In The Truth Hurts, a series of VICE documentaries, Bupé Bhima explored the roots and spread of modern conspiracy theories: why they’re dangerous and how they become violent. After conducting extensive research into where conspiracy theories come from, the results were surprisingly out in the open. In fact, they’re right in front of our very eyes.
“Here’s an unfortunate red pill for the conspiracy community: Whole sections of your worldview have been ripped off from random bits of pop culture trash. Hollywood blockbusters, daytime TV, pulp novels, and kids’ comic books,” Bhima said.
One of the most well-known conspiracy theorists is David Icke, a former professional soccer player who declared he was the son of God on a British talk show around 30 years ago. Since then, he’s developed countless theories, claiming a race of shapeshifting, pan-dimensional lizard men were set to take over the world. He publicly claimed the coronavirus was a hoax—a narrative that got Icke banned from traveling to much of Europe.
But where did his theories stem from?
“His whole fundamental theory is pretty much stolen from the plot of a 1980s TV show,” said Bhima.
The show, called V, ran in the US and the UK. It involves aliens arriving on Earth and appearing like your average person. Initially, they offered to help the human race by providing tech improvements and other advancements.
However, once they gained people’s trust, they revealed their true selves: lizard-like entities who planned to enslave the planet and harvest humans for food.
If you were to sum up Icke’s theories, it would be pretty close to the premise of V.
“People can deny their existence if they like,” Icke once said of these lizard-like aliens. “I do not give a shit. They exist.”
It’s unclear whether Icke received inspiration from the show—which he admitted to admiring—or simply believed it was a factual depiction of his theories in action.
Another common conspiracy involving the media was the Apollo moon landing in 1969. Many theorists deemed the accomplishment to be fake, Cold War propaganda.
“The very year Buzz and Neil landed on the moon, the idea of fakery was already being played out by Hollywood in the filming of a fake moon landing clumsily featured in the worst Sean Connery Bond film, Diamonds Are Forever,” Bhima pointed out. “Then, in 1979, Capricorn One, a hit thriller about a faked Mars mission, came out.”
The filmmakers of Capricorn One were actually sued for plagiarism by a moon landing truther, Bill Kaysing. Such controversy elevated even more conspiracies
“The conspiracy fantasists even figured out which director shot the fake footage,” said Bhima. “Stanley Kubrick’s psychedelic epic, 2001: A Space Odyssey, had come out a year before the moon landing. Obviously, it must’ve been him.”
“NASA hired Stanley to fake the moon landing because they couldn’t do it themselves,” claimed Anderson Henderson, a YouTuber and conspiracy theorist. “And then they threatened to kill his fucking family so he shut the fuck up and put out subliminal messaging in The Shining to let you all know it was him that did that shit.”
Perhaps one of the most prevalent conspiracy theories is the Illuminati, or “a new world order who secretly run the world,” according to Bhima.
“The original Illuminati were a small group founded in Bavaria in 1776,” said Bhima. “Ironically, their mission was specifically to promote enlightenment and combat superstition. They never had more than a few hundred members and were basically done by the early 1800s.”
However, everything changed in the 1960s, when a hippie satirist going by the name Lord Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst teamed with Playboy writer Robert Anton Wilson to troll society—ultimately leading to a host of Illuminati theorists.
The two pranksters wrote anonymous letters to media outlets across the US, blaming every major societal problem on the Illuminati. The ordeal was called “Operation Mindfuck,” which ultimately sparked a series of novels called The Illuminatus Trilogy. In due time, the Illuminati was one of the most well-known conspiracy theories in pop culture. Many were even convinced the alleged group ran the entire world.
These narratives only escalated over time—eventually even involving Kubrick. Conspiracy theorists were convinced the Illuminati was responsible for Kubrick’s mysterious death just days after he finished editing the film Eyes Wide Shut.
“By 1999, when Eyes Wide Shut came out, the idea of the Illuminati created by satirists and taken seriously by Da Vinci Code fans, had taken hold,” said Bhima. “But it had now become mixed online with antisemitic tropes of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to create a new mixture of old hatreds and lies.”
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was arguably one of the most dangerous books in history, pushing the false narrative that Jewish leaders were plotting to take over the world.
“In this world, the Illuminati were the Jews,” Bhima noted. Specifically, many pointed fingers at the Rothschild family, a Jewish banking dynasty.
“The truth is out there. It probably just doesn’t involve antisemitic space lizard fantasies, fake moon landings, or billionaire sex cults.” –Bupé Bhima
When Kubrick died while working on Eyes Wide Shut, many believed it was because Kubrick had called out the Illuminati through subliminals in the film.
“Part of the reason for this massive leap was that the film features a masked ball,” said Bhima. “People connected this to a party held in 1972 called the Surrealist Ball.”
At this real-life ball, hosted by Baroness Marie-Hélène Rothschild, A-list guests wore masks designed by Salvador Dali. Many conspiracy theorists connected this to the scene in Eyes Wide Shut, believing Kubrick was attempting to shed light on this ritual.
Other modern conspiracies also have pop culture ties—for example, The X-Files, one of the longest-running science fiction series in network TV history. The show followed two F.B.I. agents investigating strange and unexplained unsolved cases.
Many X-Files cases resemble contemporary conspiracy theories, including Icke’s belief that an alien race is plotting its ultimate control over Earth. The show’s slogans, “The Truth is Out There” and “Trust No One,” summarize the modern-day conspiracy theorist mindset.
“The truth is out there,” said Bhima. “It probably just doesn’t involve antisemitic space lizard fantasies, fake moon landings, or billionaire sex cults.”
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