Where did conspiracy theories come from before the internet?

It was George Sours for a long time now there seems to be some new fella manipulating the world.

So how did the paranoid contact each other pre the internet.?

silliussoddius

Pamphlets, AM radio, boring the tits of some poor bastrad in the pub.

Zebra3

Military and politicians.

fryup

bullsh!t at the workplace canteen that spiralled into urban myths 😐️

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118808711#Comment_118808711

The military and politicians were responsible for the creation of conspiracy theories before the arrival of the internet?

MacronvFrugals

check out operation mindfuck, two lads Kerry Thornley and Greg Hill start taking out ads in the local newspaper trying to mess with peoples heads.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/1GcQDTcsqvNnL1qhMxRJwZW/kerry-thornley

https://nymag.com/news/features/conspiracy-theories/operation-mindfuck/

MyLove4Satan

The X-Files TV show.

Donald Trump

The internet was designed by the lizard people as a tool purely to promote conspiracy theories

There were no conspiracies, or even any lizard people, before they invented the internet 🤔

growleaves

Niccolo Machiavelli wrote his treatises 'History of Florence', 'Discourses on Livy' and 'The Prince' to open the eyes of a generation of naive Florentines (as he saw it) to how conspiracies play a role in modern states. That was in the 15th century.

Deregos.

I was at school in the 70's when i first heard about the moon landings being 'faked'. Someone had seen a TV show which claimed the shadows were on the wrong side or some such bollox.

I suppose a lot of conspiracy theories from that time must've come from television programmes.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118808946#Comment_118808946

There was a movie about the moon landings being faked that came out in the 70s. I haven't seen it and I can't think of the title but I read about it last year.

There was the Oliver Stone movie 'JFK' which was huge in the 90s.

Deregos.

You're right, Capricorn one with none other than OJ Simpson in the cast . . . Creator of another bunch of conspiracy theories.

growleaves

Jim Garrison's public campaigns and memoirs.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Garrison

Hangdogroad

Books usually. The 70s saw a big explosion in pulp "non fiction" paperbacks about UFOs etc and since debunked but big sellers like Chariots Of The Gods (it was aliens) and Michelle Remembers (about supposed Satanic ritual abuse, all bollocks).

Zebra3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118808753#Comment_118808753

Yep. False flag operations. Smearing opponents to justify wars.

Religious scum too. Proclamations of the existence of a god or gods, afterlife and characters such as Satan are all conspiracy theories.

cj maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118808957#Comment_118808957

I think Capricorn One. But it was Mars rather than the moon. May be a different film.

whisky_galore

Sensationalist reporting; Red top rags and moral panic stories and Yellow Journalism before that.

Deliberately faked publications like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion probably go back as far as the invention of the printing press.

ohnonotgmail

this is an early example

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion

Ray Palmer

Oh my god I feel old. Conspiracy theories require somebody to make up something tell somebody or a group who beleive it and then repeat. It is as old as time and just the same as a rumour. No facts or complicated transmission is needed just word of mouth.

Why people do it knowing they are not being honest is another thing.

Was in a pub with a mate and he gives me this warning speech about a guy he works with told him this story of helping a Muslim women and because of this she warned him not to be in Dublin city centre on a particular day. As he is telling me this I bring up the often repeated story on the internet and how it was the same as what his work colleague said. My mate seemed very confused and I had to spell it out that his work colleague was lying and at best repeated something somebody else told him and added him self to the story. Still lying

Zebra3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813785#Comment_118813785

Purple monkey dishwasher.

dxhound2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118810647#Comment_118810647

Things like Straight Bananas might seem funny. But put alongside thousands of other anti EU conspiracy theories and urban myths published in the red tops, they played a role in Farage being able to succeed with Brexit. It was a relentless campaign of disinformation.

https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/news/the-eu-have-archived-all-of-the-euromyths-printed-in-uk-media-and-it-makes-for-some-disturbing-reading-108942/

Markus Antonius

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118813597#Comment_118813597

Why don't you ask the Syrians, Palestinians or Egyptians to name but a few as to whether that's a fabricated antisemitic text... They are more or less living the prophecy outlined in it.

ohnonotgmail

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118816732#Comment_118816732

ah it is mr "newton got his maths wrong". you're definitely somebody I will listen to.

Hangdogroad

The one about Aids being deliberately created in a laboratory was another one that originated in Russia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_INFEKTION

Collusion in slaughtering nationlists in NI during troubles,though that can no longer be regarded as a conspiracy theory anymore i guess?

The lusitania containing explosives would be another well pre-dating internetp

riclad

Late night radio talk shows, extremist political groups, books, pamphlets, tabloid newspapers, in the old days priests would preach anti semetic sermons , there have always been books that were racists and sexist, fake documents, in the 80s there was a theory that dnd dungeons and dragons. Fantasy roleplaying was some kind of cult, of course now there's weird conspiracy theory's on social media, Facebook etc Qanon is based on old conspiracy theory's

Some people might say scientology is just a religion made up by a science fiction writer based on conspiracy theory's about aliens

Samuel323

Yes, I also think that the military and politicians were responsible for conspiracy theories coming before the internet.

Ray Palmer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118817251#Comment_118817251

Rumours are the same as conspiracy theories. No need for politicians or governments need not be involved at it has been around since before these countries existed. Even Mosses had a conspiracy theory he was Jewish. A lot of conspiracy theories now are just anti-what ever and just from attention seekers. Alex Jones does it for money and doubt any of his stuff is from a government

Badly Drunk Boy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118814798#Comment_118814798

Barmaids – EU health directive to prevent barmaids from showing cleavage, Nov 2005

😮 No wonder the Brits voted to leave the EU! 😄