Coincidence? I think not! by Gurmat Randhawa

According to Wikipedia, a conspiracy theory attempts to attribute the ultimate cause of an event (usually major political, social, historical, or cultural events), chain of events, or the concealment of causes from public knowledge, to a secret and often deceptive plan by a group of people or organizations. 

Basically, it means that conspiracy theorists try to find hidden meanings and/or hidden motives to explain certain major events. Popular conspiracy theories include John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Area 51, Man on the Moon and many more. Here is a list of conspiracy theories that may change the way you look at the world.

Paul is Dead.

So apparently Paul McCartney died in 1966. And the Beatles covered it up by hiring a look-alike who looked, sang AND behaved like him. But, they eventually felt guilty about deceiving the fans and started hiding clues in their music and album covers. So the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album was allegedly full of references to Paul’s alleged death. For example, the song “A Day in the Life” when played backwards sounds like “Paul is dead, miss him, miss him”. Also, the cover of the Abbey Road album apparently shows John, George and Ringo crossing the street as a funeral procession. John wearing white symbolising a clergyman; Ringo wearing black symbolising a mourner; and George wearing jeans symbolising a gravedigger. Paul was not wearing any shoes, and walked out of step with the others, symbolising him being dead. However, John Lennon has denied the existence of any hidden messages in either album covers or in their music.

Paul? Fake Paul?

NASA faked the moon landings.

The story goes that in a bid to defeat the Russians in the space race, NASA faked the landings on the moon. It was supposedly filmed on a film set located either in the Hollywood hills or in Area 51. The origin of this theory is the part of the film which shows Aldrin planting a waving American flag on the moon. This should not be possible as the moon has no atmosphere, just vacuum. Also any and all visual material related to the landings is only provided through NASA, so there can be no independent verification whatsoever. The best part? That Stanley Kubrick apparently helped them fake it because he had experience from making 2001: A Space Odyssey. So all the moon rocks the astronauts brought back? You decide.

You can see the strings people!!-Phoebe from Friends

Lizard People Rule the World

Ever heard of a guy named David Icke? This former BBC sports presenter believes that our world is actually controlled by shape-shifting extra terrestrials or ‘lizard people’. He claims that these people are part of a network of interbreeding bloodlines with extra terrestrial origins. Important bloodlines include the British House of Windsor, the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers and most of European royalty. According to him this ‘Global Elite’ controls the IMF, United Nations, the media, military, science, religion and even the Internet. So, the British royal family, other royal families and most of the US government are apparently lizard people. So the next time you see George Bush, look closely. He might be one of THEM.

All hail our Lizard King!

 Secret societies control the world.

This one is in the same vein as the last one. Most of us have read Dan Brown right? Angels & Demons and the Da Vinci Code. In those books he talks about the Illuminati and the Freemasons. So this theory says that they control the world. It’s similar to Icke’s theory in that according to this theory members of these groups hold offices of power across the globe. The Illuminati are supposedly responsible for the pyramid-and-eye symbol on the dollar bill, as we all know from reading Angels & Demons. The Freemasons call themselves the oldest worldwide fraternity and list George Washington as one of its well known members. Did you know that there is a Masonic lodge on Janpath?

There is no such thing as Global Warming.

This theory says that the global climate scientist community has gotten together and created a vast body of data and literature to convince the world of a global change in climate because of unhealthy environmental practices because they want funds or indirectly political power. And the fact that the scientists of the world are divided on the whole global warming phenomenon doesn’t help. Well, atleast Al Gore got a Nobel out of it. An inconvenient truth, anyone?

And an Oscar.

The JFK Assassination

John F. Kennedy, the 35^th President of the United States, was assassinated on the 22^nd of November, 1963 in Dallas when riding in an open car. He was shot twice, in the head and in the neck. A commission under Chief Justice Earl Warren was constituted. The Warren Commission declared that the man arrested on suspicion, a Lee Harvey Oswald, was the culprit, and that he had acted alone.

However, the trajectory’s of the bullets that struck Kennedy and Dallas Governor John Connally (who was sitting in the front of him) when analysed indicated that Oswald could not have made all those shots from where he was stationed, and there must have been another shooter.  It is believed that the other shooter was stationed on the grassy knoll of Dealey Plaza. The Warren Commission and other US government agencies deny the existence of another assassin. So conspiracy theorists believe that JFK was killed as a result of a conspiracy against him. Alleged conspirators include the CIA, then Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Fidel Castro, the FBI, the Mafia and many, many more.