Conspiracies

World Domination

Perhaps the most expansive of conspiracy theories concern the New World Order, alleging that global affairs are controlled behind the scenes by a group of international elites manipulating entire governments, and controlling financial institutions, industry, and media organizations worldwide. Variations of New World Order theories feature such alleged conspirators as international bankers, Jews, Freemasons, or the Illuminati. The Bavarian Illuminati formed in 1776 with the purpose of eliminating religious and political control in their society, but it was dismantled nearly 10 years later. No evidence of their continued existence is available, yet some conspiracists continue to assert that those who would deny the Illuminati's current existence are deceiving themselves.

The persistence of such conspiratorial beliefs stems, at least in part, from the seminal texts of John Robinson and Abbe Barruel, written in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which have inspired others to write about the extent of the Illuminati's power throughout the 20th and 21st centuries. Another world domination theory—the purported Judeo-Masonic world-domination conspiracy—is described in the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an anti-Semitic publication that was originally published in a Russian newspaper in 1903, and was later widely circulated, including by Adolph Hitler and Henry Ford. In 1921, the London Times revealed it as a hoax.

While some world-domination conspiracy theories implicate secular individuals or groups, others implicate religious groups or figures. The anti-Christ conspiracy is prominent among individuals who expect a particular individual to create a New World Order, initially deceiving the world by disguising his identity and leading the creation of a one-world government. Countless individuals have at times been accused of being the anti-Christ, including the Roman emperor Nero, Adolf Hitler, Ronald Regan, Saddam Hussein, Barak Obama, and even the Pope.

Control of Information and Technology

Other relatively sweeping conspiracies are alleged to control information or technology, and largely implicate governments or businesses presumed to benefit from collection of information, propagation of deceptive misinformation, or suppression of technology. Popular conspiracy theories in this class include the theory that the military-industrial complex is designed to promote and profit from war; suppression of alternative fuel technologies by Big Oil and gas; suppression of alternative medicine by mainstream medicine; climate scientists' fabrication of evidence of global warming to achieve power, research funding, or other financial gain (and the reverse conspiracy of big business to deny global warming); Bible conspiracy theories alleging that much of the Bible is deceptive; and secret groups alleged to possess control of the bloodline of Jesus (as portrayed in the novel The Da Vinci Code).

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