Conspiracy theories have been around for quite some time but only since the 1930s have they become so widespread, which may not be such a good thing. These theories are often formed when a person feels a deep emotion, such as fear, powerlessness or uncertainty. That said person, to make themselves feel more assured or scholarly, will come up with a plausible story to make the conflict around them more understandable. More often than not, however, these conspiracies are incorrect, so it’s advisable to do your research.
“I think that there are some things that we don’t know about and that conspiracy theories are used to answer those questions,” said Natalie Hill, a freshman with an ongoing interest in such theories.
Some of the most prominent conspiracy theories today include the staged moon landing, the “we are living in a simulation”, Area 51 and that the cure for cancer exists. Other less extensive theories are the three types of Earth: flat earth, hollow earth, and donut earth along with the face on Mars and a frozen Walt Disney.
Out of all of these, I find the simulation one to be the most truthful, simply because it makes sense mathematically. Think of it this way: in the next 1000 years or so, we could design a supercomputer (or a quantum computer) that could simulate a major part of the universe. In the universe, several planets with intelligent life could believe in its reality. Eventually, one of these planets would reach a similar point as ours and create their simulation. This cycle could happen over and over again and the idea of us being base reality just doesn’t make sense.
Our not being in base reality, however, doesn’t change the fact it doesn’t matter. Earlier, I mentioned reality, so it’s important to note that no one truly knows what reality is. If we put all of our memories and thoughts in a computer, is that computer now real? Since no one can give a solid answer, the simulation theory doesn’t impact our lives as much as people seem to believe.
Something that could impact us, however, is the cure for cancer. Thousands of people, often children, get diagnosed with this disease every year. Hundreds of these people struggle with affording treatment. And still, pharmaceutical companies have spent billions on finding a cure. According to them, nothing has been found. Many people, especially on social media, seem to find this suspicious.
“In a lot of ways, I would say that we have found the cure for cancer and the drug companies don’t want us to know,” said Kristie Champion-Osborn, who teaches Principles of Healthcare at LHS.
I agree with her but I would also like to point out that several reasons might make this untrue. First and foremost, drug companies are massive, with thousands of employees, which makes me think that if I can barely keep a secret for more than a week how can all of these people? The answer is that they can’t. Secondly, cancer isn’t just one disease, there are more than 200 types, making it nearly impossible to find an effective cure for all of them.
What makes me believe in this however is that a plant family known to have pancratistatin has been used to treat cancer in ancient folk medicine. In 2017, the University of Windsor used the spider lily, a plant found in Hawaii with pancratistatin, to kill 20 types of cancer cells without killing the healthy ones.
So, if we have the resources to solve the problem, what is stopping us? The drug companies are. They are the ones profiting the most from this, over $100 billion to be exact. Crazy, isn’t it?
Something that’s more crazy however is the many speculations of Walt Disney still being alive (kind of).
“Disney’s body was frozen and then they came out with the Frozen movie to cover up the fact that they had his frozen body,” said Hill. “In my opinion, it just makes a lot of sense since there’s just so many questions about Walt Disney that we don’t know. There are things about his death that are confusing.”
That’s the gist of it but there are a lot more connections. The reason that I believe in this is because Disney is nothing but strategic. This is also just a fun conspiracy theory that doesn’t affect the average person in any way. Still, there are quite a few reasons against this, including the fact that he had lung cancer and was cremated, according to his family members.
Now, moving on to the conspiracy theories I don’t believe in, we’ll start with the least alarming one: face on Mars. So, if you don’t know, in 1976, the Viking 1 Orbiter discovered a carved face on the Red Planet, which many people seemed to believe was proof that life had once existed there. In 1976, it was okay that people believed in this but in 2025, I find it absurd. The whole reason this started was because of a blurry photo that showed a man’s face. In reality, it was just a bunch of rocks and the angle of light gave it the depth due to which it was misinterpreted.
This isn’t the only theory associated with space that’s misunderstood. Area 51 is a popular conspiracy theory based on a very secretive air base in Nevada. What people seem to believe is that the government workers there are trying to hide aliens from the general public. To the people who believe in these sorts of conspiracies: why do aliens only pop up in government settings? Everyone nowadays has a smartphone that can record high-quality videos. How come every picture we have of a UFO is blurry? And why will aliens want to visit us when all we do is wage wars and further famine while destroying our mother planet to bits and pieces?
The next one is much more insane: the infamous staged moon landing. The top two reasons people believe that it is staged are the lack of stars and the waving flag. Let’s start with the lack of stars. Do we see all the stars when the sun is out? Sometimes, yes. Now, I want all of you to go outside and take a picture of those said stars. You can’t, can you? It’s because of the brightness of our star, the sun, which blocks the light coming from the stars that are thousands of light years away. To have the stars show up in your picture you need a small aperture and an incredibly fast shutter speed.
Let’s talk about the so-called “waving” flag. Another reason the moon landing is believed to be faked is because of the American flag which is moving even though there’s no wind on the moon. Everything in that statement is true, except the moving flag. Because, in reality, the flag isn’t moving, it just got wrinkled on the trip, making the ripples that made people doubt our scientists.
Finally, the last thing I want to address is the Flat Earth Theory. It is not flat, it is not hollow with lizard people living inside it, and it is, most importantly, not a donut. If the earth being a sphere was common knowledge 2,200 years ago, during the Greek times, and is being doubted to this day, then our generation is doomed.
