Fact or Fake?: Conspiracy theories are the best form of entertainment now days

“Warning: what you are about to watch may make you question everything you thought you knew. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Curled up under the covers in my bed with Shane Dawson’s “Mind Blowing Conspiracy Theories” Youtube video illuminating my pitch black room, the ominous horror movie music begins, and I know I won’t be going to bed for at least another 30 minutes. 

I have always been a huge conspiracy theorist and love getting lost in the goofy, and sometimes irrational, theories making me question my whole existence. This is a belief that an unexplained event is caused by a powerful, deceptive group. Whether or not you think the government is a part of the illuminati or that your life is a simulation, I think we can all agree that sometimes playing with the thought that these ideas could be realistic, is the best type of entertainment.

If you’ve never explored the endless lists of these skeptical conclusions, you might think the people who believe in such theories are just paranoid extremists with too much time on their hands. But are they really all that crazy? 

Think of some of those world events that are considered ‘case closed’: 9/11 was done by terrorists, Princess Diana was killed by a drunk driver and the Apollo Moon landings. There are always people who will believe crazier, more far-fetched conclusions: 9/11 was an inside job, Princess Dianna was murdered by the royal family and that the Mood landings were faked. The list goes on.

Though none of these can be proven, they eat away at my brain. The different opinions on the ‘what if’s’ and ‘could haves’ linger in my mind for days until I catch myself being shaken back into reality by the voices in my head that tell me it’s all fake. Usually stemming from a questionable source, such as a random ad titled ‘IS MICHAEL JACKSON REALLY DEAD?‘ hovering to the left of my web browser, theories can’t really be determined credible or not.  

Being an overly suspicious person has its pros and cons. These theories about real world events can give comfort to those who are looking for any explanation that makes a perplexing situation less confusing… no matter how far-fetched it seems. 

The Mandela effect is a famous conspiracy theory that is based off the South African politician and activist, Nelson Mandela. It regards time travel and memories of well-known things such as events, logos and situations being remembered the wrong way. If you’ve ever caught yourself remembering something in a particular way and have been wrong, chances are you’ve experienced the Mandela effect. 

This theory arose in 2010 when many people thought they remembered Mandela dying in prison during the 1980s, when really he passed away in 2013. This forced people to start talking about different objects and things from the past that they’ve misremembered.

For example, in “Snow White and the Seven Dwafs”, the Queen is wrongly believed to be saying, “Mirror, mirror on the wall.” She actually says, “Magic Mirror on the wall.” That’s not all.

While looking through photos on the internet I was struck with nostalgia when I saw Curious George. I always thought of him with a tail in the cartoon, but he never had a tail. Another one is The Berenstein Bears was never spelled with and “e”, it’s always been The Berenstain Bears. You might remember the Monopoly Man and his monocle — that he’s never had. 

It doesn’t matter if you believe or deny these elaborate conspiracy theories, you have to admit you’ve been stumped thinking about at least one. Take a minute to read up on a popular conspiracy theory about aliens being researched inside Area 51. In the meantime, I’ll be getting lost in lengthy Youtube videos detailing the assumptions that may have lead to the Illuminati or a secret government scheme.