About

A conspiracy theory is an explanatory proposition that accuses two or more people, a group, or an organization of having caused or covered up, through deliberate collusion, an event or phenomenon of great social, political, or economic impact. Despite existing for decades, the conspiracy theories have exploded in popularity since the invention of the internet, where said people could share their toughts on different things. One must not think of the conspiracy theorists as a one-minded congregation, since most people have different opinions and arguments on different events or subjects.

History

The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use of the phrase "conspiracy theory" to a 1909 article in The American Historical Review. Other sources predate this use by nearly four decades to at least 1871, where it is used in The Journal of Mental Science reporting on a conference of the Fifth Quarterly Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association (now the Royal College of Psychiatrists), held on January 27, 1870:

"The theory of Dr. Sankey as to the manner in which these injuries to the chest occurred in asylums deserved our careful attention. It was at least more plausible that the conspiracy theory of Mr. Charles Beade…"

Originally a neutral term, since the mid-1960s it has acquired a somewhat derogatory meaning, implying a paranoid tendency to see the influence of some malign covert agency in events. The term is often used to automatically dismiss claims that the critic deems ridiculous, misconceived, paranoid, unfounded, outlandish, or irrational.

Popularity

The conspiracy theorist, also known as "truth seekers" have been around for nearly 50 years, since the death of the president John F. Kennedy which, according to some eye witnesses, was carried out by multiple shooters because either: They heard gunshots from more than one direction or, they think that one bullet couldn't cause that much damage or hit as many targets as it did (A theory called The Magic Bullet). A 2004 Fox News poll found that 66% of Americans thought there had been a conspiracy while 74% thought there had been a cover-up. As recently as 2009, some 76% of people polled for CBS News said they believed the President had been killed as the result of a conspiracy.

Examples

9/11 was an inside job

One of the most prominent and biggest conspiracy theories, says that the September the 11th attacks weren't carried out by Terrorists, the government carried out an attack on the WTC to have an "excuse" to go to war with the Middle East. And the planes couldn't cause that much damage to a building like the WTC and was actually destroyed via controlled thermite explosions.

Reptilians

Created by ex-football player David Icke, this is the belief that most Politicians and celebrities are reptilian shapeshifters, disguised as human beings for various reasons, often while using well-timed photos of TV screens where the disguise "fails" or exposes itself for a second.

Illuminati/Freemasons

The illuminati and freemasons were actual, real societies. The Illuminati (From "illuminatus" means:enlightened) was an Enlightenment-era secret society founded on May 1, 1776 to oppose superstition, prejudice, religious influence over public life, abuses of state power, and to support women's education and gender equality. The Illuminati, along with other secret societies, were outlawed by the Bavarian ruler, Charles Theodore, with the encouragement of the Roman Catholic Church, and permanently disbanded in 1785.

In subsequent use, "Illuminati" refers to various organizations claiming or purported to have unsubstantiated links to the original Bavarian Illuminati or similar secret societies, and often alleged to conspire to control world affairs by masterminding events and planting agents in government and corporations to establish a New World Order and gain further political power and influence.

Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that traces its origins to the local fraternities of stonemasons, which from the end of the fourteenth century regulated the qualifications of masons and their interaction with authorities and clients. The degrees of freemasonry, its gradal system, retain the three grades of medieval craft guilds, those of Apprentice, journeyman or fellow (now called Fellowcraft), and Master Mason. These are the degrees offered by craft, or blue lodge Freemasonry. There are additional degrees, which vary with locality and jurisdiction, and are now administered by different bodies than the craft degrees. In fact, as of right now, 14 US presidents were openly Freemasons.

Of the claims that Freemasonry exerts control over politics, perhaps the best-known example is the New World Order theory, but there are others. These mainly involve aspects and agencies of the United States government, but actual events outside the US (such as the Propaganda Due scandal in Italy) are often used to lend credence to claims.

Moon Landing/Structures on Moon

People question if the Moon landing event actually took place. They are basing this on what they perceive as some discrepancies in some of the photographs from among the thousands that were taken by the Apollo astronauts, and for various other assorted reasons. They believe that the Moon landings were mocked up in a film studio and that the Apollo crews never left low earth orbit. The most common belief is that it was faked because we had to "beat" the Russians to the moon (and then actually went there at a later time)While others believe that we have been to the Moon, and that we or others beings are building structures there. The Mars landing is also been said to be fake or have artifacts on it.

A Syfy channel documentary came out in 2014 about the subject and revealed all new pictures of the moon showing odd anomalies that have never before seen by the public. Also having interviews with a multitude of creditable sources.

Flat Earth

The Flat Earth Society is well known, and widely assumed to be a group of people who lobby the idea that the Earth is not actually a globe. While this is described as an ancient, pre-scientific belief, it's increasingly common today. Some believe this for religious purposes and others for scientific reasons.

Ancient Aliens

This is the belief that Aliens were here long before man and are actually the reason why we are here. Also explaining many of the world oldest structures that are thought to have been impossible to build at the time. Since its debut in 2009, the History Channel (now H2) series Ancient Aliens has become a cultural phenomenon. With each episode promising to reveal the truth about hidden alien influence in ancient history. This has spun off many memes and became very popular on it release.