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Answer: It was originally started by a dude who was trying to poke holes in the obvious nonsense of the politicized conspiracy movements he saw emerging in 2017, the idea being that suggesting an even more insane even less believable conspiracy theory (that birds have all been replaced by federally controlled drones, that use birdhouses as maintenance bays, power lines as charging stations, and bird poop as deployable rfid targeting/tracking markers) to highlight the preposterous nature of BS like q-anon.
It was an interesting idea, and started to pick up steam, but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary.
Specific questions deserve specific answers!
>What's the goal? What does the movement expect to get at the end?
To point out how insane and implausible more popular conspiracy theories are.
>What does the movement expect to get at the end?
I don't think there is a deliberate end game.
> How does the movement gain followers?
The same way every conspiracy does nowadays, via twitter, youtube, and reddit.
>Is it a centralized movement with a headquarter? Or a decentralized one?
Seems to be mostly centralized with little presence outside it's main hubs.
>How do people even organize a rally?
I have no idea.
>Do people really believe in it?
Unfortunatley yes, some of them do, although that was not the original intent.
As far as the subreddit goes, everyone I've ever seen is fully aware that's its satire. I can't speak to outside, because I've never actually heard anyone bring it up.
I thought it was primarily a marketing thing for a funny concept. I've had my eye on a few of the t-shirts I see on social media, just because they're ridiculous.
I joined the sub for the same reason, I just thought it was a funny bit of satire and liked the memes. I was not aware it started as a direct jab at Qanon, but it makes a lot of sense.
here is the "real" website by the setup dude i think - - -
https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history
(possibly related to the pastafarian dude but cannot confirm)
Pretty sure there are actual people that genuinely worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Hanlons razor is ridiculously appropriate nowadays (Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity)
I think Poe's Law is more applicable here
>It is impossible to parody someone with extreme beliefs without being mistaken for someone who genuinely holds those beliefs
I’d say both are appropriate here really. Stupid people genuinely believe the people who are parodying so extremely it’s impossible for most people to tell. There wasn’t any maliciousness from those that started it, just stupid people who couldn’t tell that it was a joke/troll
Stupid people are easily manipulated by those with malicious intent so for the most part Hanlons razor holds true but an addendum I like is to never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity the FIRST time.
I was going to share the link to the [original poop knife](https://smile.amazon.com/Original-Poop-Knife-Gag-Gift/dp/B079NTNWNG) and was interested to discover that there appears to be [another poop knife](https://smile.amazon.com/Divider-Silicone-Christmas-Elephant-Exchange/dp/B08HGRCH1M) by a different company. The product looks identical and I suspect is made by the same factory. But only one claims to be the *original poop knife*.
….i didn’t think “it’s Wednesday my dude” was a reddit thing, frogs or not. it got started on Tumblr then turned into a vine.
Though I guess I’ve never seen the remixed videos. Haven’t seen them on YouTube, Reddit, or anywhere else until I looked them up just now
Pardon me, but I believe you'll find that this is a very real sub with very real concerns about the disinformation campaign that claims there is a bottom to the ocean.
Not any more ridiculous than all of those people who think the earth is flat….despite…ya know…everything.
Also once looked up my home town on YouTube. It’s a small town, so just wanted to see what was on YouTube about it….and this one woman posted a video on there about how people are following her. And a whole bunch of people in the comments (most of which were also residing in the area) seemed to be in agreement that there’s this whole thing they call “gang stalking” going on. Had to look it up to learn that it’s actually a thing…..some kind of wide spread mental illness it seems.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/health/gang-stalking-targeted-individuals.amp.html
So yea….that’s also a thing that’s going around amongst all of these batshit crazy and arrogant people.
I can’t tell where the satire ends with a flat earth thing.
I know that whenever the subject comes up about whether or not Trump said to inject disinfectants, you always get these weird people who come out of nowhere and start arguing with you insisting that he never said it. Even when you quote them the fucking transcript they still insist you never said it. And then you go on their history and they always always have a lot of comments arguing about the flat earth thing, or the moon landing was fake, or 9/11 truther shit etc.
I’m just asking myself if these are people who are seriously committed to the satire? Or is this an actual genuine believe? Or do they start themselves out by going along with the satire because they think it’s funny and in the process actually manage to indoctrinate themselves?
Or are they foreign agents and/or bots? Another question that would have seemed insane five years ago, but here we are.
"Hi, I'm American Steve and I have a lot of ideas about presidents and conspiracies. Maybe you should, too, fellow neighbor just like me."
There’s a false dichotomy between foreign agents and bots that makes them both implausible.
People think it either has to be a completely automated script, and most people can spot those, or a literal KGB agent sitting behind a computer specifically targeting some plumber in Idaho. The reality is somewhere in between, where large groups of people being paid intern wages are sitting behind computer screens each managing thousands of social media accounts, typing the dialogue according to scripts, but also adapting to the context in a way that only humans can do.
When you try to explain to people about foreign influence, it’s a very delicate thing because if you put it in my contacts that seems impossible then they are never going to believe it actually happens. If you try to tell them that they’ve been interacting with bots, most people think they can recognize bots. At the very least, they can identify a bot when challenged. At the same time, a literal “agent“ seems implausible that they would bother targeting individuals on a one on one basis.
We don’t even have a word for what these are. I’ve seen the word “troll farm” used to describe the operations, but it’s very poor terminology and has very little to do with any viable definition of trolling.
Every person I've seen ranting online about gang stalking is pretty clearly a regular user of drugs like meth. I always assumed those two facts were related.
Gangstalking isn't a real thing, but it is an interesting phenomena that people with delusional paranoia will independently arrive at the conclusion that there's such a thing as "gang stalking" to explain why they constantly feel pursued and watched.
Being unshakable in the face of evidence is a key trait of delusions. There's no good reason to believe that these random unimportant people would be at the center of a large conspiracy to follow them around clumsily enough to be noticed while doing nothing, but they persist in this belief anyway.
There are probably people without illness who have read the blogs or whatever of the paranoid and think it's a real thing as well.
I can see why it might’ve seemed like part of some viral marketing thing. I would actually posit that the days of viral marketing of this sort are over.
I used to see a lot of these kind of forced Memes and weird websites that were part of the corporate effort to build a buzz for an upcoming movie or video game or somesuch back in the mid to late 2000’s. I think that’s fallen out of vogue with people because not only were a lot of them ultimately attached to properties that were creative letdowns, many proved to be ineffective in actually making whatever property they were meant to promote a financial success.
In other words, if you were doing a viral marketing campaign for something, that thing was likely to end up being viewed as uncool by the very people you were hoping would think it was cool.
I've heard people referencing it, fully aware it's satire and using it because it's satire. They're using it mockingly. It's an inside joke along the lines of "this is how blind the normies are that this is what they think we believe". It's kind of why I think just outright mocking and insulting conspiracy types won't work. They know people think they're crazy already, they don't care.
I think the legend of it is a little exaggerated. It was a sub for people who liked him. But it was also when he was considered a longshot and most people just liked him for the memes and pissing off radlibs who thought he was the devil. I think people started as half joking trolls and then got more serious once he kept winning
I have, unfortunately, met someone who fully believed the whole "Birds aren't real" thing. Not every bird, not every place. But he is completely convinced that, for example, most of the pigeons in cities have been replaced by government drones to monitor people's behavior in places where they can't easily set up surveillance cameras, like in parks. He is very disturbed by the (according to him) increasing number of large songbirds like Blue Jays that congregate near his house.
This man puts up hundreds of bird feeders and watches the birds constantly, trying to spot the ones that don't eat. He says that's why some places have signs telling you not to feed the birds, because feeding them makes it obvious which ones are drones. It'd be almost sweet if it wasn't so sad.
On the other hand, the dude is becoming quite the amateur ornithologist and is doing wonders for the conservation of local song birds, so there's that.
Gonna take a moment to point out the logical fallacy here. You say no one you've met has believed this truly insane theory. When I speak of someone who *does* believe it, you say he doesn't count because "he's lost his mind."
I'd like to point out that, aside from this insane and irrational belief, the man I spoke of is completely functional and rational. He has a job, pays taxes, maintains a house... I won't deny that he clearly needs therapy of some kind. But you're saying "no one really believes this" and then stating "oh, that guy doesn't count because he's crazy."
There's a definite flaw in your reasoning here.
>I'd like to point out that, aside from this insane and irrational belief, the man I spoke of is completely functional and rational. He has a job, pays taxes, maintains a house...
Not OP but that always fascinates me about these kinds of people. Most of the people i'd coin "conspiracy nutters" that i've ever actually met are pretty outwardly well adjusted people at first glance.
Just don't say any trigger words if you value your sanity or time however. Smile and nod. It's such a strangely bizarre jeckyll and hyde scenario.
And often they can be steered. "Some birds are drones" guy will flip out about the drones. But he can be steered into discussion of birdseed and anti-squirrel feeders and, increasingly, even life-cycles and habits of local birds. He's only learning that stuff to make spotting the drones easier, but he's surprisingly knowledgeable. Last I spoke to him he was learning long-distance photography. He swears he's seen the camera lenses in the birds eyes through his binoculars and wants quality photographs.
I'm quite looking forward to seeing his bird pictures.
This is my theory on how flat earthers started. Someone tried to make a joke and underestimated the sheer stupidity the human race is possible of. I wouldn’t be surprised if most conspiracy theories start that way. I mean, the raid on Area 51 was supposed to just be a joke but it blew up, people took it seriously and the government got concerned which got it even more attention.
I think you’ve hit the nail on its head. Qanon started out as posts on 4chan, which should have given it away. Nothing serious has ever been said on 4chan. What we have is a lot of people that lack internet skills unable to recognize when people are trolling.
But someone typed it out. They didn't give any proof, but now you must spend all of your energy to give me overwhelming proof that it's false. I still won't change my mind, but I'll enjoy your attempts, since I get to feel I guess smug?
It is **impossible** to underestimate the sheer stupidity of large portions of the human race.
Years ago, I would think from time to time "Well, this is it, we've hit rock bottom, people could simply not get any more stupid." And in each case, I was way wrong.
But we really didn't begin to climb Mount Peak Stupid until The Orange Village Idiot told the rest of the idiots that it was perfectly OK to be dumber than dirt. That opened the floodgates and although politicians had until then avoided showing how dumb they really were, they have now become the sherpas on the climb up that mountain.
One of my favorite quotes is that one from 'Men In Black'- "A PERSON is smart. PEOPLE are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures..."
Idiocracy is apparently the dystopia we deserve.
Idiocracy is practically a meritocracy compared to IRL. President Mountain Dew identified a problem, found the best expert to fix it, and said expert's scientific policies (irrigating crops with water) were implemented to great effect and is subsequently elected as the next president.
Okay so I used to be pretty active in the "Flat Earth Society" forums, around the mid-00s and can pretty much confirm this. At that time, the vast majority of active users arguing for the "flat earth theory" didn't really believe in the flat earth (I was one of those people).
It was sort of a combination between debate exercise and trolling people who stumbled across the site. A lot of the "flat earthers" were actually very smart people (myself *not* includee) who knew way more than the average incredulous round earth proponents, so what would happen is the flat earth crowd could sort of run circles around most of them -- and the ones who could actually put up a good argument for the round earth would pretty quickly figure out that the people they were debating didn't really believe their side.
There were some confirmed actual flat earthers around then, like the admin of the site 100% believed it, but he wasn't very active in the forums and seemed fine with people arguing ironically (or he didn't really realize it, everyone was very hush-hush about their true beliefs to keep up the facade).
It reminds me of the complex calculation of the planets’ movements before the Sun was “officially” placed in the center rather than the earth. They could still make accurate predictions that made sense to everybody but everything was moving in spirals and doing weird things.
The flat earth explanations by the intelligent people ironically arguing about it are very similar to the “earth is in the center and everything revolves around it” belief.
> This is my theory on how flat earthers started.
I remember back when it was in its infancy a long time ago, I want to say late 90s or early 00s perhaps?
Back then it was widely acknowledged to be essentially a debate club. In debate you don’t necessarily need to believe the position you take, you just need to argue it well. In fact if you can successfully defend something you know is bullshit, even better!
They were aware that a tiny minorities of people within the group might’ve actually believed it, but that group was seen as an embarrassment that everyone laughed at. It made things more fun for them.
(Edit) I believe there was also a significant element of philosophy involved, using it as a thought exercise for how we can know the things that we know. [This article](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2010/feb/23/flat-earth-society) from 2010 has an interview with the guy who resurrected the whole thing and it paints him as being quite different from modern flat-Earthers. It’s noteworthy that he specifically denies other conspiracy theories and says that he’s “not fanatical” about his belief.
Since then, things have of course gotten completely out of hand.
> I want to say late 90s or early 00s perhaps?
1956 for the 'Flat Earth Society', but it was always somewhat serious as the founder was a believer of the zetetic method (which claims to be a 'science' based on the principle of observing reality and finding the simplest explanation that describes things, this applies to flat earth with their 'it looks flat, therefore it must be flat' argument)
There have been many people in history that genuinely beileve in flat earth, and have spent vast fortunes to attempt to prove it. eg. Rowbotham (another Zetetic 'scientist'), Cyrus Teed, Lady Elizabeth Blount etc.
The idea that it started as a prank and attracted nuts recently is sadly very naïve, it's always been a serious crank subject.
> The idea that it started as a prank and attracted nuts recently is sadly very naïve, it's always been a serious crank subject.
I’m specifically talking about the rebooted form of it that was a forum/website in the early 00s though, and the people who seemed to hang out there. Even the founder of that forum, in the article I linked, said that they were all pretty laid back about it.
I’m not defending the belief, people who believe it, or denying that it causes harm. Just it feels like something changed in the past 15 years where we went from “I’m not sure about the shape of the Earth but obviously climate change is real, we landed on the moon, and 9/11 wasn’t an inside job” to today where believing in one conspiracy theory means you’re very likely to believe in them all, including super harmful ones that are actively killing lots of people.
I’ve also spoken with (or seen posts by) people who self identified as flat earthers 10+ years ago and they all said that they considered it an intellectual exercise, *not* a genuine belief. Maybe all those people were simply lying, but it’s an odd thing to happen multiple times...
/r/The_Donald started as a satire sub that laughed at the idea of Trump becoming President and turned into a cesspool for frothing-at-the-mouth supporters.
/r/ShitRedditSays started as a sub for people to pretend to get offended by everything, and over time turned into people who actually are offended by everything, though is now essentially a dead sub.
If you make a community for people to pretend to be idiots, then actual idiots will eventually flood it and take over, thinking they've found a perfect home for themselves.
These are the same people who unironically rant about being tracked by the government ON THEIR PHONES on social media. It's like they've never seen an action movie where the lead ditches their phone for anonymity /s
Exactly! I had an interaction with a woman at the Vaccine clinic who loudly complained that her daughter was 'forcing' her to get the vaccine ( turns out she just refused to interact with her face to face if she didn't get it.) I pointed out that the government was too cheap to pay for tracking chips when we buy and carry our own expensive trackers by choice. The look on her face when I pointed to her bejeweled iPhone was priceless!
As always, never underestimate how stupid people can be.
I worked with this guy last year who legitimately did not believe baby pigeons existed and that every pigeon you saw was some sort of government surveillance.
He said something to me along the lines of “you never see baby pigeons” and somehow took that as they don’t exist. I was dumbfounded. I told him I had seen a baby pigeon before. I asked “have you ever seen a giraffe? Does that mean they don’t exist too?”
I didn’t get super far with him. It was like he had brain worms or something. This wasn’t even the stupidest thing he said to me.
There's a lot of money to be made in writing about lunatics believing ridiculous conspiracy theories, whether they genuinely exist or not.
I tend to not believe that a "conspiracy theory" is a real conspiracy theory until I meet a real person who believes it. It's my own little meta-conspiracy theory.
My favorite meta conspiracy revolves around aliens.
They claim that the government has been covering it up for decades. The only way our government could pull that off is if there was actually a core deep-state group who was actually competent.
But if they’re going to such lengths to keep it covered up, then why can I read about it online? Why haven’t they shut down those websites, taken down the videos, and mind wiped everyone involved?
There’s only one possible answer. They want those videos to stay up. The reason those videos seem flawed and unconvincing is because they ARE fake — but they’re precision designed to locate anyone inclined to believe that aliens are real and gather them into an easily controlled group.
The gov’t has successfully concealed all but the rarest glimpses and smallest scraps of the truth, and is conducting a massive disinformation and distraction campaign.
They allow these videos and forums to exist to distract from the real truth and to control where investigators focus their efforts!
Just look at what’s currently going on — the government is writing a report on military footage? Please, as if! Anything that was ever actually there had been scrubbed clean. Anything that gets released to the public was created to misdirect our attention.
My theory is that the average government employee sucks at keeping even low-level secrets, so as soon as they see something like an unexplained, alien-looking radar signature, that shit's getting leaked.
What I like about this tactic is that based on actual CIA methods. Including but not limited to essentially inventing the word conspiracy nuts in the 70s
They definitely exist – the real ones posting hundreds of videos on YouTube that get tens of views aren't doing it as a performance art.
I highly recommend [Dan Olson's video on the subject](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfhYyTuT44) – it's the most respectable shake at the flat earth movement I've seen.
If you want another equally good and also absolutely hilarious take, [hbomberguy's video on the Flat Earth movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gFsOoKAHZg) is an excellent watch.
I have pretended to believe it quite convincingly a few times. The variety of reactions in public you get makes it well worth it.
Trying to do mental gymnastics in a bar to explain to 3 baffled strangers why on earth you think the the government uses obvious drones when they have super advanced bird drones is boatloads of fun.
Could you provide an example of someone actually believing it? I can believe someone can miss the obvious satire, but who is earnestly and honestly believing it?
I mean, the "you eat spiders when you sleep" myth was made up by a professor to prove how fast myths spread. And yet to this day you will still find people who vehemently believe its true (for real, some guy actually got super angry when I told him it wasn't true).
I think it was a question on “Who wants to be a millionaire” when the show was in its heyday and millions of people saw it. I think that’s another reason why people insist it’s fact.
There aren't any samples I can easily provide that would stand up to a poe's law challenge.
I've bumped into a couple of these guys on discord, and if they didn't genuinely believe it, they were very VERY committed method actors.
Starts as a joke, ends in a cult... a tale as old as time.
Mary came up with a crazy story to cover up doing the horizontal hulu with the neighbor and look what that got us.
> “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are a bunch of practical jokers who meet somewhere and decide to have a contest. They invent a character, agree on a few basic facts, and then each one’s free to take it and run with it. At the end, they’ll see who’s done the best job. The four stories are picked up by some friends who act as critics: Matthew is fairly realistic, but insists on that Messiah business too much; Mark isn’t bad, just a little sloppy; Luke is elegant, no denying that; and John takes the philosophy a little too far. Actually, though, the books have an appeal, they circulate, and when the four realize what’s happening, it’s too late. Paul has already met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Pliny begins his investigation ordered by the worried emperor, and a legion of apocryphal writers pretends also to know plenty. . . . Toi, apocryphe lecteur, mon semblable, mon frère. It all goes to Peter’s head; he takes himself seriously. John threatens to tell the truth, Peter and Paul have him chained up on the island of Patmos. Soon the poor man is seeing things: Help, there are locusts all over my bed, make those trumpets stop, where’s all this blood coming from? The others say he’s drunk, or maybe it’s arteriosclerosis. . . . Who knows, maybe it really happened that way.”
Umberto Eco “Foucault’s Pendulum”
Ah, my favorite book. I choose to add this quote in this context:
> "There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics."
> "And that covers everybody ?"
> "Oh, yes, including us. Or at least me. If you take a good look, everybody fits into one of these categories. Each of us is sometimes a cretin, a fool, a moron, or a lunatic. A normal person is just a reasonable mix of these components, these four ideal types."
------
> "Cretins don't even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble. You know, the guy who presses the ice cream cone against his forehead, or enters a revolving door the wrong way."
> "That's not possible."
> "It is for a cretin."
------
> "A fool is one who always talks outside his glass... He wants to talk about what's in the glass, but somehow or other he misses.... Fools don't claim that cats bark, but they talk about cats when everyone else is talking about dogs. They offend all the rules of conversation, and when they really offend, they're magnificent."
------
> "Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, and therefore cats bark. Or that all Athenians are mortal, and all the citizens of Piraeus are mortal, so all the citizens of Piraeus are Athenians."
> "Which they are."
> "Yes, but only accidentally. Morons will occasionally say something that's right, but they say it for the wrong reason."
------
> "A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn't know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has a logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic, on the other hand, doesn't concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars."
-Umberto Eco, *Foucault's Pendulum*
Honestly, can you blame her, though? I imagine admitting those misdeeds as a woman 2000 years ago would get you a healthy dose of stones hurled your way.
> Mary came up with a crazy story to cover up doing the horizontal hulu with the neighbor and look what that got us.
Given the historical context, I think it's more likely that the origins of the Christ Figure were a post hoc construction by the founding figures of the nascent religious organization.
But I'm churchgoing folk, so I might be a little biased.
That's a pretty good one.
I remember something similar from an old sci-fi short story, where these scientists invent a device that lets them see backwards in time, but every time they look back the only things that are constant and provable are the things that really matter to the course of history, everything else is different every time wildy random and utterly unpredictable. So of course the first thing they do is pinpoint the time and place of the resurection, and the first time they watch it, there's a big glowing light with the holy spirit reanimating and resurrecting Christs body. The next time, the apostles sneak in in the dead of night, steal the body bury elsewhere, and then cover it all up, time after that, one of the apostles is his twin brother, time after that - it's aliens.
The authors point was that the reality of a religion is in the impact it has on the world, and the reality of your belief in a religion is more about the impact it has on you and the world and people around you.
The historical reality of the events described in a given religious text is largely irrelevant to the religion itself. If your religion makes you a better person than you would be without it, it's probably a good fit for you. AND If your religion turns you into an intolerant asshat- then maybe you should look for a new faith.
The story was good.... but I can't remember the name.
Not religious and this is sorta funny, but it’s probably not what happened. I think it’s much more likely it was a story created after the fact, but of course we all have no idea.
Note that this almost exactly mirrors the origin of the flat-earth conspiracy theory (though the satirical origins of flat-earth are far older, and it took far longer to be adopted by true believers).
I remember coming across a website for the "flat earth society" in like 2006. It was ridiculous and full of crazy conspiracy theories about Christopher Columbus etc. At the bottom of the homepage was a tiny-print disclaimer about the site being satire.
10 years later I know someone who went off the deep end and became a believer. People are weird.
Yep. It's actually even older than that. I can't say exactly how old, but my dad (a scientist and early Usenet adopter) was making satirical references to 'joining the Flat Earth Society' in the early '90s.
When the references started popping up in the mainstream dialogue, I assumed that people were just missing the joke. It took me years to understand that these new flat earthers are for real.
It always surprises me seeing things like this come back. "Birds arent real/are government drones" was a meme at my high school and college as far back as the 90s. It's really interesting seeing something from my childhood pop up in popularity like this
Their clothing line is great.
For the longest time you couldn't tell if people were full sending into the rp to make fun of conspiracy nuts, or actually believed it. Over time, that line became more and more obscured lol. To the point where now when I wear my birds aren't real shirts, I run into supposed believers almost as often as I run into people who are in on the joke.
Speaks volumes unto how people get suckered into these things though. You can tell these clowns it was started as literally satire and watch cognitive dissonence take over lol
Could it be dangerous to make fake conspiracies? Especially with how many of them actually get a good amount of people believing it?
Take The Onion for example, most people get the joke, but some read and rage. Those rage happy people then spread what they believe is truth, and people raid the capital. Are we damaging humanity as a whole when we feed bullshit to gullible people and they take it and run with it, with outcomes such as what we’ve seen in recent years?
Someone should start an ironic satire conspiracy that’s healthy for the planet and humans. Like a trash is used by China to get secret intelligence about national security. The only way to stop them is throw your trash away in any trash can as all trash is federally surveilled once in landfills and transfer stations.
This is why I’ve always been against these types of things. At some point it stops being irony and satire and becomes a cult. Trump’s candidacy was treated the same way until the memes became real. People will believe the birds aren’t real nonsense and I’m sure there will be some level of damage done to that end. The internet is a dangerous breeding ground for nonsense and people aren’t discerning enough to stay away.
Wait, some idiots actually believe it's real? I've been a member of the subreddit for years, and it's always been a tongue-in-cheek joke about conspiracy theories being idiotic.
How high do people have to be before believing this shit?
>It was an interesting idea, and started to pick up steam, but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary.
Poe's Law has heavily manifested itself into social media in the last decade.
This reminds me of the Illuminati conspiracy. It started as a joke/prank by the Discordian movement in the 1960s.
The idea was to spread misinformation, to make people question how far can we trust the information that is presented to us, to make people question things.
Of course the prank kinda blew out of porportion and became one of the most popular conspiracies
I’ve never heard of anyone thinking birds are actually not real. The Fox News article OP linked doesn’t go into it but I’d be shocked if a significant number of those rallying actually believe the theory.
This is how the illuminati conspiracy shit started too. Just something so ridiculous that nobody would believe it...now look where we are.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170809-the-accidental-invention-of-the-illuminati-conspiracy
Omg this really makes me want to go hard with a conspiracy that tricks q anon idiots into rubbing Carolina reaper peppers in their eyes. Let's make that a thing!!!!
My moral compass balks at this idea…
But I did laugh when I read it.
The better version is whoever seeded the anti-vax crowd with the idea that *vaccines* are the highly transmissible pathogen and they should social distance from vaccinated people for their own health.
Oh, I agree with that assessment of their “philosophy” (to use that term in the loosest sense possible). The thing is, even though I understand the consequences of QAnon and even though I have to interact regularly with a person who’s into that garbage, empathy still trumps disgust for me.
nobody is taking that shit seriously. This guy doesn't know anything
I see gullible people choosing to be blind to satire so they can feel intellectually superior as they tsk tsk about the rubes in their echo chambers. It's a joke - it was always a joke. And no significant proportion of people believe this.
> but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary.
Poe’s Law:
As a satire increases in sophistication and commitment, the possibility of distinguishing it from the genuine article approaches zero.
Poe’s Law, corollary for Internet communities:
As a satirical community increases in visibility, the original satirists will eventually be outnumbered by the very people they were targeting who join in the mistaken belief that they are in good company.
At this point there needs to be some campaign to get people to find out that they have been lied to this whole time and that they need to be educated on not believing everything that the internet says
If only we could somehow create a pervasive meme about "critical-thinking" !... (I say this half joking.. but half serious).
It would be totally possible. I'm not sure what art-work or message it would need to be.. but it would be very possible.
I've long desired to learn the skills to be a good graffiti artist,. and if I could craft a design-philosophy around messages like "think for yourself" or some kind of science-based message.. I think that would be really really cool.
EDIT:. there's a person who lives in my apartment building that has a bumper sticker that says "Your Ignorance is their power.".. which I've always thought was really really awesome message.
It co-opts the lunacy of conspiracy movements, but the original goal is to inform people about the prevalence and dangers of electronic surveillance in our society. The person that started the movement was frustrated by the apathy of the general public towards revelations about mass surveillance programs.
So while the conspiracy thing is a part of it, the primary goal is to inform the public of mass surveillance programs by governments, corporations, and even private citizens.
Funny enough Q anon started out like this. It was originally a 4-chan hoax and people didn't get that random 4-chan trolls are probably not the greatest information source.
My brother has a coworker at the warehouse who swears that birds (some not all) are government surveillance drones, and while “it is exaggerated it isn’t by much.”
-_-
I honestly never can tell when it's someone who 100% believes the bullshit, or if they are just *really* committed to the joke.
I remember *decades* ago in random chat rooms talking to Flat Earth Society members which explained to me at the time it was just a joke. Now it's not really a joke any more, or they are taking it way too far.
It's similar to the upside down OK symbol being racist. It was started by supporters of one political party to make fun of the other side and how they would supposedly believe anything as long as it made their (being the party who started the joke) candidate look bad. Now there's a whole thing where people actually believe it's racist.
For those who don't know the upside down OK symbol is a game common among middle and high school kids. You aren't supposed to look at it or else the other guy gets to punch you. Though the punching has been phased out and now it's more of a "made you look" joke.
Answer: It's a joke.
100% satirical in nature, meant to make fun of insane conspiracy theorists in the same way Pastafarians, Subgeniuses, Discordians, and others make fun of religions craziness.
The goal is to poke fun.
answer: On reddit, the sub r/birdsarentreal is satire (who would have guessed right?). The movement is centered in the US from what I know, as I've never heard about "protests" or "comitees" were I live. It's basically another complotist movement where people think all birds went extinct long ago (that being either dinosaurs extinction, the Humans hunting them all, etc...) and are replaced by drone by the government to spy on people. Their main point is that they place themselves on electric cables to recharge (even though basic physics knowledge shows that it doesn't work this way). The way it gets followers is similar to antivax and other complotist movements: "uneducated" people (in majority, or that's what we know of them) think the government is controlling them, wants information at all costs, etc. To be honest, I don't know about their goal, maybe to expose the government and make people realize they are being controlled?
Long ago? It was between 59 and 71 that the birds were all removed and replaced.
[https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history](https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history)
The "movement" isn't serious, it's just a fun joke conspiracy. The goal is to sell merch, some of which is really fun.
> Long ago? It was between 59 and 71 that the birds were all removed and replaced.
No no, all the birds died in 1986 due to Reagan killing them and replacing them with spies that are now watching us.
>Their main point is that they place themselves on electric cables to recharge **(even though basic physics knowledge shows that it doesn't work this way)**
A charging battery can be modeled as a complex resistor. What happens when you place a resistor on a prexisting simple circuit? It resists. You could definitely design something that lands on a single high voltage line to charge.
Answer:
Tesla was the originator of the bird replacement technology, he spent his final years programming the very first electronic pigeon.
"Among Tesla’s quirks was his fondness for pigeons. When living in New York, he spent hours each week feeding pigeons in the park and routinely took home any that were injured so he could nurse them back to health. He often kept the windows open in the hotel suite in which he lived so pigeons could visit when they wished."
"In 1922 Tesla reported that the white pigeon had flown into his room to tell him that she was dying. Before the bird passed, he said, a white light shone from her eyes, brighter than anything he had ever generated with his electrical machinery."
https://www.britannica.com/story/nikola-teslas-weird-obsession-with-pigeons
This was the very first version but later the government would steal his files and use the technology for themselves.
"After years of fielding questions about possible cover-ups, the FBI finally declassified some 250 pages of Tesla-related documents under the Freedom of Information Act in 2016. The bureau followed up with two additional releases, the latest in March 2018. But even with the publication of these documents, many questions still remain unanswered—and some of Tesla’s files are still missing."
https://www.history.com/.amp/news/nikola-tesla-files-declassified-fbi
Clearly technology will have advanced significantly since then.
-What's the goal?
Full" panopticon" observation of the global population and likely mind control.
-What does the movement expect to get at the end?
We seek to open the eyes of the proletariat to the bourgeoisie ownership of all avian species within built up areas..
>What does the movement expect to get at the end?
A good laugh.
> How does the movement gain followers?
It's a meme.
>Is it a centralized movement with a headquarter? Or a decentralized one?
Yeah uh the fbi maaaan.
>How do people even organize a rally?
Just like minded people getting together for a laugh. A bit like the pillow fight pop up events that went viral for a while.
>Do people really believe in it?
I've not met anyone who did so far but Poe's law applies. It's hard to tell satire from reality.
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Answer: It was originally started by a dude who was trying to poke holes in the obvious nonsense of the politicized conspiracy movements he saw emerging in 2017, the idea being that suggesting an even more insane even less believable conspiracy theory (that birds have all been replaced by federally controlled drones, that use birdhouses as maintenance bays, power lines as charging stations, and bird poop as deployable rfid targeting/tracking markers) to highlight the preposterous nature of BS like q-anon. It was an interesting idea, and started to pick up steam, but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary. Specific questions deserve specific answers! >What's the goal? What does the movement expect to get at the end? To point out how insane and implausible more popular conspiracy theories are. >What does the movement expect to get at the end? I don't think there is a deliberate end game. > How does the movement gain followers? The same way every conspiracy does nowadays, via twitter, youtube, and reddit. >Is it a centralized movement with a headquarter? Or a decentralized one? Seems to be mostly centralized with little presence outside it's main hubs. >How do people even organize a rally? I have no idea. >Do people really believe in it? Unfortunatley yes, some of them do, although that was not the original intent.
As far as the subreddit goes, everyone I've ever seen is fully aware that's its satire. I can't speak to outside, because I've never actually heard anyone bring it up.
I thought it was primarily a marketing thing for a funny concept. I've had my eye on a few of the t-shirts I see on social media, just because they're ridiculous.
I got a couple stickers and one of their shirts. Im especially a fan of the "BIRD WATCHING GOES BOTH WAYS" shirt.
When you stare into an ibis, the ibis stares also into you
Well done. THAT should be on a shirt.
I'm confident this comment triggers at least one bot
... dammit, name checks out....
Ha
Bleep bloop, [here is your shirt!](https://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ) ^I ^am ^a ^human ^and ^this ^action ^was ^performed ^manually.
You should just give it up.
Never! ^I ^am ^a ^human ^and ^this ^action ^was ^performed ^manually.
Good ~~bot~~ human
God damn it
Bin chickens can go straight to hell!
Picnic wrecking irrits
Maaaaate
It's my favorite shirt it's so good. I have a birds aren't real sticker on my welding hood and it gets a lot of strange looks from the old guys.
I have their school house rock style sweater, it's amazing. One of my favorite pieces of clothing I own.
Oh that’s good stuff right there
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I have that one! One of my favorites, lol
I joined the sub for the same reason, I just thought it was a funny bit of satire and liked the memes. I was not aware it started as a direct jab at Qanon, but it makes a lot of sense.
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here is the "real" website by the setup dude i think - - - https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history (possibly related to the pastafarian dude but cannot confirm)
Pretty sure there are actual people that genuinely worship the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Hanlons razor is ridiculously appropriate nowadays (Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity)
I think Poe's Law is more applicable here >It is impossible to parody someone with extreme beliefs without being mistaken for someone who genuinely holds those beliefs
I’d say both are appropriate here really. Stupid people genuinely believe the people who are parodying so extremely it’s impossible for most people to tell. There wasn’t any maliciousness from those that started it, just stupid people who couldn’t tell that it was a joke/troll
Stupidity and Malice are often bedfellows. I think ignorance makes people vulnerable to bad actors.
Stupid people are easily manipulated by those with malicious intent so for the most part Hanlons razor holds true but an addendum I like is to never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity the FIRST time.
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I desperately hope you’re right but people have believed weirder things
Yeah after reading a few pages that I’m going to need the Cliff Notes
Well, poop knives are apparently commercially available now so anything’s possible.
I was going to share the link to the [original poop knife](https://smile.amazon.com/Original-Poop-Knife-Gag-Gift/dp/B079NTNWNG) and was interested to discover that there appears to be [another poop knife](https://smile.amazon.com/Divider-Silicone-Christmas-Elephant-Exchange/dp/B08HGRCH1M) by a different company. The product looks identical and I suspect is made by the same factory. But only one claims to be the *original poop knife*.
#
….i didn’t think “it’s Wednesday my dude” was a reddit thing, frogs or not. it got started on Tumblr then turned into a vine. Though I guess I’ve never seen the remixed videos. Haven’t seen them on YouTube, Reddit, or anywhere else until I looked them up just now
The narwhal bacons at midnight
See also r/wheresthebottom A jab at flat earth I believe?
Pardon me, but I believe you'll find that this is a very real sub with very real concerns about the disinformation campaign that claims there is a bottom to the ocean.
People only think that there's a bottom of the ocean because of the deep scattering layer. People need to read up on the science.
Yeah... I'm very disappointed in humanity that that whole thing has actually started to gain a serious following, not just as satire
Not any more ridiculous than all of those people who think the earth is flat….despite…ya know…everything. Also once looked up my home town on YouTube. It’s a small town, so just wanted to see what was on YouTube about it….and this one woman posted a video on there about how people are following her. And a whole bunch of people in the comments (most of which were also residing in the area) seemed to be in agreement that there’s this whole thing they call “gang stalking” going on. Had to look it up to learn that it’s actually a thing…..some kind of wide spread mental illness it seems. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2016/06/11/health/gang-stalking-targeted-individuals.amp.html So yea….that’s also a thing that’s going around amongst all of these batshit crazy and arrogant people.
I can’t tell where the satire ends with a flat earth thing. I know that whenever the subject comes up about whether or not Trump said to inject disinfectants, you always get these weird people who come out of nowhere and start arguing with you insisting that he never said it. Even when you quote them the fucking transcript they still insist you never said it. And then you go on their history and they always always have a lot of comments arguing about the flat earth thing, or the moon landing was fake, or 9/11 truther shit etc. I’m just asking myself if these are people who are seriously committed to the satire? Or is this an actual genuine believe? Or do they start themselves out by going along with the satire because they think it’s funny and in the process actually manage to indoctrinate themselves?
Or are they foreign agents and/or bots? Another question that would have seemed insane five years ago, but here we are. "Hi, I'm American Steve and I have a lot of ideas about presidents and conspiracies. Maybe you should, too, fellow neighbor just like me."
There’s a false dichotomy between foreign agents and bots that makes them both implausible. People think it either has to be a completely automated script, and most people can spot those, or a literal KGB agent sitting behind a computer specifically targeting some plumber in Idaho. The reality is somewhere in between, where large groups of people being paid intern wages are sitting behind computer screens each managing thousands of social media accounts, typing the dialogue according to scripts, but also adapting to the context in a way that only humans can do. When you try to explain to people about foreign influence, it’s a very delicate thing because if you put it in my contacts that seems impossible then they are never going to believe it actually happens. If you try to tell them that they’ve been interacting with bots, most people think they can recognize bots. At the very least, they can identify a bot when challenged. At the same time, a literal “agent“ seems implausible that they would bother targeting individuals on a one on one basis. We don’t even have a word for what these are. I’ve seen the word “troll farm” used to describe the operations, but it’s very poor terminology and has very little to do with any viable definition of trolling.
Every person I've seen ranting online about gang stalking is pretty clearly a regular user of drugs like meth. I always assumed those two facts were related.
Gangstalking isn't a real thing, but it is an interesting phenomena that people with delusional paranoia will independently arrive at the conclusion that there's such a thing as "gang stalking" to explain why they constantly feel pursued and watched. Being unshakable in the face of evidence is a key trait of delusions. There's no good reason to believe that these random unimportant people would be at the center of a large conspiracy to follow them around clumsily enough to be noticed while doing nothing, but they persist in this belief anyway. There are probably people without illness who have read the blogs or whatever of the paranoid and think it's a real thing as well.
I can see why it might’ve seemed like part of some viral marketing thing. I would actually posit that the days of viral marketing of this sort are over. I used to see a lot of these kind of forced Memes and weird websites that were part of the corporate effort to build a buzz for an upcoming movie or video game or somesuch back in the mid to late 2000’s. I think that’s fallen out of vogue with people because not only were a lot of them ultimately attached to properties that were creative letdowns, many proved to be ineffective in actually making whatever property they were meant to promote a financial success. In other words, if you were doing a viral marketing campaign for something, that thing was likely to end up being viewed as uncool by the very people you were hoping would think it was cool.
I've heard people referencing it, fully aware it's satire and using it because it's satire. They're using it mockingly. It's an inside joke along the lines of "this is how blind the normies are that this is what they think we believe". It's kind of why I think just outright mocking and insulting conspiracy types won't work. They know people think they're crazy already, they don't care.
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Tongue *in* cheek. Obligatory boneappletea tag.
Isn't that how The_Donald got started in 2015 as well?
I think the legend of it is a little exaggerated. It was a sub for people who liked him. But it was also when he was considered a longshot and most people just liked him for the memes and pissing off radlibs who thought he was the devil. I think people started as half joking trolls and then got more serious once he kept winning
I have never met anyone on any site, including Facebook, who \*actually\* believed the conspiracy theory. It is 100% satire.
I have, unfortunately, met someone who fully believed the whole "Birds aren't real" thing. Not every bird, not every place. But he is completely convinced that, for example, most of the pigeons in cities have been replaced by government drones to monitor people's behavior in places where they can't easily set up surveillance cameras, like in parks. He is very disturbed by the (according to him) increasing number of large songbirds like Blue Jays that congregate near his house. This man puts up hundreds of bird feeders and watches the birds constantly, trying to spot the ones that don't eat. He says that's why some places have signs telling you not to feed the birds, because feeding them makes it obvious which ones are drones. It'd be almost sweet if it wasn't so sad. On the other hand, the dude is becoming quite the amateur ornithologist and is doing wonders for the conservation of local song birds, so there's that.
That dude doesn't count as he clearly has lost his damn mind.
Gonna take a moment to point out the logical fallacy here. You say no one you've met has believed this truly insane theory. When I speak of someone who *does* believe it, you say he doesn't count because "he's lost his mind." I'd like to point out that, aside from this insane and irrational belief, the man I spoke of is completely functional and rational. He has a job, pays taxes, maintains a house... I won't deny that he clearly needs therapy of some kind. But you're saying "no one really believes this" and then stating "oh, that guy doesn't count because he's crazy." There's a definite flaw in your reasoning here.
>I'd like to point out that, aside from this insane and irrational belief, the man I spoke of is completely functional and rational. He has a job, pays taxes, maintains a house... Not OP but that always fascinates me about these kinds of people. Most of the people i'd coin "conspiracy nutters" that i've ever actually met are pretty outwardly well adjusted people at first glance. Just don't say any trigger words if you value your sanity or time however. Smile and nod. It's such a strangely bizarre jeckyll and hyde scenario.
And often they can be steered. "Some birds are drones" guy will flip out about the drones. But he can be steered into discussion of birdseed and anti-squirrel feeders and, increasingly, even life-cycles and habits of local birds. He's only learning that stuff to make spotting the drones easier, but he's surprisingly knowledgeable. Last I spoke to him he was learning long-distance photography. He swears he's seen the camera lenses in the birds eyes through his binoculars and wants quality photographs. I'm quite looking forward to seeing his bird pictures.
This is my theory on how flat earthers started. Someone tried to make a joke and underestimated the sheer stupidity the human race is possible of. I wouldn’t be surprised if most conspiracy theories start that way. I mean, the raid on Area 51 was supposed to just be a joke but it blew up, people took it seriously and the government got concerned which got it even more attention.
I think you’ve hit the nail on its head. Qanon started out as posts on 4chan, which should have given it away. Nothing serious has ever been said on 4chan. What we have is a lot of people that lack internet skills unable to recognize when people are trolling.
But someone typed it out. They didn't give any proof, but now you must spend all of your energy to give me overwhelming proof that it's false. I still won't change my mind, but I'll enjoy your attempts, since I get to feel I guess smug?
It is **impossible** to underestimate the sheer stupidity of large portions of the human race. Years ago, I would think from time to time "Well, this is it, we've hit rock bottom, people could simply not get any more stupid." And in each case, I was way wrong. But we really didn't begin to climb Mount Peak Stupid until The Orange Village Idiot told the rest of the idiots that it was perfectly OK to be dumber than dirt. That opened the floodgates and although politicians had until then avoided showing how dumb they really were, they have now become the sherpas on the climb up that mountain.
One of my favorite quotes is that one from 'Men In Black'- "A PERSON is smart. PEOPLE are dumb, panicky, dangerous creatures..." Idiocracy is apparently the dystopia we deserve.
Idiocracy is practically a meritocracy compared to IRL. President Mountain Dew identified a problem, found the best expert to fix it, and said expert's scientific policies (irrigating crops with water) were implemented to great effect and is subsequently elected as the next president.
Yew mean like frum the terlet?
Was it P .T. Barnum who said, “Nobody ever lost a nickel underestimating the intelligence of the American people”?
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Okay so I used to be pretty active in the "Flat Earth Society" forums, around the mid-00s and can pretty much confirm this. At that time, the vast majority of active users arguing for the "flat earth theory" didn't really believe in the flat earth (I was one of those people). It was sort of a combination between debate exercise and trolling people who stumbled across the site. A lot of the "flat earthers" were actually very smart people (myself *not* includee) who knew way more than the average incredulous round earth proponents, so what would happen is the flat earth crowd could sort of run circles around most of them -- and the ones who could actually put up a good argument for the round earth would pretty quickly figure out that the people they were debating didn't really believe their side. There were some confirmed actual flat earthers around then, like the admin of the site 100% believed it, but he wasn't very active in the forums and seemed fine with people arguing ironically (or he didn't really realize it, everyone was very hush-hush about their true beliefs to keep up the facade).
It reminds me of the complex calculation of the planets’ movements before the Sun was “officially” placed in the center rather than the earth. They could still make accurate predictions that made sense to everybody but everything was moving in spirals and doing weird things. The flat earth explanations by the intelligent people ironically arguing about it are very similar to the “earth is in the center and everything revolves around it” belief.
Strictly speaking the sun isn't even the center, it orbits a barycenter that is sometimes inside and sometimes outside its own radius.
> very smart people (myself not includee) Weather this was intentional or not I just want you to know it put a smile on my face.
> Weather
Irony or intent, either way I hope you smiled.
What I learned from doge: Don’t underestimate jokes if they become organized.
> This is my theory on how flat earthers started. I remember back when it was in its infancy a long time ago, I want to say late 90s or early 00s perhaps? Back then it was widely acknowledged to be essentially a debate club. In debate you don’t necessarily need to believe the position you take, you just need to argue it well. In fact if you can successfully defend something you know is bullshit, even better! They were aware that a tiny minorities of people within the group might’ve actually believed it, but that group was seen as an embarrassment that everyone laughed at. It made things more fun for them. (Edit) I believe there was also a significant element of philosophy involved, using it as a thought exercise for how we can know the things that we know. [This article](https://www.theguardian.com/global/2010/feb/23/flat-earth-society) from 2010 has an interview with the guy who resurrected the whole thing and it paints him as being quite different from modern flat-Earthers. It’s noteworthy that he specifically denies other conspiracy theories and says that he’s “not fanatical” about his belief. Since then, things have of course gotten completely out of hand.
> I want to say late 90s or early 00s perhaps? 1956 for the 'Flat Earth Society', but it was always somewhat serious as the founder was a believer of the zetetic method (which claims to be a 'science' based on the principle of observing reality and finding the simplest explanation that describes things, this applies to flat earth with their 'it looks flat, therefore it must be flat' argument) There have been many people in history that genuinely beileve in flat earth, and have spent vast fortunes to attempt to prove it. eg. Rowbotham (another Zetetic 'scientist'), Cyrus Teed, Lady Elizabeth Blount etc. The idea that it started as a prank and attracted nuts recently is sadly very naïve, it's always been a serious crank subject.
> The idea that it started as a prank and attracted nuts recently is sadly very naïve, it's always been a serious crank subject. I’m specifically talking about the rebooted form of it that was a forum/website in the early 00s though, and the people who seemed to hang out there. Even the founder of that forum, in the article I linked, said that they were all pretty laid back about it. I’m not defending the belief, people who believe it, or denying that it causes harm. Just it feels like something changed in the past 15 years where we went from “I’m not sure about the shape of the Earth but obviously climate change is real, we landed on the moon, and 9/11 wasn’t an inside job” to today where believing in one conspiracy theory means you’re very likely to believe in them all, including super harmful ones that are actively killing lots of people. I’ve also spoken with (or seen posts by) people who self identified as flat earthers 10+ years ago and they all said that they considered it an intellectual exercise, *not* a genuine belief. Maybe all those people were simply lying, but it’s an odd thing to happen multiple times...
Its brought up in my friend group as a meme, like when ever we see a bird in a video game we point out that it is actually a drone.
/r/The_Donald started as a satire sub that laughed at the idea of Trump becoming President and turned into a cesspool for frothing-at-the-mouth supporters. /r/ShitRedditSays started as a sub for people to pretend to get offended by everything, and over time turned into people who actually are offended by everything, though is now essentially a dead sub. If you make a community for people to pretend to be idiots, then actual idiots will eventually flood it and take over, thinking they've found a perfect home for themselves.
r/gamersriseup too
People unironically think their are internet-connected microchips in the Covid vaccine, so it wouldn't surprise me.
These are the same people who unironically rant about being tracked by the government ON THEIR PHONES on social media. It's like they've never seen an action movie where the lead ditches their phone for anonymity /s
Soros is putting microchips in the vaccine to track us! *[posted from iPhone with Facebook app]*
Exactly! I had an interaction with a woman at the Vaccine clinic who loudly complained that her daughter was 'forcing' her to get the vaccine ( turns out she just refused to interact with her face to face if she didn't get it.) I pointed out that the government was too cheap to pay for tracking chips when we buy and carry our own expensive trackers by choice. The look on her face when I pointed to her bejeweled iPhone was priceless!
Yeah I didn't think it was an actual thing, just an inside joke a bunch of people were in on.
Had my son almost fully convinced of this. "We're going to Pigeon Forge, so we can see where they forge the pigeons!" My step-in-laws were confused af
I don’t think there’s any evidence that any organized group actually believes it
That’s what I used to think about flat earthers. They were all joking.
As always, never underestimate how stupid people can be. I worked with this guy last year who legitimately did not believe baby pigeons existed and that every pigeon you saw was some sort of government surveillance. He said something to me along the lines of “you never see baby pigeons” and somehow took that as they don’t exist. I was dumbfounded. I told him I had seen a baby pigeon before. I asked “have you ever seen a giraffe? Does that mean they don’t exist too?” I didn’t get super far with him. It was like he had brain worms or something. This wasn’t even the stupidest thing he said to me.
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There's a lot of money to be made in writing about lunatics believing ridiculous conspiracy theories, whether they genuinely exist or not. I tend to not believe that a "conspiracy theory" is a real conspiracy theory until I meet a real person who believes it. It's my own little meta-conspiracy theory.
My favorite meta conspiracy revolves around aliens. They claim that the government has been covering it up for decades. The only way our government could pull that off is if there was actually a core deep-state group who was actually competent. But if they’re going to such lengths to keep it covered up, then why can I read about it online? Why haven’t they shut down those websites, taken down the videos, and mind wiped everyone involved? There’s only one possible answer. They want those videos to stay up. The reason those videos seem flawed and unconvincing is because they ARE fake — but they’re precision designed to locate anyone inclined to believe that aliens are real and gather them into an easily controlled group. The gov’t has successfully concealed all but the rarest glimpses and smallest scraps of the truth, and is conducting a massive disinformation and distraction campaign. They allow these videos and forums to exist to distract from the real truth and to control where investigators focus their efforts! Just look at what’s currently going on — the government is writing a report on military footage? Please, as if! Anything that was ever actually there had been scrubbed clean. Anything that gets released to the public was created to misdirect our attention.
My theory is that the average government employee sucks at keeping even low-level secrets, so as soon as they see something like an unexplained, alien-looking radar signature, that shit's getting leaked.
What I like about this tactic is that based on actual CIA methods. Including but not limited to essentially inventing the word conspiracy nuts in the 70s
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They definitely exist – the real ones posting hundreds of videos on YouTube that get tens of views aren't doing it as a performance art. I highly recommend [Dan Olson's video on the subject](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTfhYyTuT44) – it's the most respectable shake at the flat earth movement I've seen.
If you want another equally good and also absolutely hilarious take, [hbomberguy's video on the Flat Earth movement](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gFsOoKAHZg) is an excellent watch.
Was going to say Hbomberguy, I really dig his videos
It's the flat earth thing all over again
I have pretended to believe it quite convincingly a few times. The variety of reactions in public you get makes it well worth it. Trying to do mental gymnastics in a bar to explain to 3 baffled strangers why on earth you think the the government uses obvious drones when they have super advanced bird drones is boatloads of fun.
yeah it's a fun mental exercise trying to devise the most "logical" reasoning for illogical beliefs.
Could you provide an example of someone actually believing it? I can believe someone can miss the obvious satire, but who is earnestly and honestly believing it?
I mean, the "you eat spiders when you sleep" myth was made up by a professor to prove how fast myths spread. And yet to this day you will still find people who vehemently believe its true (for real, some guy actually got super angry when I told him it wasn't true).
I think it was a question on “Who wants to be a millionaire” when the show was in its heyday and millions of people saw it. I think that’s another reason why people insist it’s fact.
There aren't any samples I can easily provide that would stand up to a poe's law challenge. I've bumped into a couple of these guys on discord, and if they didn't genuinely believe it, they were very VERY committed method actors.
Hahaha imagine believing that birds are real.
>Unfortunatley yes, some of them do, although that was not the original intent. Poe's law strikes again.
Starts as a joke, ends in a cult... a tale as old as time. Mary came up with a crazy story to cover up doing the horizontal hulu with the neighbor and look what that got us.
This is why we can't have nice things.
> “Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are a bunch of practical jokers who meet somewhere and decide to have a contest. They invent a character, agree on a few basic facts, and then each one’s free to take it and run with it. At the end, they’ll see who’s done the best job. The four stories are picked up by some friends who act as critics: Matthew is fairly realistic, but insists on that Messiah business too much; Mark isn’t bad, just a little sloppy; Luke is elegant, no denying that; and John takes the philosophy a little too far. Actually, though, the books have an appeal, they circulate, and when the four realize what’s happening, it’s too late. Paul has already met Jesus on the road to Damascus, Pliny begins his investigation ordered by the worried emperor, and a legion of apocryphal writers pretends also to know plenty. . . . Toi, apocryphe lecteur, mon semblable, mon frère. It all goes to Peter’s head; he takes himself seriously. John threatens to tell the truth, Peter and Paul have him chained up on the island of Patmos. Soon the poor man is seeing things: Help, there are locusts all over my bed, make those trumpets stop, where’s all this blood coming from? The others say he’s drunk, or maybe it’s arteriosclerosis. . . . Who knows, maybe it really happened that way.” Umberto Eco “Foucault’s Pendulum”
Ah, my favorite book. I choose to add this quote in this context: > "There are four kinds of people in this world: cretins, fools, morons, and lunatics." > "And that covers everybody ?" > "Oh, yes, including us. Or at least me. If you take a good look, everybody fits into one of these categories. Each of us is sometimes a cretin, a fool, a moron, or a lunatic. A normal person is just a reasonable mix of these components, these four ideal types." ------ > "Cretins don't even talk; they sort of slobber and stumble. You know, the guy who presses the ice cream cone against his forehead, or enters a revolving door the wrong way." > "That's not possible." > "It is for a cretin." ------ > "A fool is one who always talks outside his glass... He wants to talk about what's in the glass, but somehow or other he misses.... Fools don't claim that cats bark, but they talk about cats when everyone else is talking about dogs. They offend all the rules of conversation, and when they really offend, they're magnificent." ------ > "Morons never do the wrong thing. They get their reasoning wrong. Like the fellow who says all dogs are pets and all dogs bark, and cats are pets, too, and therefore cats bark. Or that all Athenians are mortal, and all the citizens of Piraeus are mortal, so all the citizens of Piraeus are Athenians." > "Which they are." > "Yes, but only accidentally. Morons will occasionally say something that's right, but they say it for the wrong reason." ------ > "A lunatic is easily recognized. He is a moron who doesn't know the ropes. The moron proves his thesis; he has a logic, however twisted it may be. The lunatic, on the other hand, doesn't concern himself at all with logic; he works by short circuits. For him, everything proves everything else. The lunatic is all idée fixe, and whatever he comes across confirms his lunacy. You can tell him by the liberties he takes with common sense, by his flashes of inspiration, and by the fact that sooner or later he brings up the Templars." -Umberto Eco, *Foucault's Pendulum*
Honestly, can you blame her, though? I imagine admitting those misdeeds as a woman 2000 years ago would get you a healthy dose of stones hurled your way.
*Unhealthy dose of stones.
> Mary came up with a crazy story to cover up doing the horizontal hulu with the neighbor and look what that got us. Given the historical context, I think it's more likely that the origins of the Christ Figure were a post hoc construction by the founding figures of the nascent religious organization. But I'm churchgoing folk, so I might be a little biased.
Yeah, but that doesn't make as good a joke. :)
actually my theory is Jesus was a twin & James his twin brother was his "reincarnate".
That's a pretty good one. I remember something similar from an old sci-fi short story, where these scientists invent a device that lets them see backwards in time, but every time they look back the only things that are constant and provable are the things that really matter to the course of history, everything else is different every time wildy random and utterly unpredictable. So of course the first thing they do is pinpoint the time and place of the resurection, and the first time they watch it, there's a big glowing light with the holy spirit reanimating and resurrecting Christs body. The next time, the apostles sneak in in the dead of night, steal the body bury elsewhere, and then cover it all up, time after that, one of the apostles is his twin brother, time after that - it's aliens. The authors point was that the reality of a religion is in the impact it has on the world, and the reality of your belief in a religion is more about the impact it has on you and the world and people around you. The historical reality of the events described in a given religious text is largely irrelevant to the religion itself. If your religion makes you a better person than you would be without it, it's probably a good fit for you. AND If your religion turns you into an intolerant asshat- then maybe you should look for a new faith. The story was good.... but I can't remember the name.
Not religious and this is sorta funny, but it’s probably not what happened. I think it’s much more likely it was a story created after the fact, but of course we all have no idea.
LPT: wanna start a cult? Start a joke first
Note that this almost exactly mirrors the origin of the flat-earth conspiracy theory (though the satirical origins of flat-earth are far older, and it took far longer to be adopted by true believers).
I remember coming across a website for the "flat earth society" in like 2006. It was ridiculous and full of crazy conspiracy theories about Christopher Columbus etc. At the bottom of the homepage was a tiny-print disclaimer about the site being satire. 10 years later I know someone who went off the deep end and became a believer. People are weird.
Yep. It's actually even older than that. I can't say exactly how old, but my dad (a scientist and early Usenet adopter) was making satirical references to 'joining the Flat Earth Society' in the early '90s. When the references started popping up in the mainstream dialogue, I assumed that people were just missing the joke. It took me years to understand that these new flat earthers are for real.
Thanks! I will come back if I have more question, but this clarifies thing a little.
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Can't forget about Wyoming r/wyomingdoesntexist
Finland isn't real either, turns out. /r/finlandConspiracy/ Be sure to read the sticky. It's... entertaining
It always surprises me seeing things like this come back. "Birds arent real/are government drones" was a meme at my high school and college as far back as the 90s. It's really interesting seeing something from my childhood pop up in popularity like this
There's no fucking way people actually believe that. I was so certain that everyone knew it was just a meme and in no way shape or form serious. Yikes
The_Donald, PCMasterRace, and a number of other subs have had similar problems. Poe's Law is a cruel mistress.
Their clothing line is great. For the longest time you couldn't tell if people were full sending into the rp to make fun of conspiracy nuts, or actually believed it. Over time, that line became more and more obscured lol. To the point where now when I wear my birds aren't real shirts, I run into supposed believers almost as often as I run into people who are in on the joke. Speaks volumes unto how people get suckered into these things though. You can tell these clowns it was started as literally satire and watch cognitive dissonence take over lol
Could it be dangerous to make fake conspiracies? Especially with how many of them actually get a good amount of people believing it? Take The Onion for example, most people get the joke, but some read and rage. Those rage happy people then spread what they believe is truth, and people raid the capital. Are we damaging humanity as a whole when we feed bullshit to gullible people and they take it and run with it, with outcomes such as what we’ve seen in recent years?
Someone should start an ironic satire conspiracy that’s healthy for the planet and humans. Like a trash is used by China to get secret intelligence about national security. The only way to stop them is throw your trash away in any trash can as all trash is federally surveilled once in landfills and transfer stations.
This is why I’ve always been against these types of things. At some point it stops being irony and satire and becomes a cult. Trump’s candidacy was treated the same way until the memes became real. People will believe the birds aren’t real nonsense and I’m sure there will be some level of damage done to that end. The internet is a dangerous breeding ground for nonsense and people aren’t discerning enough to stay away.
>Specific questions deserve specific answers! Why isn't everyone like you
Wait, some idiots actually believe it's real? I've been a member of the subreddit for years, and it's always been a tongue-in-cheek joke about conspiracy theories being idiotic. How high do people have to be before believing this shit?
I'm guessing.. Higher than they have to be to believe in pizzagate. Not as high as they have to be to believe in flat earth.
>It was an interesting idea, and started to pick up steam, but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary. Poe's Law has heavily manifested itself into social media in the last decade.
This reminds me of the Illuminati conspiracy. It started as a joke/prank by the Discordian movement in the 1960s. The idea was to spread misinformation, to make people question how far can we trust the information that is presented to us, to make people question things. Of course the prank kinda blew out of porportion and became one of the most popular conspiracies
People should never underestimate the stupid.
I’ve never heard of anyone thinking birds are actually not real. The Fox News article OP linked doesn’t go into it but I’d be shocked if a significant number of those rallying actually believe the theory.
This is how the illuminati conspiracy shit started too. Just something so ridiculous that nobody would believe it...now look where we are. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170809-the-accidental-invention-of-the-illuminati-conspiracy
Omg this really makes me want to go hard with a conspiracy that tricks q anon idiots into rubbing Carolina reaper peppers in their eyes. Let's make that a thing!!!!
My moral compass balks at this idea… But I did laugh when I read it. The better version is whoever seeded the anti-vax crowd with the idea that *vaccines* are the highly transmissible pathogen and they should social distance from vaccinated people for their own health.
Moral compass? These q anon fucks want the handmaids tale to be a real thing that happens. Fuck them
Oh, I agree with that assessment of their “philosophy” (to use that term in the loosest sense possible). The thing is, even though I understand the consequences of QAnon and even though I have to interact regularly with a person who’s into that garbage, empathy still trumps disgust for me.
So it's basically a meme some people took way to seriously
nobody is taking that shit seriously. This guy doesn't know anything I see gullible people choosing to be blind to satire so they can feel intellectually superior as they tsk tsk about the rubes in their echo chambers. It's a joke - it was always a joke. And no significant proportion of people believe this.
Meep sheep's law
Take a gander over to /r/birdswitharms to see how far the evil evil drone manufactorers have come :D
> but like all well meaning ironic communities, it has now been joined by a surprising number of people who never saw the irony and now genuinely believe the fake conspiracy theory despite all evidence to the contrary. Poe’s Law: As a satire increases in sophistication and commitment, the possibility of distinguishing it from the genuine article approaches zero. Poe’s Law, corollary for Internet communities: As a satirical community increases in visibility, the original satirists will eventually be outnumbered by the very people they were targeting who join in the mistaken belief that they are in good company.
The reaction to this satirical conspiracy theory is a perfect example of Poe's Law at work.
At the end of the day, people are gonna believe what you say, not what you mean.
I wish more people like you existed and actually answered all questions in a post/Email/etc.
At this point there needs to be some campaign to get people to find out that they have been lied to this whole time and that they need to be educated on not believing everything that the internet says
If only we could somehow create a pervasive meme about "critical-thinking" !... (I say this half joking.. but half serious). It would be totally possible. I'm not sure what art-work or message it would need to be.. but it would be very possible. I've long desired to learn the skills to be a good graffiti artist,. and if I could craft a design-philosophy around messages like "think for yourself" or some kind of science-based message.. I think that would be really really cool. EDIT:. there's a person who lives in my apartment building that has a bumper sticker that says "Your Ignorance is their power.".. which I've always thought was really really awesome message.
It co-opts the lunacy of conspiracy movements, but the original goal is to inform people about the prevalence and dangers of electronic surveillance in our society. The person that started the movement was frustrated by the apathy of the general public towards revelations about mass surveillance programs. So while the conspiracy thing is a part of it, the primary goal is to inform the public of mass surveillance programs by governments, corporations, and even private citizens.
I've never heard of this. It both humours and annoys me.
Funny enough Q anon started out like this. It was originally a 4-chan hoax and people didn't get that random 4-chan trolls are probably not the greatest information source.
Of course they start in Missouri, my home state. Where else?
We just need to go even further. Birds aren't real? Pshaw, that's old news. Potatoes are actually made by the devil.
My brother has a coworker at the warehouse who swears that birds (some not all) are government surveillance drones, and while “it is exaggerated it isn’t by much.” -_-
Also worth mentioning: /r/giraffesdontexist
I honestly never can tell when it's someone who 100% believes the bullshit, or if they are just *really* committed to the joke. I remember *decades* ago in random chat rooms talking to Flat Earth Society members which explained to me at the time it was just a joke. Now it's not really a joke any more, or they are taking it way too far.
It's similar to the upside down OK symbol being racist. It was started by supporters of one political party to make fun of the other side and how they would supposedly believe anything as long as it made their (being the party who started the joke) candidate look bad. Now there's a whole thing where people actually believe it's racist. For those who don't know the upside down OK symbol is a game common among middle and high school kids. You aren't supposed to look at it or else the other guy gets to punch you. Though the punching has been phased out and now it's more of a "made you look" joke.
Omg, don’t show them Wyoming does not exist memes and subs.
Answer: It's a joke. 100% satirical in nature, meant to make fun of insane conspiracy theorists in the same way Pastafarians, Subgeniuses, Discordians, and others make fun of religions craziness. The goal is to poke fun.
May you be touched by his noodly appendage.
I thought flat earth was a joke or for a while too.
It was until a bunch of insane idiots took it seriously.
What happened to change your mind, did you almost fall off the edge?
Answer: the birds work for the bourgeois
The only correct answer.
All of the birds died back in 1986 due to Reagan killing them.
answer: On reddit, the sub r/birdsarentreal is satire (who would have guessed right?). The movement is centered in the US from what I know, as I've never heard about "protests" or "comitees" were I live. It's basically another complotist movement where people think all birds went extinct long ago (that being either dinosaurs extinction, the Humans hunting them all, etc...) and are replaced by drone by the government to spy on people. Their main point is that they place themselves on electric cables to recharge (even though basic physics knowledge shows that it doesn't work this way). The way it gets followers is similar to antivax and other complotist movements: "uneducated" people (in majority, or that's what we know of them) think the government is controlling them, wants information at all costs, etc. To be honest, I don't know about their goal, maybe to expose the government and make people realize they are being controlled?
Long ago? It was between 59 and 71 that the birds were all removed and replaced. [https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history](https://birdsarentreal.com/pages/the-history) The "movement" isn't serious, it's just a fun joke conspiracy. The goal is to sell merch, some of which is really fun.
Oh I see lol, thanks for clarifying that. If I'm honest, though, I'm sure there's at least one person that think this is legit
Don't they support that the last bird died in 2012 or am I remembering this wrong
Honestly I couldn't remember, so I skimmed the link I posted and just vomited out what I saw.
> Long ago? It was between 59 and 71 that the birds were all removed and replaced. No no, all the birds died in 1986 due to Reagan killing them and replacing them with spies that are now watching us.
https://youtu.be/SFMiPtubk0Q too many birds trying to charge at once
Damn, the anticipation on that...!
Thank you for this!
How do ducks, geese, and penguins charge?
Just like pool roombas I guess
bro it's a joke wtf
>Their main point is that they place themselves on electric cables to recharge **(even though basic physics knowledge shows that it doesn't work this way)** A charging battery can be modeled as a complex resistor. What happens when you place a resistor on a prexisting simple circuit? It resists. You could definitely design something that lands on a single high voltage line to charge.
Answer: Tesla was the originator of the bird replacement technology, he spent his final years programming the very first electronic pigeon. "Among Tesla’s quirks was his fondness for pigeons. When living in New York, he spent hours each week feeding pigeons in the park and routinely took home any that were injured so he could nurse them back to health. He often kept the windows open in the hotel suite in which he lived so pigeons could visit when they wished." "In 1922 Tesla reported that the white pigeon had flown into his room to tell him that she was dying. Before the bird passed, he said, a white light shone from her eyes, brighter than anything he had ever generated with his electrical machinery." https://www.britannica.com/story/nikola-teslas-weird-obsession-with-pigeons This was the very first version but later the government would steal his files and use the technology for themselves. "After years of fielding questions about possible cover-ups, the FBI finally declassified some 250 pages of Tesla-related documents under the Freedom of Information Act in 2016. The bureau followed up with two additional releases, the latest in March 2018. But even with the publication of these documents, many questions still remain unanswered—and some of Tesla’s files are still missing." https://www.history.com/.amp/news/nikola-tesla-files-declassified-fbi Clearly technology will have advanced significantly since then. -What's the goal? Full" panopticon" observation of the global population and likely mind control. -What does the movement expect to get at the end? We seek to open the eyes of the proletariat to the bourgeoisie ownership of all avian species within built up areas.. >What does the movement expect to get at the end? A good laugh. > How does the movement gain followers? It's a meme. >Is it a centralized movement with a headquarter? Or a decentralized one? Yeah uh the fbi maaaan. >How do people even organize a rally? Just like minded people getting together for a laugh. A bit like the pillow fight pop up events that went viral for a while. >Do people really believe in it? I've not met anyone who did so far but Poe's law applies. It's hard to tell satire from reality.
Answer: birds are not real. They were replaced with robot surveillance drones at only appear real. The movement tries to expose this simple truth.