Have you also "fallen" on one? Let's see what bizarre alternative truths are circulating around the world!
People often wonder why, in the face of overwhelming evidence, a minority of people still choose to believe in an alternative truth. Developmental psychologists have found that feedback, rather than hard evidence, is what increases people's sense of certainty when learning new things or trying to figure out what's wrong.
According to Berkley University research published in the journal Open Mind in 2018, people's trust is strengthened more by the positive or negative reactions they get in response to an opinion, task or interaction than by logic, reasoning and scientific data. In practice, that means yes "if you think you know a lot about something when you don't, you're less likely to be curious enough to research the topic further, and you won't find out how little you really know" says lead study author Louis Marti.
This cognitive dynamic can manifest itself in all areas of real and virtual life, including social networks and high profile news, and may explain why some people are so easily fooled by charlatans.
Here are 5 of the most bizarre conspiracy theories that people believe very often.
The earth is hollow
If until now you thought there was only a conspiracy theory that says the Earth is flat, let us trust you that there is also a theory that says it is "The Earth is hollow and that there may even be another civilization of advanced beings living in it". The theory dates back to the 17th century, when Edmond Halley – after which the comet is named – said that the Earth should be hollow because of its changing magnetism.
In 2014, scientists found deep inside the Earth "a reservoir of water three times larger than all the oceans". But the water doesn't just splash around, but inside the ringwoodite rock, which is hidden 700 kilometers below the earth's surface. For some, this only strengthened the theory that the Earth is hollow.
So how do you access this secret world beneath the Earth? Via a secret entrance at the North or South Pole, of course.
Paul McCartney is dead
One of the strangest pop culture conspiracy theories revolves around a member of the legendary Beatles. He says he's Paul McCartney died in 1966, at the height of the group's fame, and that the other three members covered it up by hiring someone who looked eerily like him.
They cite as evidence lyrics on the band's later music albums. Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album is, they claim, littered with hints in the lyrics of songs such as A Day in the Life, which contains the line "He blew his mind out in a car" (He shot himself in the car) and the recorded phrase “Paul is dead, miss him, miss him" (Paul's dead, miss him, miss him), which only becomes apparent when the track is played backwards. Lennon is also said to have mumbled at the end of Strawberry Fields Forever "I buried Paul" (I buried Paul), although he later denied that there was a hidden meaning in the lyrics and that he was actually mumbling "cranberry sauce" (cranberry sauce).
The Holocaust didn't happen
One of the most controversial conspiracy theories concerns the systematic extermination of millions of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. There is a lot of evidence about the Holocaust - it consists of thousands of photographs, films and first-hand stories. However, this has not stopped many people from questioning their credibility.
Most Holocaust deniers either explicitly or implicitly claim that it is holocaust hoax – or at best an exaggeration – arising from a deliberate Jewish conspiracy designed to advance Jewish interests. While most deniers agree that the Nazis orchestrated some of the killings, they argue that the numbers are greatly inflated. One of the most famous examples is the 2000 trial, later dramatized in a film Denial (2016), in which historian David Irving is suing writer Deborah Lipstadt, whom she describes in the book as a Holocaust denier.
The case actually led to a trial for the Holocaust itself, with the judge ultimately ruling that Irving was “an active Holocaust denier; that he was anti-Semitic and racist and that he associated with right-wing extremists who promoted neo-Nazism”. Irving was later sentenced to three years in prison in Vienna after admitting to denying the Holocaust. Some countries, including Austria and Germany, have criminalized Holocaust denial.
However, this did not prevent the theory from entering the "mainstream" and gaining support around the world.
According to a large survey by the religious organization Anti-Defamation Leagues, which took place among 100 countries, they had heard of the Holocaust only 54 percent of the world's population, and only a third of them think that it is depicted correctly. The highest level of awareness and trust in the historical record of the Holocaust exists in Western Europe (77 percent believe the historical account is accurate), while only 23 percent of people in Asia and 12 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa believe in the historical record of the Holocaust.
The CIA and AIDS
Ever since HIV/AIDS was first discovered in the United States in 1981, rumors about its cause and origin have persisted. One of the strangest theories is that it is a deadly virus by order of US President Richard Nixon created by the CIA to destroy homosexuals and African Americans.
The conspiracy theory boasts many high-profile proponents, including former South African President Thab Mbeki, who once championed the theory that "challenges scientific claims that the virus originated in Africa and accuses the US government of producing the disease in military laboratories". This thesis has been supported by many prominent scientists, including former Kenyan ecologist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Wangari Maathai.
Meghan Markle is a robot
This conspiracy theory has been circulating the internet since June 2018, when a video surfaced that apparently shows Meghan Markle and Prince Harry in the final of Britain's Got Talent. The footage, which has since gone viral, shows the royal couple sitting in the audience and clapping, their faces remaining completely motionless.
This has sparked wild speculation that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are robots, or at least have robot doppelgangers that they use to carry out royal duties.
In reality, the creepy footage was a stunt to promote the new Live Figures exhibition at Madame Tussauds London. The new feature, which is expected to gradually roll out to other celebrities, will allow visitors to see and interact with wax clones of the royal family more than usual.
