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Most of us, hearing words like “secret,” “CIA” and “coverup” tend to immediately imagine tinfoil-hat wearing conspiracy theorists. More often than not then not, this is the case, but to paraphrase the old saying, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. So the more facts you learn about different parts of history, science and technology, the more unusual you realize the world really is.
Someone asked “What’s something that sounds like a conspiracy theory but is actually true?” and people shared the best examples that they knew. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to comment your own examples below. 
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#1
That corporations openly bribe politicians to get what they want
They call it lobbying to get away with it.
RELATED:
#2
In the 60s and 70s, thousands of Native American women were sterilized without their consent as part of a practice to sterilize poor and minority women to "help their financial situation and their family's quality of life" by preventing unwanted pregnancies in poor communities.
Some were not informed at all and had it done to them completely without their knowledge, others were threatened with having their healthcare taken away if they did not agree to have it done to them. Some studies estimate that as many as 25-50% of Native American women were sterilized in the 1970s, representing tens of thousands of victims.
This is essentially a modern day genocide in the United States.
#3
The McDonalds PR machine tried to ruin Stella Liebeck’s life. That coffee was so hot it melted her clothing to her genitals. People still believe she was at fault. I turn it around and ask how they’d feel if a parent accidentally spilled coffee on their child that was so hot it melted the child’s clothes to her/his body. Somehow it usually wakes people up.
Bob Brooce 2 months ago
Anyone who sides with McDonald's on this is either uninformed or a moron, IMHO. They deliberately make the coffee dangerous because they can get a bit more brewed coffee per pound.
#4
In 2016 a former reality tv show host vying for political office began working to convince citizens of the United States that the election he was participating in was rigged, only to learn that he had actually won the election. 4 years later in 2020, when seeking re-election, this same politician attempted to again convince the citizens of the United States that the very same election process that had given him his then current position was rigged... this time of course he lost the election. This time however he had in fact convinced a large number of people that the election was rigged.
...**And now I can't have a normal family dinner because its apparently a conspiracy that the United States of America has a voting system that works.**.
#5
In 2002 a cable technician named Mark Klein working for AT&T in San Francisco was sitting at his desk when he received an email from his bosses that a representative from the National Security Agency (NSA) would be coming to visit for some unspecified reason. He was to give this NSA technician access to a cable substation for him to perform some work. The tech did his thing and Mark moved on without thinking anything of it.
A year later in 2003, Mark was transferred to that cable substation and by chance was assigned to monitor the “Internet Room”. This was the room where all the fiber optic ocean cables that carry the countries internet traffic terminate. While he was reviewing engineering drawings, he realized that the schematics revealed a secret room. More importantly, the plans showed cabinets filled with fiber optic splitters coming off every cable and feeding into the secret room. And to make it even crazier, neither he nor anyone on his team had access to the secret room.
Through his investigation, he discovered that the NSA representative he had escorted the previous year had worked to install this system which was sending a copy of all the internet traffic that passed through the substation straight to the NSA. In other words, he had proof that the federal government had the capacity to tap into all internet traffic in the country. And I mean all of it. Every email, instant message, electronic sale, medical or criminal records, research databases. Everything. Complete unrestricted access.
Like any sane person, he was extremely disturbed by this discovery. He went to his higher ups but was essentially told to just keep it quiet. After retiring in 2004, he linked up with a group called Electronic Frontier Foundation and essentially blew the whistle. He did interviews and handed over all his evidence to reporters.
I watched one of these interviews in 2006 which is how I know about this story. I remember thinking it was so obvious once he explained it. Why wouldn’t the NSA tap into the internet traffic in the age of the war on terror? I’d watched Enemy of the State. But nothing happened. No one I spoke to seemed to believe it and Mark Klein’s story eventually seemed to just fade away.
7 years later, in 2013, Edward Snowden leaked documents essentially confirming EVERYTHING and then some. But to this day everyone looks at me like a crazy person when I talk about knowing about it as early as 2006.
#6
The chemicals in the water are turning the frogs gay.
Atrazine, a chemical produced by the pesticide company Syngenta has been proven to mess with the endocrine system of frogs and turn them into hermaphrodites and can even cause them to display homosexual behavior, preferring the company of other male frogs rather than females ones.
It can also cause prostate cancer and birth defects and is in the drinking water of several states, so yeah, there's that too.
cerinamroth 2 months ago
If there's one way to get conservatives behind the environmental movement, it's this!
#7
**”Big Tobacco Cover-Up”** is a prime example. For decades, tobacco companies knew about the harmful and addictive effects of smoking but actively suppressed research, manipulated data, and marketed cigarettes as safe. It wasn’t until the 1990s, after internal documents were leaked, that the truth about their deceitful practices was fully exposed.
Rayne OfSalt 2 months ago
The exact same thing happened with climate change; the big fossil fuel companies knew about for decades before they were exposed. The difference is that politicians and the moron half of humanity still argue that climate change doesn't exist.
#8
The US and the UK conspired to overthrow Iran's democratically-elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh and restore the autocratic regime of the Pahlavi monarchy. They did this because Mosaddegh tried to nationalize Iran's oil industry.
#9
Nestle's baby formula scandal
Nestle aggressively marketed baby formula to mothers in developing countries by giving free samples to hospitals and buying up billboards. The mothers would use them instead of breast milk and eventually stop producing breast milk. Then they'd need to buy formula to continue feeding their babies. Formula needed to be mixed with water but because they often didn't have clean water, they'd put their babies at risk mixing the formula with unclean water. Also, literacy rates were lower in a lot of those places so the mothers didn't know how to clean the bottles and couldn't read the instructions on the packaging. Those that did often didn't have the means to carry them out. A lot of them being poorer also resorted to watering down the formula to try and make it last longer but then it wouldn't have enough nutrients for the baby.
Nestle downplayed all of this and said it wasn't their responsibility that people here didn't really have access to clean water and that they were just giving people the freedom of choice.
GenuineJen 2 months ago
Interesting how Nestle was also involved in a bottled water scandal... Hmmm. Although it seems they weren't related, it definitely sounds fishy.
#10
Many prisons in the US are private, for-profit companies. They get paid by the head, and also employ the prisoners for pennies per hour to do work like telemarketing. You've probably talked to a prisoner on the phone without realizing.
Johnny McFearless 2 months ago
Yes, slavery in the southern states was just replaced by prison system.
#11
The Maxwell and Epstein stuff .. essentially the tip of the iceberg of high profile human trafficking and p*dophilia that goes virtually unmentioned.
Nils Skirnir 2 months ago
Except most of the users aren’t democrats or progressive. Most are over-wealthy right wingers
#12
The Stolen Generation in Australia
Up until the f*****g 1950s the Australian government, euthanized, sterilised and ripped children from their parents in order to try to "civilise" the native Aboriginal people by educating the black out of them.
Rayne OfSalt 2 months ago
1950s? Try 1970s. It was an on-going program from the early 1910s and carried on until the late 1970s.
#13
That we know covid harms our brains, hearts, immune systems and that every infection does more harm
:(.
AndThenICommented 2 months ago
I lost a small bit of my hearing. I think I’m still in denial and think it will come back, but studies show if it doesn’t within a couples months then it’s gone - it’s been a year.
#14
I’m surprised that I haven’t seen Operation Paperclip yet. After defeating the N*zis, the US government gave 1600 of them government jobs here.
#15
Operation Snow White
Basically, during the 70s the Church of Scientology was concerned with all the bad press surrounding them and all the other dirt on them that could be released. So they used a huge number of contacts that they had in various US government agencies to destroy all negative information about the church of Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard. The crazy thing is, they succeeded with much of the plan before they were caught. There was a s**t-ton of negative info on Scientology in the 70s, possibly enough to destroy the church, and it'll never see the light of day because they used their huge influence to have it destroyed.
#16
The fact that major social media platforms use algorithms specifically designed to keep you addicted. They analyze your behavior to show you more content that will keep you scrolling, even if it’s not good for your mental health. It sounds like a conspiracy, but it's a well-documented reality.
#17
GM, IBM, and Ford played a major role in rearming Germany in the 1930s. George Bush's grandfather Senator Prescott Bush was a director and shareholder of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of the German forces.
Geoffrey Scott 2 months ago
Or Nestle' continuing to trade with Nazi Germany after the rest said no.
#18
The U.S. Public Hearth “Service” chose not to treat 400 African-American with syphillis in Alabama so they could study the progress of the disease if untreated.
Rayne OfSalt 2 months ago
Worse, they deliberately infected black americans with syphillis to study the disease.
#19
The war in Ukraine started in 2014 but the media reports that it started in 2022.
TennesseeHomesteadUSA 2 months ago
From 2014 to 2022 US Army Rangers, Green Berets and a California National Guard unit trained the Ukrainian army. That's all Obama would commit after the Crimea was stolen.
#20
Around a month ago russian state media got caught spending millions on american YouTubers to ensure they are worried about immigration n s**t. Tim pool, dave Rubin. .
Nils Skirnir 2 months ago
Russian oligarchs were the prime investors in PayPal, which gave us a whole slew of ultra right wing billionaires as Thiel and Musk
#21
The CIA funded and organized the overturn of several south and Central American socialist governments.
#22
Your iPhone is designed to start getting worse as soon as the new models come out.
I remember this being a big deal like 7 or 8 years ago. Someone can fact check me as I'm hazy on the details, but I believe its related to the battery. Every year, the same week that the new iPhone comes out, the latest iOS becomes available for download. The new iOS is not optimized for your current device's battery, and as such the phone compromises performance in order to maintain a similar battery life. Coupled with the normal wear and tear on the battery, your phone will start sucking just so the battery can last a little longer.
Rayne OfSalt 2 months ago
It's not designed to get worse, apple software techs make firmware patches that degrade your phone's performance. Which is actually worse.
#23
Operation Northwoods
I believe it was called, back in the day was WILD.
The US government tried to plan a false flag attack on US soil as justification to officially declare war on Cuba.
They tried to make people look crazy or make us think "the government would never do that to us" then it turned out they actually wanted to do it/became public knowledge.
Lizzie Andricks 2 months ago
in the words of wendigoon, "if your first thought is 'the government wouldn't do that to us': yes they would."
#24
The Greenbrier Bunker. People love conspiracies about huge underground complexes built for the rich and famous to survive nuclear fallouts (think Denver airport), and that's *exactly what Greenbrier is*. The bunker was built under the Greenbrier Resort for congresspeople to escape to, and was kept a secret for 30 years, even though people suspected ("why's there a 7,000 foot air strip for a town of 3,000 people?"). For the entire time it was functional, every congressperson was assigned a bunk. These days you can take tours, and I'm sure we'll hear about the next bunker once it's defunct.
TennesseeHomesteadUSA 2 months ago
The New York Times snitched out the bunker. The purpose of doing such always escaped me.
#25
The pentagon has an insane number of bathrooms because as they were building it, the segregation of bathrooms ended.
#26
Government Surveillance: Whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 that the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) was conducting mass surveillance on citizens, collecting data from internet communications, phone calls, and other sources.
#27
Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Confirmed decades later by the ex secretary of defense as being entirely false, consequences of the incident were utterly appalling.
James Doe 2 months ago
False claims to justify the US war in Vietnam. "The National Security Agency, an agency of the US Defense Department, had deliberately skewed intelligence to create the impression that an attack had been carried out." [of north Vietnamese military attacking US Navi ships] "The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces to South Vietnam and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident
#28
Amelia Earhart landed on an uninhabited Pacific island and died as a castaway, making distress calls for days that were initially acted upon, then later disavowed by the Navy as 'hoaxes' after their botched search failed to find the plane.
Three years later, bones were found by the British military on the island next to parts of a woman's shoe. The bones were misidentified as male by an unqualified examiner and then lost. Measurements of the bones were later unearthed from the British records and when run through modern forensics were proven to be Northern European female.
Bob Brooce 2 months ago
The reason that this one sounds like bat s**t crazy nonsense is because it's bat s**t crazy nonsense.
#29
That the Ministry of Information in the UK spread misinformation that eating lots of carrots could improve night vision during WWII. They made this up to confuse the Germans. They had a new radar tech that allowed them to pinpoint German bombers from greater distances than before, and the carrot story was a ruse.
That said, I don't know what's true on the internet these days, so I'm half waiting for the comment that this story in itself was a ruse...
UKGrandad 2 months ago
Partly true, although the reason for promoting carrots was nothing to do with RADAR (Germans also ate carrots and would know the claims were exaggerated). It was simply because of food rationing. Carrots are cheap, plentiful, easy to grow and healthy, high in vitamins and natural sugars. Encouraging kids to eat them was simply a way of maintaining health among children.
#30
That the US Government actually had a Paranomal unit. That movie, "The Men Who Stare at Goats"? It was based on a true story - the US military was actively trying to see if they could find people with skills like stopping the heart of a goat, or dowsing, or psychic spying.
The whole thing pretty much fell apart when it was deemed that the people participating were not very effective (if you have to stare at a goat for hours in order to get it to fall over and die, how are they supposed to make use of it for assassinations?)
But, bottom line, it DID exist. Same with the Germans having a paranormal unit during the 40's. They believed in acquiring the Spear of Destiny because Mr. Mustache believed it would help him win the war, along with other Occult stuff. That's partly what the Wolfenstein games have made popular...
What do you think ?
Nimitz 2 months ago
Why is Jameson Vitamins not on the list? In developed countries there are frequently government issued warnings about products from Jameson not having the advertised quantities they claim their supplements contain. But it's much worse than that. In the early 2000s company whistleblowers pointed out that supplements they shipped to undeveloped countries frequently contained none of the medical ingredients they were supposed to have. What they would do is lobby those countries to undermine their laws requiring that vitamin supplements actually contain vitamins, then ship them chalk pills. They are responsible for scamming millions of poor people around the world out of money for things that cost almost nothing to produce in the first place.
Justin Tyme 2 months ago
The US government created false documentation of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq to justify an invasion and help President George W. Bush establish his legacy as “The War President” as he liked to call himself at the time.
cugel. 2 months ago
My highly local CT: An auction house that operates in my city takes a huge commission from the buyer when the item sells. But they are the ones who also control the online auctions, and therefore have insider knowledge of all the bids. It would be trivially easy to insert bogus bids to pump up the sale price, and hence their kickback.
Nimitz 2 months ago
Why is Jameson Vitamins not on the list? In developed countries there are frequently government issued warnings about products from Jameson not having the advertised quantities they claim their supplements contain. But it's much worse than that. In the early 2000s company whistleblowers pointed out that supplements they shipped to undeveloped countries frequently contained none of the medical ingredients they were supposed to have. What they would do is lobby those countries to undermine their laws requiring that vitamin supplements actually contain vitamins, then ship them chalk pills. They are responsible for scamming millions of poor people around the world out of money for things that cost almost nothing to produce in the first place.
Justin Tyme 2 months ago
The US government created false documentation of “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq to justify an invasion and help President George W. Bush establish his legacy as “The War President” as he liked to call himself at the time.
cugel. 2 months ago
My highly local CT: An auction house that operates in my city takes a huge commission from the buyer when the item sells. But they are the ones who also control the online auctions, and therefore have insider knowledge of all the bids. It would be trivially easy to insert bogus bids to pump up the sale price, and hence their kickback.
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