Anyone here who used to believe way too much in Conspiracy Theories?

[Iloelemen]

I must confess.

Back in my early to mid teen years, I was way into conspiracy theories the majority of which were Right-wing ones.
I used to read up extensively about the Illuminati and the new world order and even a bit of reptile stuff. I used to also buy into the "vaccines make you get HIV" camp. Those were dark days for me.

Conspiracy Theories are scary 'cause it can make you too afraid and make you look at things from a distorted perspective but at the same time, it gets confusing when something like MK ULTRA becomes real.

 

[THEVOID]

Never believe them, but I love to hear about them.

 

[Fiction]

Always remind yourself: How many people would have to know and keep it a secret? What is the profit?

Most conspiracy theories fall apart if you look at them that way.

 

[Deleted member 27246]

I believed the Kennedy assassination conspiracy, because I thought that Oliver Stone movie JFK was based on truth (I am not American and this was before the internet mind you)

 

[P-MAC]

Not me personally but my friend went through a dark phase of this, he lived alone and smoked weed in a house all day looking up conspiracies on the internet and looking at the sky finding lights and shit. Used to rant to me about all of them, pretty sure he even believed the Royal Family were reptilians at one point. He's calmed a lot down now and admits some of the more absurd ones can't be real, but he is still a strong believer in the illuminati, that elections aren't real and it's all just a show, and a couple things like that, although you can tell he's not as comfortable talking about it any more.

 

[honest_ry]

The stuff with Tower 7 always fascinated me.

 

[Z-Beat]

No, but my other family members switch off all the time.

There was the one about pokemon having satanic messages in its theme song

There was the time they thought the youth were being inducted into a cult that has people do things for an entity called "the lollies" (the lulz)

The whole illuminati thing

 

[Fallout-NL]

that elections aren't real and it's all just a show

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Myeah, it's not, but all of it is so rotten that it might as well be.

 

[Coyote Starrk]

I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but I am definitely entertained by them. For example right now I am a huge fan of shows like Ancient Aliens, Strange Evidence, Curse of Oak Island, Ghost Adventures etc etc.


They are just too damn fun to watch.

 

[Iloelemen]

There was the one about pokemon having satanic messages in its theme song

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Oh god back in 8th grade, Our Values Education (yes, that's a subject) teacher unironically showed us this video telling us that those who watch Pokemon or Ben 10 will go to hell where the demons are shaped like pokemon or ben's aliens.

 

[MrNewVegas]

I remember an old video of Nicki Minaj looking completely different and acting different made me think MK Ultra and the Illuminati controlling celebs was real lol

 

[Shadybiz]

No, never have. I do have a friend who was a 9/11 "truther" literally from Day 1 though. Always found it weird. Haven't talked to him in a while; no idea if he still believes that.

 

[P-MAC]

Myeah, it's not, but all of it is so rotten that it might as well be.

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Yep, that's pretty much true. He might aswell be right in a lot of ways. But he takes it to the extreme, he literally thinks votes don't count for anything, both candidates already know who is going to win and are just doing a pantomime together to keep people under control, political parties have no power, they are just a facade to give people the illusion of democracy because the whole world is run by the illuminati and the Rothschilds etc etc.

 

[P-MAC]

Oh god back in 8th grade, Our Values Education (yes, that's a subject) teacher unironically showed us this video telling us that those who watch Pokemon or Ben 10 will go to hell where the demons are shaped like pokemon or ben's aliens.

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If someone said that to me in 8th grade, I'd be like take me there, I'll do fucking anything to see Pokemon in real life.

 

[Iloelemen]

I remember an old video of Nicki Minaj looking completely different and acting different made me think MK Ultra and the Illuminati controlling celebs was real lol

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Oh yes, I was way too much into Britney Spears conspiracies.

 

[Taco_Human]

Nah, they're silly when you read about MK Ultra and Cointelpro like you mentioend OP.

 

[Hydeus]

Nope.

 

[makingmusic476]

Always remind yourself: How many people would have to know and keep it a secret? What is the profit?

Most conspiracy theories fall apart if you look at them that way.

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I have some family that are susceptible to conspiracies, and, in their specific cases, religion plays a role in making the theories believable despite there not being a profit motive or any cover-up being an incredible challenge.

There's this vague assumption that there are evil people in the world driven by the devil that are intent on anything from just wanting to "watch the world burn" to wanting absolute, tyrannical control over the entire planet. That supernatural evil seems to be what is assumed to enable the cover-up.

When the concepts of good and evil are believed to be almost tangible products of divine beings, it really fucks with your worldview. It took a long time for me to get my Dad to come around to the idea that the Democratic Party isn't a top down organization that embodies evil.

 

[Deleted member 15440]

what's great is that all the most egregious ones aren't even hidden

like why do people feel the need to believe in pizzagate when jeffrey epstein literally flew donald trump, bill clinton, and prince andrew on a plane called "the lolita express" to his pedophile sex slave private island

 

[Benji]

I believed the Kennedy assassination conspiracy, because I thought that Oliver Stone movie JFK was based on truth (I am not American and this was before the internet mind you)

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To be honest the JFK assassination is the one conspiracy theory that is most likely to be real

 

[OrakioRob]

I used to laugh at conspiracy theories, but then presidents started getting elected because people believe said theories :(

 

[Fritz]

what's great is that all the most egregious ones aren't even hidden

like why do people feel the need to believe in pizzagate when jeffrey epstein literally flew donald trump, bill clinton, and prince andrew on a plane called "the lolita express" to his pedophile sex slave private island

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Consipracy theories are a means to make the world easier to understand and give some illusion of control or knowledge to the people.

They are not necessarily there to just make the world a worse place.

 

[Atisha]

Food for thought, like most theories.

Like i wouldn't be surprised that some shadow hands played pivotal roles in 9/11. It's naive to believe that there aren't real Baddies out there, who are wealthy- making thier plans, laying thier traps, setting things in motion.

 

[meowdi gras]

I was raised on conspiracy theories--i.e., the Pope was the Antichrist and secretly ruled the world (along with the Illuminati), Freemasonry was Satanic, bible versions other than the King James were infiltrated with New Age beliefs, etc.. So yeah, I'm ashamed to say.

 

[FearMyWrench]

OP, just curious, what made you change your view? Or just maturing age?

 

[JimNastics]

To be honest the JFK assassination is the one conspiracy theory that is most likely to be real

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Agree with this... probability of truth is somewhere in the middle with that one, I am totally open to the conspiracy theory. I hope one day we find out.

 

[Gwenpoolshark]

I honestly believe there's a real possibility that the FBI killed MLK. That's something his family believes too. Not a right-wing conspiracy though.

But other than that, no.

 

[Benji]

Agree with this... probability of truth is somewhere in the middle with that one, I am totally open to the conspiracy theory. I hope one day we find out.

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Yeah I'm not a conspiracy theory type person at all, but the only one I've ever given any credence to is the JFK assassination. I'm not sure exactly who was behind that, and maybe the official account is what happened, but that's the one I think is most likely to be a cover up

 

[Futureman]

I've always been super rational (probably to a fault), so no, not at all. I need to see direct evidence of something to believe it.

 

[Scarlet Spider]

Bigfoot. I find it absolutely amusing when someone posts actual debatable footage. I love hearing arguments from both sides. Hell I showed videos to some co-workers at work and there was this 5 hour long debate on its authenticity, motivation, etc

 

[Fat4all]

nope, and my life has been lesser as a consequence

 

[RJeddy]

Not exactly conspiracy theories, but as a kid I was fascinated with cryptozoology. The idea of these undiscovered animals of legend hiding in secret was so cool to me.

 

[MisterSnrub]

The stuff with Tower 7 always fascinated me.

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Same. Also not American, which might have made it easier for me to entertain. (Scottish actually haha)

I used to believe in aliens and government cover-ups in my teens. JFK, fluoride, illuminati. I used to treat Bill Hicks with this sort of reverence, it was weird. It was actually the rise of Alex Jones on AboveTopSecret that gradually led to my disinterest. Tea party was also a big deal on that website, this was during their own rise in 09. Something about how false those two uprisings came off caused me to drift. Felt malevolent in a way the doomsday predictors and alien abductees didn't, but it spread and kind of ruined the community.

Eventually moved on and got smart. Developed better life and social skills, that's what made the real difference. Don't think I believe in any conspiracies now - besides the Andrew WK one.

 

[honest_ry]

Same. Also not American, which might have made it easier for me to entertain. (Scottish actually haha)

I used to believe in aliens and government cover-ups in my teens. JFK, fluoride, illuminati. I used to treat Bill Hicks with this sort of reverence, it was weird. It was actually the rise of Alex Jones on AboveTopSecret that gradually led to my disinterest. Tea party was also a big deal on that website, this was during their own rise in 09. Something about how false those two uprisings came off caused me to drift. Felt malevolent in a way the doomsday predictors and alien abductees didn't, but it spread and kind of ruined the community.

Eventually moved on and got smart. Developed better life and social skills, that's what made the real difference. Don't think I believe in any conspiracies now - besides the Andrew WK one.

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Where in Scotland are ya?

 

[ishan]

nope not so far

 

[alexi52]

Just the ones involving aliens and sea monsters

 

[K' Dash]

I like to watch some videos now and then to have a laugh.

 

[Deleted member 2834]

Nope

 

[Deleted member 8644]

I'm immediately skeptic of any kind of conspiracy theory, but I also have a hard time reconciling that with the very real conspiracies that took place in Italy from the late 60s to the 80s, with actual secret societies, some of which people didn't know the existence of until much later, false flags and all that stuff.

Btw thanks for gladio america, very cool

 

[DFG]

Never believed in any shit like that even when all my friends in high school talked about stuff liked that, i just ignored it. Always thought it was dumb, and even if it was true, none of them affected in any way

 

[The Albatross]

As an avid X-Files fan back in the 90s, for sure I was into conspiracy theories. Around when I was 18 I got off that ship though.

I'm still open to conspiracy theories around JFK or RFK's assassinations, involving organized crime/big labor.

At some point in my 20s I became an anti-conspiracy theorist and I still am, just being a massive arrogant prick to anybody who espouses complex conspiracy theories. Now that I'm an adult I rarely come across conspiracy theorists in real life, as opposed to the internet... 2 years ago my in-laws had a Christmas party and a lot of the guys were out around a fire and this one guy who was from their town starts talking to me about conspiracy theories, and I spent the next hour being an insufferable condescending know-it-all to him. I really enjoyed it.

 

[entremet]

JFK stuff is rather interesting honestly. That's it really.

 

[Gunny T Highway]

I like hearing or reading them for their crazy content. But I never really believe them.

 

[MisterSnrub]

Where in Scotland are ya?

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Dundee min yerself?

 

[Sulik2]

Yep, when I was a Jehovah's Witness I used to think Satan controlled all the governments and they were all out to get the religion. /sigh

I do still have healthy skepticism of official stories. 9/11 for instance. Not the stupid it was a missile and jet fuel melts steel beams shit. But the training exercises mimicking an attack on that exact day prevent fighters from scrambling type stuff raises doubts in me. I still wonder if the Bush administration knew an attack was being planned and didn't act to stop it to have an excuse to grab massive amounts of power with things like the Patriot Act and invading Iraq. A Lusitania type situation where they do secretly put weapons on a civilian ship to get drawn into a war. Or more similar having a lot of evidence that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked and not fully acting on it.

JFK I always thought was crazy until I stood on the corner and saw where the shots came from vs the actual motion of the video and where brain and skull matter ends up. It doesn't match. There is more to that one imho.

Most conspiracies I think are total garbage because governments are too bad at keeping secrets or aren't close to competant enough to pull off what the theories say.

 

[TheBaldwin]

When i was 13 i got into the whole illuminati thing.

But then i turned like 14 and realised that it was dumb, and that 99% of conspiracy theories are.

The government are alot dumber then i think people realise

 

[LakeEarth]

My first internet handle was "Conspiracy Guy", and I grew up loving the X-Files, so yes.

I used to believe in a ton of stuff. What turned me around was digging into the "moon landing was fake" evidence, and seeing how flimsy most of it was. Then I started getting good at science in high school, and that kinda ended the conspiratorial side of me.

 

[Forkball]

Never. I don't understand why people think this kinda crap like aliens in Area 51 when we all know Area 51 is where the time travel portal is housed.

 

[Scottius]

I believe that the big trio of 1960s assassinations (JFK, Robert Kennedy, & MLK) were all carried out by forces within the US Government. In JFKs case with the aid of the mafia.

I'd suggest the book The Devil's Chessboard for those interested in this subject. It's more of a history of the CIA and Allan Dulles but it touches on the subject.

That said, though I believe this to be true it doesn't impact my day to day life. No tinfoil caps and looking over my shoulder for black helicopters for me thank you.

 

[Deleted member 78]

There are a lot of Snowden = Russian intelligence conspiracy theorists on this site.