Column Chronicles
 
A brief history of conspiracy theories
 
 
Frank Cotolo
March 15, 2018
 
There is nothing new about conspiracy theories. In the history of mankind there have been scores of "alternative truths" that have popularized for political reasons. Here are a few conspiracies that were spawned from major historic events around the world from time immemorial.
 
In 2500 B.C., some philosophers in Mesopotamia claimed that the Red Sea housed an underwater civilization that were controlled by temple priests and could be identified under a full moon if naked.
 
Around the time of the Zhou Dynasty in China, some people thought Confucius conspired to bring down the rulers by making them attempt to understand his widely popular sayings, while others thought Confucius could turn into a stork at will.
 
By 3000 B.C., Minoans in Greece were undermined by theories that their elegant civilization was an illusion created by a drug given to the population by birds of prey sent to the islands by cruel gods with heads in the shape of green olives.
 
Justinian, a Roman leader around 527 A.D., was convinced that his best general, Belisarius, wanted to overthrow him and redecorate his chariot.
 
Kublai Khan, who ruled the Mongol Empire in 1260, believed that it wasn't 1260 because his enemies had corrupted the calendar in their attempt to make Mongolia great again, as they thought it was before Kublai Khan's rule.
 
In the Middle Ages, high-ranking members of the Germanic Kingdoms felt the trend of Western Europe's population to become rural was a plot to steal the sky and poison it so it would never rain again.
 
The Atlantic slave trade produced 19th century supporters who insisted African natives were actually Caucasians.
 
Many people believed that Abraham Lincoln's assassination was a fake and that the President was merely looking for an escape from his wife who, aside from being a shrew, poked holes in all of his stovetop hats so his head would get wet when he wore it in the rain. These conspiracy theorists believed that once everyone thought Lincoln was dead, he sailed to India where he shaved and opened a small restaurant.
 
World War I was highly thought by many not to be "the war to end all wars" but more so, "the war that comes before the next number war," which at the time was considered crazy but later that century proved true at the beginning of World War II.
 
Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles. You can send him an e-mail at this address: frank@148.ca.
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