They say it’s important to question everything. This urges people to challenge established notions, norms, and beliefs, which ingrains a healthy skepticism in us. It also improves our intelligence and drives innovation in society.

Recently, people in this thread were doing exactly that—discussing things that might not be what the general public is used to believing. From recycling being a myth to inaccurate rich lists, scroll down to find netizens’ opinions on the world's biggest secrets. 

While you're at it, don't forget to check out a conversation with Stephanie Kemmerer, a former conspiracy theorist and an advocate for recovery from conspiracy theories and cults, who kindly agreed to tell us more about what happens when people reject certain truths.

#1

Military technology at the top level is definitely several decades ahead of what we’re even aware exists. All the technologies and sciences that you can think “I wonder if the military will find a way to use that” are definitely either already in prototype stage, being actively developed, or are already in limited production.

Image credits: Robotic_space_camel

#2

A lot of under the table quid pro quo stuff in politics. Not necessarily with each other, but if I do this, company X donates some more and if media Y says this, I let some information leak.

Image credits: zeekoes

#3

Acts of terror they catch, before completion.

Image credits: CooltownGumby

Some people go too far with questioning everything. Sometimes even to the point where they start rejecting standard explanations for a phenomenon or an event and instead credit a group or organization with power for carrying out a secret plot or hidden agenda. 

This belief is called a conspiracy theory and is more common than we might think. For instance, one in three Americans is convinced that global warming is fake.

Meanwhile, 49% of people living in New York believe that the US government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. And over half of America’s citizens assume that Lee Harvey Oswald wasn’t acting alone in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 

In addition, 37% of Americans are certain that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is purposely hiding the natural cures for cancer from the public.

#4

The unfathomable amount of wealth that is off the books and hidden by the wealthy and/or dictators.

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#5

How much recycling is actually just thrown away.

Image credits: Niminal

#6

Experimentation on the general public and particularly on low grade military members, mental hospital patients, the homeless without consent.

Image credits: Nena902

Meanwhile, 49% of people living in New York believe that the US government was involved in the 9/11 attacks. And over half of America’s citizens assume that Lee Harvey Oswald had an accomplice in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. 

In addition, 37% of Americans are certain that the Food and Drug Administration is purposely hiding the natural cures for cancer from the public.

#7

Criminality by the wealthy. It’s massive.

#8

The amount of radiation and pollution that all governments are collectively allowing corporations to create. There’s a reason cancer and other diseases have been on the rise for 70 years. Plastics, oil, carbon monoxide, things we know about, and things we don’t know about.

Image credits: OUMUAMUAMUAMUAMUAMUA

#9

That we are currently eyebrows deep in a mass extinction event, and we should be much more concerned than we currently are. it’s not anywhere on the news. insects are dying off at an alarming rate. so is sea life, and other life that depend on it. are you seeing less squirrels? what about lady bugs or dragon flies? i can’t remember the last time I saw either of those. Butterflies… almost non existent in my area but i used to see them all the time growing up. crows… they used to be annoyingly everywhere, not as much any more. no one is mentioning how things we used to see all the time are slowly disappearing.

What drives people to believe such unsupported claims is to make sense of uncertainty. “Conspiracy theorists are not all likely to be simple-minded, mentally unwell folks—a portrait which is routinely painted in popular culture,” says Shauna Bowes, a doctoral student in clinical psychology. 

“Instead, many turn to conspiracy theories to fulfill deprived motivational needs and make sense of distress and impairment.” To the human brain, a false explanation is often better than not having one at all. 

#10

What happens with all our personal data that is taken from us on a daily basis.

Image credits: OddRepresentative958

#11

The AI we get to play with on every Windows 11 taskbar out there has absolutely GOT to be a freaking POTATO compared to what’s on the bleeding edge.

Image credits: ALXD

#12

The state of our aquifers, specifically how polluted they are.

Image credits: kramerica_intern

People who believe a certain conspiracy theory may create a community, like the infamous Flat Earthers, which in some ways provides a sense of belonging to individuals. They create a bond by sharing their insights and circulating these theories, leading them to feel like members of a family.

#13

The cover-ups and abuse related to charitable contributions.

#14

What absolute disarray the public school system is in. Unless you work in a school, you cannot even fathom how horrible it is. From insane behaviors to kids receiving diplomas and only being able to read at a first grade level, it is beyond broken.

Image credits: Honest_Sector_2585

#15

Most information regarding the urgency towards climate change.

Image credits: powerhouseofthiscell

#16

The reason a bunch of billionaires around the world started making doomsday bunkers all around the same time.

That to me seems like no coincidence and people who are that rich are definitely in inner circles of people that would know when something is coming and I feel is the reason these people started making these luxurious bunkers.

Image credits: MattRedd_it

#17

The degree to which the people in charge have no idea what they’re doing and are basically just winging it.

#18

The amount of pharmaceutical residue is a pollution no one talks about that’s in our water ways and oceans. Yes, states do their best to reduce other containments such as nitrates, mercury, trace metals and nasty bacteria. All of the d***s Americans consume and then get flushed into the sewers are not monitored. Smallmouth bass were developing male testes as well as female ovaries in the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Most likely culprit was pharmaceutical residue from birth control pills found in the water. It all winds up in the ocean and it really makes you wonder about how safe our seafood really is to consume.

Image credits: Schmoahawk

#19

Certain technologies that have yet to be unveiled to the public.

Image credits: WARMASTER5000

#20

That cures have been found for many diseases and probably types of cancer, but they’re sitting on it because ongoing treatment is more profitable.

Image credits: Currywurst_Is_Life

#21

How horrifying our justice system is.

Image credits: Goat_Williker_

#22

Where all the single socks go.

#23

How much unpaid labour is done in corporate offices.

#24

How rampant the contamination in the air/soil is in disenfranchised neighborhoods. You can go to the hood and the soils there will test high in heavy metals/carcinogens generally due to the fact that cities will allow industrial plants to open up nearby and the regulations on them are super lax.

#25

There were some pretty horrific crimes not being told to the public when I was police. It wasn’t really in the public interest for anyone to know outside of law enforcement and the judicial system etc.
Some were either so indiscriminate and terrible and some would just cause too much panic.

Image credits: skibba25

#26

True history, I genuinely believe that there have been things discovered in the past that tell a different story of the past and are intentionally hidden.

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#27

I wouldn’t be surprised if giant corporations regularly have large amounts of money stolen by hackers and that they would hide it in order not to have it affect their stock prices.

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#28

There are USA health systems being hacked and I never see news in the news reddit about it. I only know two but I bet there is more Change health system been down since Feb 21 2024 Ascension health systems down since. May 8 2024.

#29

How close things really are to another depression.

#30

How much the US relies on prison labor and how our for profit prison system synergizes with giant cartels.

How much punishment is designed to encourage repeat offending on purpose. Just a few minor offenses can lead to becoming jobless, then homeless, etc.

#31

The history hidden away in the Vatican archive. St. Peter’s goes back to when the Romans had control of the city. I’d be most interested to see what information survived from Rome and Old St. Peter’s before the current 1500’s incarnation was built.

Image credits: Fellatination

#32

There probably are a lot of sex and d**g party islands out there that only the rich are invited to.

I’m not saying they’re all necessarily pedophile islands or it’s a weird cult, or some “satanic” nonsense or anything, but the rich probably get away with a lot more d**g and sex stuff than is publicly known.

Probably more just like sex workers and blow.

#33

The food and drink industry’s role in promoting the fat acceptance movement.

#34

How truly damaging it is to have Covid more than once. Having it two or more times is pretty much guaranteed to leave you with long-term effects.

#35

Baby pigeons, I’ve never seen one.

#36

?The cruelity of factory farm breeding and the toll on the animals.

#37

Nuclear policy. The uranium we’ve stopped buying from Russia was part of the most successful disarmament campaign in history (megatons to megawatts). People don’t seem to know or care we have no longterm waste storage facilities, or the state of the Hanford site or the Runit dome. None of this information is inaccessible, but it’s sort of willfully kept out of mind because it’s such a nasty topic.

#38

Where all the money in cities that are poorly run (Oakland) is going? Obviously the people in charge are pocketing the money but they also say they’ve forgot to apply for essential loans to basically help with the assistance of getting rid of the trash and fix the homeless situation along with infrastructure and crime reduction. Like how do you just forget to apply when the other cities around you are applying for the same s**t and getting payed ?

#39

Positive news.

mrsmunsonbarnes:
No they definitely do. They recently had a breakthrough in the treatment of glioblastoma, but that’s never going to be front page news when all the negative stories generate the traffic.

Image credits: Spontanudity

#40

The true extent of the Catholic Church’s abuse/coverups of abuse.

:::UPDATE:::
Wow a lot of people liked this one. I wanted to acknowledge that while my point about the Vatican stands, the Roman Catholic Church is not the only religious community that, even just through tradition piety or shame, has to deal with people with religious authority abusing minors. This is of course abhorrent regardless of the source and anyone guilty of this should be locked up forever. I just wanted to play fair here.

#41

Kaiser works numbers and decides if it’s cheaper for a patient to die vs paying for the treatments. They factor in that family will sue. Check out your new contract when u agree to Kaiser insurance with that maximum 250,000 payout. Still don’t understand how it is legal for a company to run insurance and ownes a monopoly of hospitals. Insurance and hospitals are are suppose to be checks and balances on each-other.

Image credits: nurse2009cvicu

#42

Personal finance. Why are high school kids forced to take three years of math and chemistry but don’t understand how a loan works?

#43

It’s not so much things are being hidden, as the mass media are dominated by conventional thinking and beholden to vested interests, so they focus on superficialities, leaving most people woefully under-informed.

I think that our current levels of consumption are completely unsustainable, the world is horrifically over-populated (by a factor of 2 or more), and capitalism as it is now practiced is incompatible with the continuation of global civilization.

We are now entering a period of gradual or possibly rapid decline, as the Machine continues to grind through what is left of our ecosystems and resources.

The best thing we could all do for future generations is to commit to a 30-50 percent reduction in our standard of living. Cut right back on non-essentials as we transition to 100% renewable/recyclable society within strict demographic and production limits. Of course the cutbacks should fall mainly on the rich but the middle class would also have to take cuts. The poor are already on the edge so we should minimize the effects on them (as far as possible).

So who’s going to vote for this? Almost no-one of course. Which is why we continue on the road to collapse. I hope I’m wrong about all this, maybe I’m just a pessimist. But we seem to have a strange ahistorical belief that our empire is somehow different from all the ones in the past, all of which eventually collapsed.

#44

How unhealthy and unfit both the presidential candidates are to run for office.

#45

I’m not a conspiracy obsessive at all, but the US military (and even Obama) have acknowledged there are things flying around in the sky, captured visually and on radar, darting around in ways that should be impossible and we don’t know what they are. And they are seen *all* the time. We don’t HAVE to jump to aliens necessarily – but it’s a legit mystery and someone must have an idea of what they are.

#46

The evacuation plans for the President in the event of a nuclear attack on Washington DC. This is literally the most closely guarded national secret. You could count on one hand the number of people who know what it is. The VP would be expected to stay in DC and die while the President was being evacuated. Not even the President knows the plan. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, maybe Chief of Staff for the President, maybe national security advisor, maybe head of the secret service. it’s obviously not public who knows but it’s very few people.

#47

We will eventually run out of oil….

#48

All the horrific animal and human experiments. Don't you think they didn't try to make a human chimpanzee hybrid.

Image credits: SimiaeUltionis

#49

I still think something was up when Hawaii got that text about an incoming ICBM. Like it was actually happening and somehow we were able to stop it.

#50

The level of corruption in Congress on both sides of the house.

#51

How many menu items are actually microwaved at restaurants.

Image credits: Upbeat_Tension_8077

#52

The fringe right and fringe left are not an accident. They are molded and encouraged to grow. Money and power interests want to keep the general public divided because it is easier to control a divided people. Think about how easy it is to get someone behind a cause or point the finger at the other side, that’s how you get votes. Why do you think there’s only 2 political parties in the USA?

If we were actually united, we could get rid of money in politics, get rid of trash politicians that just want to get reelected and don’t care about then welfare of the people.

#53

Just how contaminated federal lands are. Everything from bombs to radioactive elements to dangerous chemicals that were just dumped and left. The feds don’t actually give a s**t about human lives, and their trash proves it.

#54

That World War 3 has already started.

#55

How bad tap water is…sooo much bad c**p in it.

#56

There may have been an intelligent civilization on Earth prior to humans that we now have very little record of.

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