Read previous installments of Chapter 2 – What Is A Cult here

Shortly after I decided to stop going to church at the age of 18 I was shown my first conspiracy video on YouTube. This was more like a documentary movie though. My roommate came into our dorm one night freaking out about how mind blowing this movie he had just seen was. It was the Zeitgeist video explaining the 9/11 conspiracy theory in extensive detail for over an hour. My reaction was mostly dismissive which is actually pretty similar to most people who first come across conspiracy YouTube videos, even those who eventually become believers. It would take several years for me to circle back to this theory.

My real journey into conspiracies began with the History Channel show, Ancient Aliens. When the show premiered as a mini-series in 2009, I was really excited to watch it. I’ve always had an affinity for extraterrestrials which probably came from my love of sci-fi stories. Once again, I was mostly dismissive. I thought some of the theories they presented in the first 90 minute special were interesting, and could mean that extraterrestrials had actually visited us, but they didn’t seem to have the concrete evidence the commercials claimed. I kept watching the show as new seasons would come out and would occasionally check out YouTube videos about modern “visitations.” I couldn’t tell you an exact moment I decided that I was a firm believer in the Ancient Astronaut Theory because it was a gradual change. I know by 2012 I was pretty set in that belief as well as other conspiracy theories.

In summary, the ancient astronaut theory is that beings who existed long before humans came to earth, messed with the DNA of a hominoid species so that humans would evolve. For a period of time, these beings continued to visit us, call themselves gods, and maybe enslaved us or just provided various forms of assistance for various reasons. Either way, at some point around 2,000 years ago, they stopped coming around. This, in essence, can explain the different religious cults and mythical tales across the world throughout antiquity. Why were the pyramids built? Because aliens. Stonehenge? Aliens. Hercules? Totally an alien. Dragons? Khaleesi, right? Nope! Alien space ship!

The thing is, there are actual true conspiracy theories that are known to have happened. For instance, there is the MKUltra conspiracy where the CIA used psychoactive drugs, like LSD, to experiment on citizens to learn about some new possible interrogation techniques. A more modern example would be the NSA’s global surveillance programs scandal that was exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013. But when we talk about the 9/11 conspiracy theory or the ancient alien theory, those fall under what is also called a “grand conspiracy.” So what is the difference?

A “grand conspiracy” theory, as it’s name suggests, would have to involve thousands of people across multiple organizations, big and small, as well as different governments and span generations. This is how I became engulfed in so many other theories. For the Ancient Astronaut Theory (or AAT for short) to be true, it would have to be such a grand conspiracy that it would have to involve cooperation and massive coordination from all governments across the world, almost all branches of science such as cosmology, geology, biology, chemistry, and physics to name a few as well as ancient historians, archeologists, and art history majors. I realized this fact the more I learned about the AAT, which ultimately led me to find the answer to the nagging question, “why?” Why would all these governments and minds of science and history go through so much trouble to fool the whole world of something that would seem to neutralize a lot of confusion and problems we all face? Well for that, we have the Illuminati. See? If a conspiracy comes against a wall, you just make it more grand!

Pretty much any Illuminati believer (or former believer) will tell you that once you start looking, you can find the Illuminati everywhere. Skeptics refer to this behavior as “anomaly hunting.” Every day, somewhere, someone witnesses some kind of strange event that may not have an immediate explanation. Most people will automatically jump to a conclusion that fits into their beliefs. It’s interesting how very few people convert to a religion because of a miraculous event. Many conspiracy theorist will tell you they became believers after watching videos and not being able to disprove the claims. This might seem odd, but the way conspiracists present their claims makes it difficult to argue against. They will take an unexplainable event or something that hasn’t yet been explained and provide an unprovable solution. While their explanations can’t be proved, they also cant be disproved. Any evidence that disproves any parts of their claims is either deflected with a “what-about-ism” or an attempt to discredit the source of the evidence. Once you can convince someone of a conspiracy, they’ll start seeing the world from that perspective and see any abnormal event as evidence to strengthen their new belief. Whether you believe a small group of insanely rich and powerful men control the basis of our reality or that a cosmic deity controls all matter in the universe, there is no shortage of anomalies that can be quickly explained by either belief.

An interesting example of a modern-day conspiracy cult is the flat-earth society. This society actually dates back to the 1950’s, but with some celebrity endorsements and countless YouTube videos providing “evidence” for this claim, the society has gained some new momentum in pop culture. “Flat-earthers” are a network of conspiracy theorists who believe that established history and science is a complete fraud. Many believers already had believed in other conspiracy theories and half say they are very religious. This is really important because already having an “Illuminati” belief system makes it really easy to believe that the thousands of photos and videos of a spherical earth are all fakes. Also being religious, specifically Christian, is important because the Bible has the foundation for flat earth in it. The Bible after all was written entirely by men who firmly believed the earth was flat. Not that they were dumb or anything like that, just ignorant.

As I went further and further down the rabbit hole of the AAT and Illuminati conspiracies, it made complete sense to me that established science and history were fraudulent since that was what I had already been taught throughout my adolescence. Looking back, this seems more like a continuation of the beliefs I was born into. Eventually I came out the other side of the rabbit hole and found myself right back where I started. The paranoia of conspiracists asserting misinformation leads to a tail chasing game where when two conspiracy theories contradict themselves they each claim the other is a obfuscatory faction created by “the man.”

The more I looked at the so-called evidence that conspiracy theorists claim to have, the more I began to see the similarities in the arguments the creationists use. When presented with tangible evidence to counter the theories, they deflect. When told that their evidence is not credible, they attempt to discredit those who establish the credibility. When asked about conflicting beliefs and denominations within the separate sects of the religion they will claim “the deceiver” (or the devil if you like) exists to sow confusion. Eventually, they argue that their belief is just like any other belief, adding that science and history are based on belief alone, thereby equating all opinions and facts. This is a dangerous way to raise a child. It creates a mindset that says there is no evident truth, only the opinions that individuals decide to be true.

Even though I did not grow up in a small camp of people, I was always surrounded by like-minded people. Even though I wasn’t technically discouraged from seeking answers outside of the Bible, I was repeatedly taught that it would be a futile endeavor. Even though I was taught to accept those who did not share my beliefs, I was told that too much association with them (and not enough association with my “church-family”) would lead me astray from God and his blessings. I was allowed to leave my religion freely, many people are not that lucky. Despite the openness that many cults and religions do not offer, there were still many mind control tactics used (in most cases inadvertently) on me to keep me in the fold.

As I learned about other religions, cults, and superstitions, I began to see a full picture of desired ignorance. I could see that despite their differences there were many similarities in style, appeal, leaderships, and most importantly, denialism. All superstitions start as unexplained phenomena. Many have persisted into our modern era despite the evidence that explain certain anomalies. Cults morph over time into religions but there are still many newer cults popping up everywhere, especially in the forum world of the internet. As I finally found all the flaws in the world of conspiracies I was left with a few questions: If all religions act similarly, began under similar circumstances, and all purport to be the absolute truth meaning all others are wrong, which one is right? How could anyone possibly know the answer beyond faith? Could any one of them be right?

Read Chapter 1 here