You’ve heard the news, haven’t you? UFO sightings, bigfoot encounters, and claims that most would say are delusional. These, as we have come to know, are conspiracy theories. Many think it’s purely the wild imagination others have, but to some, these are as real as can be. Conspiracies range from cryptid sightings to secret political agendas. Statistically speaking, the moon landing being faked is the most believed conspiracy, with estimated ranges reporting anywhere from 5 to 10 percent of the United States population believing it.
Opinions vary widely when it comes to conspiracy theories. Rose Otto, a Junior and Titan Times staff member, doesn’t personally believe in any particular theories. “I think most of them are silly, but some people may have a valid reason to believe in a theory. I don’t get why some people still believe in certain theories that have been disproven, though, such as the Earth is flat.” When prompting fellow newspaper staff regarding skinwalkers, a significant number of staff asserted their beliefs in their existence. Avery Glaciniski reported, “While I was at a park on the swings with friends, we noticed a man who also looked like a giant bird perched on the side of his roof just staring at us. After a bit, we had looked away, and when looking back, he had suddenly stood straight up and continued staring.” In Avery’s mind, it must have been a form of the Native American mythical creature.
Mr. Crump, one of our math teachers, believes in several conspiracy theories himself. “Some of my favorites are the sinking of the USS Maine; the US government took advantage of the sinking of the USS Maine to spark war with Spain.” The USS Maine was a battleship that suddenly blew up on the night of February 15th, 1898. Mr. Crump additionally shared, “Taylor Swift is actually a practicing Wiccan, proven by her album folklore.” He also believes in the aforementioned conspiracy that the moon landing was faked by the government. Mr. Crump reported several conspiracies he can’t bring himself to believe. Here are two: “The Earth being a flat disc surrounded by an ice wall known as the ‘end of the world,’” and, “The Phantom Time Conspiracy, that there is a significant lack of evidence that the years 614-911 AD ever actually happened and the pope just changed the years to build credibility to the history of the Holy Roman Empire.”
Mr. Crump provided constructive insight into conspiracy theories and their significance. “Certain conspiracy theories can be harmful to more believable theories. I believe that people throw any theory into that category to attempt to discredit the concept and prevent people from looking at it in more depth. It is easy to cast doubt on a theory if you also lump it in with the more ludicrous ideas. By doing this, it discourages journalists and others from looking into potential issues that corporations and governments would want to cover up.”
There have been several conspiracies that were later proven, such as Project MKUltra, an illegal human experimentation program by the CIA used to test different chemicals and torture in an attempt at psychological brainwashing for interrogations. Ultimately, while many ridiculous conspiracies sometimes give conspiracy theories as a whole a poor reputation, some conspiracies do have validity to them, and it’s up to you to choose what you do, or don’t, believe.
