Some conspiracy theories are trivial, absurd and even amusing. Elvis is still alive, but Paul McCartney died in 1966 and was replaced by a look- and sound-alike (admittedly a very talented and successful doppelganger). The world is run by a secret society of Illuminati, or perhaps by the Anunnaki: shape-shifting extraterrestrial reptiles whose numbers include members of the British royal family and several US presidents (though not the one you might expect). Other conspiracy theories create fear, social disharmony and radicalisation: global warming is a lie perpetrated by so-called climate scientists; the CIA created AIDS; and vaccines cause autism.
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