The truth is out there

Conspiracy theories are nothing new, but the internet and social media have provided a perfect outlet at a time when our trust in authority has plummeted, writes David Barnett

- David Barnett

Once upon a time, conspiracy theories were, in the general consciousness, something of a joke. The phrase once conjured images of a social outcast sitting in their mum's basement, wearing a tin-foil hat to ward off vague ideas of mind-control waves, and trying to prove that John F Kennedy had actually been shot by two different gunmen.

Popular conspiracy theories used to include things such as claims that the Apollo 11 moon landings of 1969 were faked by the US government to artificially win the space race with Russia. Theorists pointed to the "fact" there were no stars in the sky in the photos, the American flag seemed to be rippling in the wind, of which there would be none on the moon, and that the shadows of the astronauts were in the wrong place.

Then there are long-running conspiracy theories such as "the Illuminati" who some believe pull the strings of global governments. Back in 1975, Robert Anton Wilson and Michael Shea wrote their satirical science fiction trilogy The Illuminatus! which mapped a drug-fuelled story on the prevalent conspiracy theories of the day.

At the darker end of the spectrum, many people believe that the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Centre in 2001 either never happened, or, variously, an inside job by the US government.

In the last couple of years, however, the term "conspiracy theory" has taken on a slightly different tone, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The pandemic brought into play a hitherto unknown level of government intervention in our lives, alongside an unprecedented rapid-response vaccine development programme, and all played out for the very first time in the choppy waters of social media.