High on Conspiracy
They might kill their own children, or innocent customers at a pizza place, secure in the firm belief they are fixing a distorted and sinister world order. They see malevolent faces behind the red curtains and sniff out the breath of evil everywhere.
It feels like the powerful manifestation of a movie-like alternate universe, more solid in the minds of some people than reality itself. You have that sense when you meet a person who whispers that getting a COVID vaccine is a huge mistake; both the vaccine and the concept of COVID were developed and planned years earlier.
No amount of reasoning will convince them. According to their “evidence”, secret groups developed both the virus and the vaccine simultaneously, guaranteeing that the other half of the population would undergo permanent genetic changes over time. At that point, maybe even the Antichrist would be able to walk right in.
With little evidence to back any of this up, people have firm convictions on how, why, and who is behind certain events. “Conspiracy theory” is a catchall term for this kind of philosophy.
It is nearly impossible to quantify the exact number of conspiracy theories. Their number reflects an inexhaustible human imagination. Plus, anyone who does such tedious work might end up in a mental hospital. So I permit myself to go with the most amusing ones.
Alex Jones is a well-known American radio host and conspiracy theorist. The great watcher of hidden reptilian movements is David Icke. Louis Farrakhan is a religious leader and conspiracy theorist promoting anti-Semitic and anti-white ideas, and another is the movement called QAnon that emerged during the Trump presidency and was responsible for criminal acts committed by its believers, including killing their own children.
The origin of the word “conspiracy” is from Latin “conspirare,” which means “to breathe together.” The English interpretation of the derivative word is: a secret agreement between people to do something illegal and malevolent. Adepts of conspiracies fervently believe that they know something that others are missing. It’s as difficult as changing the flow of a river to alter the opinion of those people — conspiracy believers. When that “simple truth” hits them like a thunderstorm, they begin to edit reality to fit into their story. It is comforting to know your enemy — to know where it sits and what it thinks.
Despite the fact that the creators of this type of belief system drag through their rich imaginations a plethora of powerful evil humans such as governmental institutions, secret societies, extraterrestrial dudes, the CIA, pharmaceutical behemoths, or even Bill Gates himself, they have their favorite scapegoats — Jews. It seems like this group wasn’t forgiven for their poor performance in Biblical times. Only a very lazy conspirator would avoid scourging the Jews.
Hitler was certain that they were behind Soviet communism, just as Stalin was certain that they were behind the Nazi movement. Stalin’s paranoia was put into action in the “Doctor’s Plot” conspiracy, and Adolf Hitler took the concept all the way to the Holocaust. Stalin’s regime also executed as much of the Jewish population as it could through repression, purges, show trials, and forced deportations to remote Russian areas.
A past generation has seen the Holocaust pass through, killing 6 million people and highlighting the inexhaustible potential for evil throughout human history. It does not appear to bother new players in the conspirators’ field. Their colorful theories often mature through the subtle support of different social media platforms.
The notorious David Icke, a self-proclaimed new-age prophet and Jesus Christ’s right hand, was banned from many social media sites, but he still found a place in the spotlight on the Gaia channel, and notoriously famous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has also gained his share of popularity. He created a very profitable business model as well. More than $20 million in revenues annually in recent years, according to released court documents, landed in his pocket from just selling nutritional products.
“I am a channel for Christ’s spirit. The title was given to me very recently by the Godhead.” — said Icke. The most controversial speaker, as he often calls himself, built a large following through his more than 20 books, speaking tours, numerous DVDs, and merchandise sales.
The next predictable sentence — “the secret of their popularity”…”
I am not sure that there is a secret. While reading their foundational theories, the closest analogy might be a cloud of morose, dark propaganda, or even a parody of some sort of utopia. Plus, you can only take so much without suspecting your own neighbor of organizing a child molestation group around the barbecue pit in the dark alley behind your building.
The British conspiracy author David Icke sees a secret group of elites controlling the world: shape-shifting reptilian aliens. He calls them the Babylonian Brotherhood — reptilian humanoids who want to have total control over humanity. “I once had an extraordinary experience with former Prime Minister Ted Heath,” Icke revealed. “Both of his eyes, including the whites, turned jet black, and I seemed to be looking into two black holes.”
My deep-seated sense of self-preservation stopped me from going any further after I read: “Humanity is actually under the control of dinosaur-like alien reptiles called the Babylon Brotherhood, who must consume human blood to maintain their human appearance.” You can ask, “Where did he get that information?” Does he go underground and greet those reptiles?
After spending some time studying the “Christ channeling” of Icke’s “eye-opening” theories, you can’t shake off the impression that the guy is high on some sort of powerful hallucinogen. I think it would be a great idea for Hollywood to hire him as an endless source of ideas for horror and vampire movies.
Apparently bored with the concept that “secretive forces control people’s minds,” the big Alex (Jones) goes further to say that the government manipulates the weather to wreak havoc on its population. In 2013, he suspected that the tornado that killed two dozen people and left more than 200 injured was orchestrated by the government. Alex Jones also masterfully uncovered the reason behind the increase in the gay population. And again, it’s the omnipresent government. “The reason there are so many gay people now is because it’s a chemical warfare operation, and I have the government documents where they said they’re going to encourage homosexuality with chemicals so that people don’t have children.”
But not only will this affect people, but frogs too will experience a ramp in homosexuality according to Jones. It is not clear how he tested the frogs for homosexuality. Alex Jones was confronted in court with undeniable evidence of his lies during the Sandy Hook school shooting, which he claimed was staged.
The charismatic black American speaker Louis Farrakhan used to be a musician with the nickname “the charmer.” When he joined the Nation of Islam, a separatist religious organization, he used that charm on many black people looking for support and attention. He did not spend much time contemplating who was the source of all injustice and malice in the world.
Between breakfast and lunch, God most likely revealed the face of the real enemy to him.
“The enemies of Jesus were Jews… They turned away from God and used the skill and wisdom that God gave them to trick people into sin. Now, Satan has to be exposed. “The liar has to be exposed.” And also: “Satanic Jews have infected the whole world with poison and deceit.” He sees Jewish enemies everywhere. Even Barack Obama, when he was president, did not completely satisfy him. He is “under Jewish influence,”declared Minister Farrakhan.
This enlightened speaker also addressed the white population, suggesting that white and black people be separated. “White people are potential humans; they haven’t evolved yet.” And, while this statement may be true, in some cases (I know some people who need to be evolved), he goes even further: “While I’m here, I’m going to say it like it is: the white man is the skunk of the planet Earth.”
Whoever inspired the conspiracy labelled “QAnon” had a lot of fun playing with rich imagery: pedophiles scattered everywhere, the Jewish cabal, children murdered for their blood, and perverts of all sorts ruling the world — or just a small country called the USA. Sometimes it seems like creative Trump campaign advisers came up with this conspiracy. The fact is that the persona of the former president was the central theme: as a hero, savior, or victim, Trump was called to wage a secret war against elite Satan-worshipping pedophiles in government, such as Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and also Tom Hanks, Oprah, etc.
Somehow QAnon became the modern version of a “witch hunt”, one with a political stench. The group believes that the slaughterous cabal is abducting and killing children so as to use their blood to extend their lives.
Once you delve deeper into researching what these people believe, you see QAnon theories explode into an illogical, confusing, unsystematic set of random ideas that has more resemblance to a psychotic worldview than anything else. Here is one: “QAnon supporters believe JFK was about to reveal the existence of a secret government when he was assassinated. Many currently believe that John F. Kennedy Jr. faked his death in a plane crash and will soon emerge to either become Q or team up with Trump.” No comment.
Do I believe in the existence of evil in this world? Yes.
Are there some groups that are conducting evil schemes that hurt others? Perhaps.
But there are plenty of individuals who, independently, do insidious and atrocious stuff. Occasionally, they are also among those who claim to see evil everywhere.
The conspiracy ideology phenomenon is rooted in hostility and mistrust. It can be boiled down to one basic idea: other people are much worse than you; they represent pure evil. In this infantile, insecure logic, the essence of all conspiracy plots is fascism. Distrust and animosity fuel the spread of conspiracy theories, and their popularity grows when society and the world are rocked by unknown and traumatic events.
As one philosopher said: while hunting “the other,” that mirage-like evil, many miss the inner evil in their hearts.
A good conspiracy provides a reassuring sense of simplicity when dealing with the obscure outside world. It’s a naive childhood fairytale with good guys and bad guys. Regardless of their true quality and honesty, people just see others as part of diabolical mysteries, and sometimes it goes far beyond professing a harmless ideology.
In many cases throughout history, conspiracy theories have grown into monstrous killing machines. They pollute minds beyond surviving their own trauma, becoming consumed by fear of overarching evil, or catering to those with the gene for pathological paranoia.
Perhaps there is a remedy for conspiracy disease: “Love your neighbor and you will have nothing to fear.”
