Harmless Conspiracy Theories That Are So Believable
Conspiracy theories can be genuinely dangerous, especially when they spread unchecked on social media, where misinformation can go viral before anyone has a chance to fact-check it. As we have seen in the last few years, these kinds of theories can fuel distrust, incite panic, or even cause real-world harm. But not all conspiracy theories are sinister. Some are totally harmless (and honestly kind of fun), like the ones that claim Nicolas Cage is a time traveler or that birds aren't real.
Recently, I came across a viral Reddit thread from several years ago where user shivas877 asked: "Which conspiracy theory is so believable that it might be true?"
The thread had over 34K responses! While there were some well-known sinister ones in there, most were harmless. Below are some of the top and most often repeated lighthearted conspiracy theories people are convinced could be real:
"Starbucks baristas are told to misspell customers' names so that they post photos on social media of their Starbucks cup. 'Check out how this guy spelled Barry!!! Borreye?!?! Lol, smh.'"
—Jexy84
"That your phone's microphone is constantly 'hot' and it's listening for keywords to target advertising.
"The most glaring instance where this happened to me was when I walked into a colleague's office. He had just gotten a standing desk, but one that goes on top of his existing desk rather than a standalone (pun?) Model. That's important to note.I said, 'Nice standing desk, when did you get that?' 'Thanks, just today.' He replied. That was literally all that was said about the desk. We talked about work-related stuff, and as I walked out and checked my phone, there was an ad on Facebook for that EXACT model of standing desk.I have never owned one, wanted one, or googled one before. Yet there it was on my feed. Tin foil hat be damned, they listen in."—Seannj222
"The 'arms' on Tyrannosaurus rex skeletons are backwards. They ought to be rotated 180 degrees. What good are these stubby little arms for? It is now an established fact that T-Rexes were not covered in scales but in feathers, like a bird. Take the 'arms' of a T-Rex and flip them around 180 degrees. Now you have wings like an ostrich.
"Tyrannosaurus rex had wings. Not big wings to fly with, but wings that were perhaps something like those of an ostrich, cassowary, or emu, although likely much smaller in proportion to their body. Ostriches use their wings in mating rituals, to make themselves appear larger, and to signal and communicate. Perhaps the T-Rex used theirs for some similar purpose. They did not have useless stubby little arms."—DemonicP3nguin
"All rocks are soft until you go to touch them."
—TeddySD
"That Area 51 is a publicity stunt by the government to hide the real testing facility."
—Dahvoun
"Apple started the meme about AirPods being expensive as a marketing ploy."
—sickb
"Cops go on Waze and leave random police sightings to cause people to slow down without actually having to stay and check on people. "
—mxbnr
"That 'big bread' paid toaster manufacturers to put in a setting that is too high so that people would burn their toast, meaning that they sell more bread."
—mummifiedllama
"The reason Disney came out with a movie called Frozen was so that when you googled 'Disney frozen,' you would get information about the movie and not websites talking about Walt Disney's body being frozen."
—-eDgAR-
"Rob Gronkowski didn't actually injure his groin after scoring his 69th career touchdown; he just thought it would be funny/appropriate."
—Papua_New_Guiness
"Lotteries are actually traps for time travelers."
—Abraham_Santa
"Women's pants pockets are significantly smaller than men's pants pockets to encourage us to buy handbags and purses."
—mccrayola
"PETA is controlled opposition run by the meat industry, designed to make animal rights activists look bad."
—None
"UFOs are just time travellers from the future, just checking us out. They keep their distance so as not to disrupt anything and to cause a butterfly effect that may affect them."
—None
"Toothpaste companies put some chemicals in the toothpaste to give you 'morning breath' so that you'll need to use their product again in the morning. Try it yourself: brush your teeth just before going to bed. The next morning, you have morning breath, right? That night, don't brush. The next morning, far less morning breath."
—kratos649
"Black Friday was created by the government so people would spend more money, giving them more money on sales tax."
—captaintaco2345
"Bigfoot is blurry in real life. It was never the camera at fault."
—hotmaleathotmailcom
"That Snowpiercer is the sequel to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."
—MattimusPrimee
"New Coke was introduced to make people want Classic Coke, therefore bumping sales up. "
—None
"According Kyle Kinane: Trader Joe's makes their parking lots small on purpose to make them seem more popular than they really are."
—None
And lastly, "Darth Jar Jar was 100% planned and hinted at in The Phantom Menace, but the sheer amount of hatred for the character made George Lucas back down. I actually wish he went through with the original vision."
—shanez1215
You can read the original thread on Reddit.
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