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A conspiracy theory is a theory that supposes that some (typically very powerful) group has been involved in a conspiratorial plan or series of actions--anything from manipulating governments, economies, or the legal system, to hiding important information of cultural or scientific significance--and has suppressed most or all evidence of the plan or their involvement in it. In short, a very powerful shadowy organization is influencing the course of events. Proven conspiracies have taken place throughout history, and some kinds of conspiracy are crimes. At any given time, hundreds or thousands of conspiracies of greater or lesser scope are afoot, but very rarely are any of them as large a scope and dramatic as those postulated by the so-called conspiracy theorists.

Usually, what are commonly called "conspiracy theories" are employed by people who would like to believe some conclusion but have little if any evidence for it. They therefore refer to a supposed conspiracy to justify both their conclusion and the fact that they cannot support it with evidence--which, naturally, the conspirators are actively concealing. Such theories, unlike a scientific theory, cannot be falsified: a conspiracy theorist takes evidence to the contrary to support the notion that an extremely powerful conspiracy has fabricated this evidence.

Just about anything associated with governments, Nazis, communists, ancient civilizations, or aliens has a conspiracy theory attached. They're very popular and form the basis of many popular books, movies, and TV shows.

Popular elements of conspiracy theories include:

• Alternative 3
• Anti-Christian calendar theory
• Applications of the works of Nikola Tesla
• Area 51
• Assassination, particularly those of John F. Kennedy, Enrico Mattei and Pope John Paul I
• Atlantis
• Black helicopters
• Council on Foreign Relations
• Elvis sightings
• Fnord
• Freemasonry
• Jesuits
• Knights Templar
• Men in Black, aka Majestic 12
• Mysticism
• New World Order
• Pseudoscience
• 9/11 World Trade Center Bombing Zionist conspiracy
• Secret societies, such as:
  • The Illuminati
  • Rosicrucianism
  • Satanists: in the 1980s there was an upsurge in the old belief of a secret cult that bred children for sacrifice. The practice has historically been ascribed by the ancient Romans to early christians, in medieval Europe to the Jews, and in 1980s America to a group of rich, powerful satanists who have concealed all the evidence of their practices.
• TACMARS
• Trilateral Commission
• UFOs
• Unknown Superiors
• Zionist conspiracy: Protocols of the Elders of Zion

There is a body of literature which draws from conspiracy theory. The works are invariably complex and deliberately confusing, filled with detailed information which may or may not be relevant and connected to the reputed plot of the book. The normal arc is the discovery of a potential conspiracy by an outsider, then the protagonist's increased involvement as the conspiracy reveals itself to be ever more complex and far-reaching. Reality is questioned, until at the end it is often unclear what was truly conspiracy and what was coincidence.

Examples include:

• Cthulhu Mythos by H. P. Lovecraft
• Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
• The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, which led the modern resurgence in interest in 19th-century secret societies
• Philip K. Dick novels
• Robert Ludlum novels
• The X-Files

Global conspiracy theories

• The Bilderberg Group. This is a well-known informal, international, annual meeting of influential people that some believe to have a sinister purpose. Its name is that of the hotel in the Netherlands where the group first met in 1954.

Conspiracy theories peculiar to the United States of America

• Many African-Americans in the US believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was invented by either white American scientists, or by "The Jews", as a way to destroy the black race. This conspiracy theory is most common among lower-income blacks in poor neighborhoods, and among putative left-wing black college students. These racist and anti-Semitic attacks have been propagated for years first by Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam, and by the New Black Panther Party, as well by a number of extremist professors in various smaller colleges. (see also Steve Cokely).
• Area 51
• Assassination, particularly that of John F. Kennedy
• Black helicopters
• Elvis sightings
• Men in Black, aka Majestic 12
• Trilateral Commission
• Apollo moon landing hoax

Conspiracy theories peculiar to Canada

The Avro Arrow Cancellation

Conspiracy theories peculiar to the Arab and Muslim world

• Some believe that there was an plot to murder Princess Diana of the United Kingdom, solely because she was dating an Arab.

Plot to murder Princess Diana

• For some time the Arab press was reporting that that there was a plot by Jews to make Egyptian and Palestinian schoolgirls sexually promiscuous by selling them bubble-gum laced with aphrodisiacs. An example of this conspiracy theory is that written by Mohammad Dalbah:

"Palestinian authorities uncovered Israeli efforts to spread a special kind of gum that contains sexual hormone between Palestinians. The authorities requested laboratory tests on the gum which were conducted in Cairo. Those tests showed that the gum contains progesterone which is responsible for sexual arousal and also and also prevents pregnancies. Palestinian authorities confiscated 200 tonnes of gum in the city of al-Khalil alone. The Washington Post claimed in report that it asked a chemistry professor in the hebrew university to examine the gun. His tests were negative, however the paper also reported that the majority of Palestinians believe the conspiracy. It quoted one Palestinian saying that it was possible to send a space ship to Mars then it is possible to manufacture a 'sexual gum' it is after all a war. In other new, some Jewish and non-ethical Palestinians merchants sold expired flour in the west back and Gaza strip last spring. They also sold large quantities of baby milk when it was actually soya bean derivatives that were expired."

Another example of believer in the anti-Arab bubblegum conspiracy

• There were many mass-hysteria episodes in which Palestinians claimed that Israelies were nerve gassing them. All of them were proven to be false.

• September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack/Zionist conspiracy theories

• Many Egyptians imagine that the Israelies engineered the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990 in 1999, despite strong evidence that the pilot committed suicide. Others insist that the US is covering up for Boeing, the airplane's manufacturer: ,

• Theory that US President Bill Clinton's relationship with Monica Lewinsky was part of a Zionist plot to get rid of Bill Clinton.

• Many in the Arab world still spread the anti-Semitic canard that Jewish doctors deliberately give Palestinians AIDS. January 1995, Al-Ahram: Examples of Arab conspiracy theories

• Conspiracy theories in Arab discourse, from "Arab News":

Daniel Pipes has written an essay on the prevalence of conspiracy theories throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Conspiracy theories extend far beyond those biased against Jews. They extend even to the creation of conspiracy theories about the results of sporting events. Analysis of conspiracy theories in the Arab world