Nov. 30, 2018
By Gianna Glover
Editor
Doppelgangers, aliens, the Illuminati and the earth being flat. These are four of the most popular conspiracy theories in the United States. According to The Washington Post, 50 percent of Americans believe in these conspiracies.
Freshman Kylie Cipolla is one of the many individuals who said she believes in conspiracy theories. She said she loves to explore them and finds them very interesting.
“Social media has definitely caused many people to look into lots of these theories,” Cipolla said.
She said YouTuber Shane Dawson’s internet series on conspiracy theories has piqued her interest. Cipolla said his videos and other social media posts have exposed her to topics she never even thought about.
“I started researching the theory of Avril Lavigne’s death and how she was said to be replaced by a doppelganger named Melissa and the Twitter voicemails which were supposedly connected to the disappearance of the Malaysian flight,” Cipolla said.
Both conspiracy theories are very well-known, but neither have been confirmed.
Art teacher Mr. Petruzziello said he is also fascinated by conspiracy theories. Even though Petruzziello cares about science, he said he likes conspiracy theories because they are entertaining.
Although Petruzziello said he does not believe in every theory he hears, he finds most of them extremely interesting.
“The one that interests me the most is the earth being flat. It has caught on in such a weird way that a lot of people are believing in this. They’re denying science so much to the point that it’s comical,” Petruzziello said.
Petruzziello said some people are so consumed by social media and YouTube that they forget to challenge their own views.
He said the dangers of conspiracy theories is that it can be difficult to separate fact from fiction.
“For example, the Nixon Administration and Watergate. That was a conspiracy that was uncovered through journalism, and we found out it actually happened,” Petruzziello said. “I like the ones that actually turn out to be true because they are very interesting.”
He said evidence makes a conspiracy theory believable and are otherwise just amusing stories.
Junior Aaron Alvarez said he strongly believes in conspiracy theories. He said he finds them engaging and has tried to research a few of them.
“One theory that makes me think the most is that John F. Kennedy was not assassinated only by Lee Harvey Oswald but instead by another shooter,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez said the factors he found tied to this theory raise plenty of questions about who murdered Kennedy.
History teacher Mr. Newman, who does not believe in conspiracy theories, said at one point, he thought the Kennedy assassination theory had the potential to be true.
After visiting Dallas, Texas, where Kennedy was shot, Newman said he found the conspiracy theory to be harder to believe.
“Having never been there before, I did think that the Warren Commission, who said it was Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone was crazy, and there had to be a conspiracy. However, seeing how the plaza is not all that big, I could see how Oswald could be the only gunman and how the study of this event could have been just one man with a rifle,” Newman said.
Overall, Newman said he generally ignores conspiracy theories due to the lack of legitimate information.
“The world is round, we landed on the moon, et cetera. Too much evidence and firsthand accounts prove that we did, while very little proves otherwise,” said Newman.
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