you witnessed IN PERSON?"
People recall the natural disaster events they've witnessed.
Tremors
"1964 Good Friday Earthquake 9.2 Richter. Was a boy in Cordova, Alaska at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
"My father was skipper of the USCG cutter stationed there. He was inport, and when the quake struck shortly before 5:30pm, he and my mom gathered me and my three siblings on the front porch. At first, it felt like the house was crumbling at the foundation, but on the porch we could plainly see our whole world was shaking. I remember watching telephone poles swaying, and the wires snapping and crackling in the street. The quake lasted about five minutes initially. My dad got his ship underway to avoid the tidal wave which was sure to come. We had several aftershocks in the coming weeks, some of which were quite strong, though nowhere near as strong or as long as the quake itself. I was seven at the time."
– KitchenLab2536
Collapsing Freeway
"October 17th, 1989. I watched the 880 Nimitz freeway collapse during the San Francisco earthquake. The Honda in front of me had the upper deck crush her front-end engine compartment. The mother and her daughter were shaken up but completely fine."
"I was driving a convertible Triumph Spitfire, which was scratched up slightly from debris. However, I walked away unscathed. Aside from the fact I pissed my pants, which I didn't notice until much later."
– CatDaddyWhisper
Thar She Blows
"I sat on the roof of our house and watched Mt. St. Helens erupt less than 100 miles away."
– stinkykitty71
"This must have been fascinating and terryfing in equal measure. What a thing to witness."
– runrossyrun
"It was amazing! The ash that covered everything like snow was interesting to kid me, but less so to my parents."
– stinkykitty71
People recall seeing major catastrophes as a result of malfunctions or judgement errors.
Bomber Crash
"The b-52 crash that led to changing what large military aircraft are allowed to do for airshows."
"I didn't see the plane, but immediately saw the fireball. It was just a perfect, bright red turning to black mushroom cloud."
"Fairchild is a nuclear air base and there were a few minutes there where I was sure the world was about to end."
"A few years before a KC-135 doing the same thing crashed near the school while we were in class."
– goffstock
Tragic Takeoff
"I was standing on my front porch watching the launch of the Challenger."
– StarChaser_Tyger
"Was riding in my parents car to a basketball game in the next town over in north texas when we saw a shooting star and thought that was neat."
"It was the Columbia..."
– Misdirected_Colors
Demolition Gone Wrong
"The failed implosion of the Zip feed mill in Sioux Falls, SD in 2005."
"They hyped it up, sold tickets to it, had a big 'BOOM' marketing thing, and broadcast it live on TV."
"The explosives took out the main supports on the first floor, and the rest of the building above it just plopped down 10ft or so and came to a rest. It was a massive failure, and was a funny little blurb on news stations around the world that day. Definitely not major news, just the rest of the world taking 20 seconds to laugh at us."
"The building sat like that (the leaning tower of SuFu) for quite a while until they figured out how to safely demolish it."
"Here's a clip of the failed demolition."
– KitchenBandicoots
These well-known historical events were seen by very few who are alive today.
Historical Remnant
"The tumbling of the Wall in Germany… along with people selling bits and pieces of it on tables in lobby in front of commissary and px in the following weeks and months. I had picked up a chunk about the size of an oreo and kept it… has blue spray paint on the flat side. Wonder if anyone is buying them now?"
– SingedPenguin13
Major Upheaval
"I would have to say the LA riots. I lived about two blocks from where it started. I was on my way home from school and saw someone throw a brick through a window. I didn’t even wait. I just started running the whole way home."
– Scarlaymama0721
Day Of Infamy
"9/11, I could SMELL the collapse of the towers."
– go4tli
"A friend of mine was there. One day in the warehouse we worked in together there was an odd electrical burning smell. He stopped in his tracks and went 'this is what 9/11 smelled like.'"
– mantistoboggan287
I didn't physically witness the fall of the World Trade Center but I was living in New York City at the time.
However, I did see the smoke.
I was living up north in Washington Heights at the time and knowing what happened, uncertain of what was to come, and seeing the plumes of smoke from the attack site was the most ominous sight I've ever seen in my life to date.
Have you ever lived through a historic moment or witnessed something sure to be noted in history books? Let us know in the comments below.