Conspiracies are some of the most interesting and dangerous beliefs that people hold. Ranging from flat-earth conspiracy theories to whether or not birds are real, conspiracies have infected nearly everyone’s lives, even causing some to believe in them.

But while theories are entertaining from an outside perspective, they can cause problems when they go too far.

On March 23, 2024,  a cargo ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore Maryland, causing it to collapse,  killing six people..

But among the thoughts and prayers sent to those affected were people who instead chose a different course of action. 

Some people accused the operator of being a diversity hire, others blamed the Covid vaccine for affecting the operator and still others thought the whole event was planned to distract the masses from another crisis.

Senior Cooper Swihart saw many people saying very strange things following the event, “I saw a bunch of retweets and stuff about how it was all planned or that it was a terrorist attack,” Swihart explained.

One conspiracy theory claims that the terrorist group behind the March 22 terrorist attack in Moscow was also responsible for the bridge collapse. Others say it was a cyberattack that caused the ship to lose power.

But what all these conspiracy theories really point to is a new global trend of fighting invisible enemies.

Conspiracy theories inundate everyone’s lives, causing the spread of misinformation based on perceptions of reality rather than statistical evidence. 

For example, a common conspiracy theory in many states is that teachers are attempting to brainwash their students. This theory has become so widespread that there have been policies and laws passed regulating what teachers can talk about to students or teach.

The problem isn’t that people are hesitant to accept everything they’re told, but rather that people refuse to accept the truth. As reality becomes substituted by fearmongering, global understanding begins to fail.

Junior Bennett Teitle is Jewish and has seen many “insane” and “hateful” conspiracy theories about his religion. “I’ve seen people remark on Jewish cabals or satanist rituals in the entertainment industry, and I just think that kind of stuff is really bad for people’s minds,” he said.

Many of these theories are a result of short-form social media content that often leaves out details for the sake of brevity, creating a half-educated society that, without the full information, often chooses to extrapolate the rest of reality. Instead of witnessing the reality that unfolds in front of them, they see reality through their phones and become scared. 

The invisible enemy that’s responsible for everything lies dormant in many people’s heads now, and without ever existing, this invisible enemy has changed the world and the minds of the people, potentially irrevocably.