Some of the Biggest Conspiracies in History

When alternate explanations for an occurrence or circumstance are more likely, a conspiracy theory says that there is a conspiracy by strong, evil groups, frequently motivated by political reasons.

One of the main traits of conspiracy theories is that they attribute hidden, malicious forces as the cause of strange social and political phenomena. Second, they frequently view political developments in terms of a conflict between right and wrong. Third, the majority of conspiracy theories contend that news media coverage of current events is a hoax or an effort to divert attention away from the real source of power.

Conspiracies usually make ludicrous and improbable claims, but their strength comes from the way that they validate popular beliefs.

People naturally attempt to understand the world around them. A psychological phenomena known as motivated reasoning explains how people develop, evaluate, and analyze their beliefs using biased cognitive processes. The appraisal of incoming knowledge is “anchored” by prior assumptions and attitudes. These incentives, or biases, have an impact on how we see a problem and how we allocate blame or establish causality. The incentive to be precise is frequently the motivating force behind reasoning new knowledge, yet this motivation is always at odds with the desire to reach a specific conclusion that supports one’s preexisting ideas. Often, partisan and emotionally charged messaging trumps the quest for accuracy.

Most popular conspiracy theories

Earth is flat

The believers in the Flat Earth Theory think that the “Earth is a disc with the Arctic Circle in the center and Antarctica, a 150-foot-tall wall of ice, around the rim.”(Wolchover). Believers claim that the NASA guards protect those ice walls from people that try to climb over and fall from the disc. In their eyes they also believe that Earth’s gravity is an illusion and objects do not accelerate downward, they are “driven up by a mysterious force called dark energy”.

https://u.osu.edu/vanzandt/2019/04/03/the-flat-earth-theory/

Area 51

Located at Groom Lake in the middle of the barren desert of southern Nevada, Area 51 is a U.S Air Force installation that has become infamous for a speculated connection with unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

Conspiracy theories surrounding the base suggest that it is used for the testing of alien technology recovered from supposed crash sites, like the famous one in Roswell, New Mexico. This has been fueled by the fact that the base was a secret for many years and is still inaccessible to the general public.

https://www.space.com/area-51-what-is-it

9/11

The most prominent conspiracy theory is that the collapse of the Twin Towers and 7 World Trade Center were the result of controlled demolitions rather than structural failure due to impact and fire.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9/11_conspiracy_theories

Shooting of JFK

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963 spawned numerous conspiracy theories. These theories allege the involvement of the CIA, the Mafia, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Cuban Prime Minister Fidel Castro, the KGB, or some combination of these individuals and entities. The original FBI investigation and Warren Commission report, as well as an alleged “benign CIA cover-up”, have led to the claim that the federal government deliberately covered up crucial information in the aftermath of the assassination. Former Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi estimated that a total of 42 groups, 82 assassins, and 214 people had been accused at one time or another in various conspiracy scenarios.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_assassination_conspiracy_theories

Princess Diana

Mohamed Al Fayed, the former Harrods owner and Dodi’s father, believes Diana and Dodi were the victims of a murder plot involving the British security services and Prince Philip who acted before the couple could announce their engagement.

https://spyscape.com/article/princess-diana-conspiracy-theories-was-the-fatal-crash-all-it-seems

Blaming 5G for COVID-19

This conspiracy theory should be easy to debunk: it is biologically impossible for viruses to spread using the electromagnetic spectrum. The latter are waves/photons, while the former are biological particles composed of proteins and nucleic acids. But that isn’t really the point — conspiracy theories are enticing because they often link two things which at first might appear be correlated; in this case, the rapid rollout of 5G networks was taking place at the same time the pandemic hit. Cue a viral meme linking the two, avidly promoted by anti-vaccine activists who have long been spreading fears about electromagnetic radiation, egged on by the Kremlin.