3 ms·

Bird Aren't Real: What one man learned when he made up a conspiracy theory

19 points by throw0101d 2y ago

throw0101d 2y ago
https://archive.today/oMttj https://archive.today/oMttj https://archive.ph/oMttj https://archive.ph/oMttj
throw0101d 2y ago
> Birds Aren't Real is a satirical conspiracy theory which posits that birds are actually drones operated by the United States government to spy on American citizens.[2][3][4][5] In 2018, journalist Rachel Roberts described Birds Aren't Real as "a joke that thousands of people are in on."[3] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Aren%27t_Real https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Aren%27t_Real
jerkstate 2y ago
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/aquiline https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/aquiline birds aren't necessarily real
moi2388 2y ago
Paywall. Please stop advertising and just post the archive link instead
- TrueGeek 2y ago
  The HN rules say the original source should be posted (which may mean a paywalled link) and that you shouldn’t post comments complaining about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html The best thing to do is to comment an archive link or upvote an existing (working) one.
pwarner 2y ago
https://henhousebrewing.com/beer/avian-surveillance-division/ https://henhousebrewing.com/beer/avian-surveillance-division...
mat0 2y ago
I was fascinated by this movement some years ago. They did a great job of understanding what makes "belief" in general so damn interesting. I'm afraid that we'll keep seeing these things pop up (real conspiracy theories) as long as we haven't unmasked the biggest conspiracy theories there are: religions.
jmclnx 2y ago
Very good for him :) He got me to, but in a different direction. I remember when I heard "Birds are not real", I thought many of the people really believed it so I just said to myself "these people are nuts". I then Ignored everything about that thinking this is just another crazy group of people. Even though a lot of Andy's humor went way over my head, I believed he was a genius. Seems this kid is a genius in the way Andy was.
fallinghawks 2y ago
I'd be more amused by this if it didn't have the side effect of some dingdong inserting themselves into a serious discussion of birds with "hurr durr birds aren't real".
TwoNineFive 2y ago
"Bro, it's just a joke." Unfortunately, it's not all fun and games with the Birds Aren't Real meme. It's been a few years since I looked into it, but if you look at the regular accounts on reddit that participate in that sub, there is a very heavy overlap with other less fun conspiracies and degeneracy, such as hate subs, Trump supporters, actual flat-earthers, and other deplorables. Racists, Nazis, and other hate groups often use jokes and irony and other systems of plausible deniability to act as cover and deflect consequences for thier behavior.

19 points by throw0101d 2y ago

https://archive.today/oMttj https://archive.today/oMttj https://archive.ph/oMttj https://archive.ph/oMttj

> Birds Aren't Real is a satirical conspiracy theory which posits that birds are actually drones operated by the United States government to spy on American citizens.[2][3][4][5] In 2018, journalist Rachel Roberts described Birds Aren't Real as "a joke that thousands of people are in on."[3] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Aren%27t_Real https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_Aren%27t_Real

jerkstate 2y ago

https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/aquiline https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/collection/aquiline birds aren't necessarily real

moi2388 2y ago

Paywall. Please stop advertising and just post the archive link instead

TrueGeek 2y ago
The HN rules say the original source should be posted (which may mean a paywalled link) and that you shouldn’t post comments complaining about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html The best thing to do is to comment an archive link or upvote an existing (working) one.

pwarner 2y ago

https://henhousebrewing.com/beer/avian-surveillance-division/ https://henhousebrewing.com/beer/avian-surveillance-division...

mat0 2y ago

I was fascinated by this movement some years ago. They did a great job of understanding what makes "belief" in general so damn interesting. I'm afraid that we'll keep seeing these things pop up (real conspiracy theories) as long as we haven't unmasked the biggest conspiracy theories there are: religions.

jmclnx 2y ago

Very good for him :) He got me to, but in a different direction. I remember when I heard "Birds are not real", I thought many of the people really believed it so I just said to myself "these people are nuts". I then Ignored everything about that thinking this is just another crazy group of people. Even though a lot of Andy's humor went way over my head, I believed he was a genius. Seems this kid is a genius in the way Andy was.

fallinghawks 2y ago

I'd be more amused by this if it didn't have the side effect of some dingdong inserting themselves into a serious discussion of birds with "hurr durr birds aren't real".

TwoNineFive 2y ago

"Bro, it's just a joke." Unfortunately, it's not all fun and games with the Birds Aren't Real meme. It's been a few years since I looked into it, but if you look at the regular accounts on reddit that participate in that sub, there is a very heavy overlap with other less fun conspiracies and degeneracy, such as hate subs, Trump supporters, actual flat-earthers, and other deplorables. Racists, Nazis, and other hate groups often use jokes and irony and other systems of plausible deniability to act as cover and deflect consequences for thier behavior.