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{{trope}}
[[File:Thumbtacks and string.png|thumb|400px|link=String Theory|''[[xkcd]]'' takes this trope meta.]]
 
{{quote|''"Everywhere I go there's someone in a trenchcoat staring at me,''
''And when I'm not at home I'm sure someone's rummaging through my trash.''
''Whatever could they want from me? Is it just a part of a giant government conspiracy?''
''I gotta go see my doctor about this itchy pentagram-shaped rash..."''|'''[[Barenaked Ladies]]''', "Get In Line"}}
|'''[[Barenaked Ladies]]'''|"Get In Line"}}
 
<s>[[Describe Topic Here|<s>Describe]]</s> [[Describe Topic Here|Write your own]] [[Wild Mass Guessing|crazy theories]] [[Describe Topic Here|about]] '''Conspiracy Theorist''' [[Describe Topic Here|here]].
 
Yeah, right. [[Self-Demonstrating Article|That's just what]] ''[[Self-Demonstrating Article|they]]'' [[Self-Demonstrating Article|want me to do.]] They want you to think I'm schizophrenic, but ''that's'' part of [[The Schizophrenia Conspiracy]]. And while I'm here explaining to you what a '''Conspiracy Theorist''' is, ''their'' [[The Men in Black|Men in Black]] show up in their silent [[Black Helicopter|black helicopters]]. I'm not stupid enough to reveal that I know the truth about '''Conspiracy Theorists'''.
 
Alright, I'll tell you what. I'll give you the official line about '''Conspiracy Theorist'''; what ''they'' want you to think. And you can think about that. And, if you decide that it doesn't really make any sense, then you can go out do some digging of your own. Maybe, just maybe, you'll learn the '''real''' truth. And if you can't find any proof of the real truth, that just proves that ''they'' destroyed the proof – probably to make room for all the so-called "evidence" that ''they'' manufactured that says the opposite. Who are you going to believe; scientists and historians, or me?
 
A '''Conspiracy Theorist''' attributes the ultimate cause of an event or chain of events (usually political, social or historical events), or the concealment of such causes from public knowledge, to a secret and often deceptive plot by a [[The Conspiracy|group of powerful or influential people or organizations]]. Many conspiracy theories state that major events in history have been dominated by conspirators who manipulate political happenings from behind the scenes. The Conspiracy is generally [[Card-Carrying Villain|evil beyond evil]]. And yet despite how evil they are, [[Lawful Evil|they never betray each other]], so the conspiracy stays together for thousands of years. How they accomplish this is unexplained. It is something beyond the wisdom of our puny minds.
 
Conspiracy theorists in the media may be associated with [[Right-Wing Militia Fanatic|Right Wing Militia Fanatics]]s, and always seem to come off as somewhat mentally unhinged (though you and I know better, right?). This seems to be the case even when one of them catches the trail of a genuine [[Ancient Conspiracy]] or [[Government Conspiracy]]. Of course, said conspiracies have a tendency to try to [[Killed to Uphold the Masquerade|silence the "kook"]] once they learn he's on to them, [[Villain Ball|despite the fact]] that [[Cassandra Truth|no one would actually]] [[Revealing Coverup|believe he's telling the truth]].
This has the effect of:
# If the attempt fails, it gives the theorist the [[Heroic Resolve]] he needs to [[Pull the Thread|unravel the conspiracy]].
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Oh, and if you ever get the urge to buy a copy of ''[[The Catcher in The Rye]]'', for God's sake, resist!
 
For{{noreallife|for [[Real Life]] examples, see [[Conspiracy Theories|our Useful Notes section on conspiracy theories]].}}
 
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] &and [[Manga]] ==
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* Satou's old school friend in ''[[Welcome to The NHK]]'': "It's a conspiracy" is practically her [[Catch Phrase]].
** Satou himself is one of these, thanks to her influence. The title is a reference to his main conspiracy theory, that the Japanese TV channel NHK is a conspiracy to create [[Hikikomori]].
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* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'', Mithril has programs that troll online forums and denounce anyone who makes connections about events Mithril was involved in as a conspiracy theorist so that nobody pays any attention to the (sometimes accurate) conclusions that the posters are coming to.
 
== [[Comic Books]] ==
 
== Comic Books ==
* Arnie Burnsteel from ''[[Scare Tactics (comics)|Scare Tactics]]'' in [[The DCU]].
* Rorschach from ''[[Watchmen (comics)|Watchmen]]''.
** Who started as an [[Expy]] of The Question, who in the [[DCAU]] was a saner [[Expy]] of Rorschach.
* Cecil Holmes from ''[[PS238]]''. Of course, in obsessing over the belief that his elementary school is a front for an alien invasion, he's completely missed out on its nature as a superhero training program.
** Well, on his own Cecil only [https://ps238.nodwick.com/comic/05042007/ noticed] that many things are very "off" in Excelsior. But when Tyler misled him, he ''glomped'' the "alien" version. Then Clay figured it's one more layer of obfuscation for the school plus someone to watch for ''other'' anomalies around it, and Revenant figured training one more agent is a good investment, so they helped Tyler to play along… and everyone was happy with this turn for a while.
* [[Meaningful Name|Perry Noia]] from ''[[The Crossovers]]''.
* In the IDW version of ''[[G.I. Joe]]'', Mainframe came to be regarded as a conspiracy theorist after he stumbled onto the Cobra conspiracy. He went AWOL from the Joes and started living like a stereotypical conspiracy theorist as he attempted to prove he was right.
 
== [[Film]] ==
 
== Film ==
* Darren "Mother" Roskow ([[Dan Aykroyd]]) from the movie ''[[Sneakers]]''.
{{quote|'''Mother:''' Did you know the Deputy Director of Planning was down in Managua, Nicaragua the day before the earthquake?
'''Crease:''' Now what are you saying, the C.I.A. caused the Managua earthquake?!
'''Mother:''' Well, I can't prove it, but... }}
* Jerry Fletcher ([[Mel Gibson]]) from the movie ''[[Conspiracy Theory (film)|Conspiracy Theory]]''. {{spoiler|By the end it hints that he was right about *''all*'' his theories as the president gets caught in an earthquake just like he predicted.}}
* The aptly named "Conspiracy Brother" from ''[[Undercover Brother]]'' thinks ''everything'' is out to get black people, and freaks out at even the most innocent-sounding of gestures. It takes ''real'' conspiracy theory skills to turn "Good morning!" into a two-minute paranoid manifesto.
{{quote|'''Conspiracy Brother:''' Let me tell you something about the word "good," brotha. Good is an ancient Anglo-Saxon word, go-od, meanin' the absence of color. I.E. it's all good, which it is, OR Good Will Huntin', meanin, "I'm Huntin' Niggas!" So when you say good morning, what you're telling me is "I'm gonna kill yo black ass, first thing in the mornin'!"}}
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* Bobby Lee Swagger from ''[[Shooter]]''. He has the 9/11 Commission report on his nightstand, and generally distrusts [[The Government]] (and for a reason). Nick Memphis also sees signs of conspiracy around the attempted presidential assassination {{spoiler|where the president wasn't the real target, anyway}}, and gets tortured and almost "shoots himself" with the help of some Secret Agents.
* In the '90s Disney Channel remake of the '60s comedy ''[[The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes]]'', the main character's best friend was a stereotypical college-age radical who, in a parody of Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories, believed that President [[William McKinley]] was actually killed by his vice president, [[Theodore Roosevelt]].
* In the Film ''[[Eight Legged Freaks|8 Legged Freaks]]'' one of the Characters is a Conspiracy Theorist with his own radio station, which he uses to rant about aliens and the government.
* Charlie's dad in ''[[So I Married an Axe Murderer]]'' is convinced that the world is run by a secret group known as "The Pentaverate:" the Queen, the Rothschilds, the Vatican, the Gettys, and Colonel Sanders "before he went [[Never Say "Die"|tits-up]]."
 
== [[Literature]] ==
 
== Literature ==
* In David Wingrove's ''[[Chung Kuo]]'', Kim is a genius who in his teens uncovers the files showing the truth about world history, which has been falsified by the T'ang Lords
* Luna Lovegood from the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' novels as well as her father Xenophilius Lovegood.
* ''[[Foucault's Pendulum]]''
* Various characters in ''The [[Illuminatus]]|The Illuminatus! Trilogy]]'', though due to the [[Conspiracy Kitchen Sink|nature of the book]], they're maybe the sanest people around.
* In the ''[[Night Huntress]]'' books, Timothy, Cat's next neighbor in the first book, is convinced the government covers up evidence of the supernatural (he's right). He later goes to work for "one of those magazines that give [[The Men in Black|Cat's boss]] headaches".
* Several flavors of this trope (alien abductee, Satanic cult victim, militia gun nut) appear in the ''[[Repairman Jack]]'' novel ''Conspiracies'', which is actually set at a Conspiracy Theorist convention. {{spoiler|Turns out the only ''genuine'' conspiracy there is an [[Eldritch Abomination]] plot targeting Jack himself.}}
* ''[[Matthew Reilly|Area 7]]'' opens with an article from "The Conspiracy Theorist Monthly" (circulation: 157 copies) connecting a senator's death by hunting accident with the deaths of his wife and daughter by gas explosion. {{spoiler|There's actually a ''bigger'' conspiracy going on than the writer knows...}}
* Jonathan Shriek in Jeff VanderMeer's ''[[Ambergris|Shriek: An Afterword]]'' is perceived as one by the world at large because he insists that midgets who live underground secretly control the people in his home town with fungus spores. Of course everyone knows that there ''are'' midgets who live underground and really like mushrooms, but don't think that they're any more than that. {{spoiler|They are wrong.}}
* In ''[[Host]]'', by Stephanie Meyer, conspiracy theorists were more likely to survive the [[Alien Invasion]] than the average person. This is because the aliens are [[Puppeteer Parasite]]s and most people did not notice the difference, except the "crazies".
* ''[[The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress]]'' included a conspiracy theorist as an aversion, as he disdains the conjecture that passes for '"theory'". Professor de la Paz pursued the study of historical conspiracies and developed a body of principles to describe how they work, how they fail to work, how they wind up being revealed. As a founding member of a revolutionary conspiracy, his theories are quite valuable for functioning in the scientific/academic meaning of the word. This also helps him develop his theory, since the most successful conspiracies are never revealed, the only way to be sure he's observing one is to take part in it.
* After watching too much ''[[I, Claudius]]'', [[Ephraim Kishon]] became very suspicious of his wife. Well, in one of his satirical short stories. [[Write What You Know|It tends to overlap.]]
* ''[[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]'': [[Played for Laughs]] with Ned Land: As a professional fisher, he doesn’t believe in Seasea monsters (giant narwhales or octopus), but he believes that his captors [[I'm a Humanitarian|could be cannibals]], that the language spoken in the Nautilus is a [[Milkman Conspiracy|conspiracy to let him die of hunger]] (see [[Con Lang]]) and in [[Artificial Human]]s:
{{quote|"Haven't seen or heard a thing!" the Canadian replied. "I haven't even spotted the crew of this boat. By any chance, could they be electric too?"
"Electric?"
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* In ''[[The Pale King]]'', There's an old lady {{spoiler|later revealed to be Toni Ware's grandmother}} who believes [[Jack Benny]] is attempting to achieve global thought control via radio waves. She covers her house with electrified hubcaps, which jams her neighbors' signals. She ends up getting cited for diverting her household's amperage, so she salvages a generator that runs on kerosene.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe|Expanded Universe]] contains a novel called ''Who Killed Kennedy'' which works as a [[Perspective Flip]] on the 1970s U.N.I.T stories by presenting it from the perspective of a journalist who becomes convinced that U.N.I.T and the Doctor are part of some malevolent organisation determined to uncover the truth, and ends up ruining his reputation and becoming considered one of these. {{spoiler|It's partly [[Deconstructed]]; the general gist of what he believes is true, but he's got things completely wrong with regards to who are the good guys and who has malevolent intentions. He also learns that alien invasions are covered up mainly because no one would believe the truth.}}
* In the ''[[Gotrek and Felix]]'' story "Orc Slayer", a dwarf named Sketti blames the elves for everything wrong with the setting. [[Elves Versus Dwarves|Not that dwarfs hating elves is unusual]], but Sketti's beliefs go a bit far even by that metric - it doesn't help that he's going on about all this during a stealth mission. Eventually, Sketti falls silent when another dwarf, Narin, accuses him of divulging dwarf secrets in the presence the human Felix and asserts that humans work for elves - Felix isn't too bothered since this finally shuts Skretti up, and Narin's wink at Felix after indicates as much on his part.
 
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
 
* [[John Munch]] was one of these when he appeared in ''[[Homicide: Life on the Street]]''. This was alsoremained a major aspect of his character when he moved to ''[[Law and& Order: Special Victims SVUUnit]]'', to the point where a shrink accurately concluded, "You could a smell a conspiracy at a five-year-old's lemonade stand.". At one point, when Munch is pretending to be a homeless man and shouting about random conspiracies, his partner just claims this is what he always says but louder.
== Live-Action TV ==
* [[John Munch]] was one of these when he appeared in ''[[Homicide: Life on the Street]]''. This was also a major aspect of his character when he moved to ''[[Law and Order SVU]]'', to the point where a shrink accurately concluded, "You could a smell a conspiracy at a five-year-old's lemonade stand."
** At one point he is pretending to be a homeless man and is shouting about random conspiracies. His partner just claims this is what he always says but louder.
** Steve Crosetti was also fixated on the conspiracy to assassinate [[Abraham Lincoln]].
* Fox Mulder from ''[[The X-Files]]'', a heroic conspiracy nut who is unusual both in almost always being right in his postulations about secret doings and in (usually) being a rational, shrewdly observant investigator who labors to find solid evidence to support his ideas rather than just relying on [[Wild Mass Guessing]].
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* At least two such characters show up in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'':
** Ron Reznick in "Nightshifter", who is convinced that the shapeshifter attacks he's been doing independent research on are caused by "mandroids".
** In "Slash Fiction" paranoid whackjob Frank Devereaux doesn't put much stock in magic, but he's sure that "The government's been cloning people for years.".
* Clive Finch from the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Rose".
** Semi-subverted in that, despite sounding like an utter nutcase to anybody who doesn't know ''Doctor Who'', he was mostly correct: he thought the pictures of the Doctor from various time periods were all the same man (they were), that the Doctor was an alien (he is), and that the Doctor is immortal (not 100% true, but 900 years is a hell of a long lifespan). The only thing he didn't guess was the time- travel angle.
** Also LINDA from "Love & Monsters".
** Howie in "The God Complex".
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* ''[[Leverage]]'': "Wade Perkins" (Hardison) in "The Three Days of the Hunter Job", complete with a standard-issue [[Room Full of Crazy]]. Hilariously, Eliot and Hardison start telling Parker the stuff on there is real, just to mess with her.
* Martin Lloyd in the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Point of No Return".
** His case was a rather amusing [[Deconstruction]], as it turns out that all his beliefs were not only correct, but he knew the truth because {{spoiler|he himself was an alien from another world who was suffering from a drug-induced {{[[[Laser-Guided Amnesia|amnesia]] amnesia}} perpetrated by his fellow aliens}}.
* Sam on ''[[The West Wing]]'' has recurring run-ins with a conspiracy theorist of the "there really were aliens at Roswell and the government is covering it up" variety. He got it from his father.
* The hostage-taker from the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Derailed" is one of the "the government is watching me" variety.
* Field Commander Moss of ''[[Lexx]]'' is an over-the-top parody:
{{quote|'''Moss:''' Take the 1 from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Split it in half. Take the two halves. Now, attach them to the two zeros. What have you got? ''666'' Pennsylvania Avenue. Coincidence? I don't think so. ''There are no coincidences,'' my friends!}}
* The whole point of ''[[Series/Conspiracy Theory|Conspiracy Theory]]'' with [[Jesse Ventura]]''.
* Mozzie, Neal's criminal contact, on ''[[White Collar]]'', is incredibly paranoid and suspicious of the government, which leads to him acting out various Hollywood spy story cliches like meeting on park benches, playing loud music or running water during conversations, using code names, and so on. His antics are treated as ridiculous, but [[Government Conspiracy|in the show's world, he may have a point.]]
* ''[[Royal Canadian Air Farce]]'' had a recurring conspiracy theorist character who liked to share his theories with strangers on the street. According to him, the Kennedys were assassinated by Hitler, [[George W. Bush]] and [[Osama Bin Laden]] are brothers, bin Laden is in [[Canada, Eh?]] working at a gas station, and the Chernobyl accident happened because aliens spilled a Slurpee on the control panel.
* In ''[[New Tricks]]'', Brian Lane turns into one of these if he comes off his anti-depressants; most notably in one episode where the team are investigating the suspicious death of a prominent 1970s trade unionist, Brian—himself a member of the Police Union during his service—becomes convinced that he's being observed.
* In the ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'' episode "Absentia," a guru on trial for murder claims that the government is framing him ... and also that the government killed [[John Lennon]].
* Dudley Carew in the ''[[Midsomer Murders]]'' episode "Murder on St. Malley's Day". Amongst his theories was one that Lee Harvey Oswald was in Midsomer two weeks before Kennedy was assassinated.
* [[Real Life]] examples of this trope are frequently given the opportunity to rant by certain programs on [[Network Decay|the History Channel]].
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* Joe Garrelli from ''[[News Radio]]'' is obsessed with conspiracies, particularly ones involving the government's cover-ups of knowledge about extraterrestrials.
 
== [[Music]] ==
* "Everything You Know Is Wrong" by [[Chumbawamba]] is a parody of this trope.
 
== Music[[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* "Everything You Know Is Wrong" by Chumbawamba is a parody of this trope.
 
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* Al, the bartender in ''[[Liberty Meadows]]'', believes in numerous conspiracies, most notably that Shakespeare was actually written by Bacon.
* Huey Freeman from ''[[The Boondocks]]'' takes this to ridiculous extremes. Originally he simply believed that there was a conspiracy among whites against African-Americans (accusing even the most unlikely people of being "in" on it, such as Henry Kissinger and others who won Nobel Peace Prizes) but eventually took this a little too far, spouting crazy theories accusing the government of covering up the dangers of the bird flu pandemic (which is ''[[Hilarious in Hindsight]]'', as there was never a single case of someone dying from that outside of China). Eventually he made an enemy's list where he included [[Santa Claus]] (resulting in him ''[[Badass Santa|getting a threatening letter from the big man himself]]) and Lucy from ''[[Peanuts]]'' (claiming he never liked her because of "the whole football thing").
* In ''[[Non Sequitur (comic strip)|Non Sequitur]]'', Joe's brother clearly fits. In fact, he's an exaggeration of the concept, not even trusting Google.
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* The [[Deadlands]] supplement ''The Black Circle: Unholy Alliance'' had a Conspiracy Theorist archetype suitable for use as a player character.
* In the collectible card game ''[[Illuminati (game)|Illuminati]]'', as well as its [[Collectible Card Game]] spin-off ''[[Illuminati: New World Order]]'', one of the groups you can control is the Conspiracy Theorists. They have zero Power (nobody believes them), but they let you hold an extra Plot card... because while they're completely wrong, they ''do'' have useful ideas. Another group, the Paranoids, gives you protection against everything except Natural Disasters, because ''their'' worries are correct...
* The [[''Dark Mater]]Matter'' Supplement for ''[[D20 Modern]]'' is also filled with conspiracy theories and just down rightdownright strange stories and information. Some of which is actually TRUE''true'' and caused this Troper to look up more than a few theories presented.
* Beholders in ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' are prone to coming up with conspiracy theories because their self-serving memory makes them forget some things (including all their failures).
 
 
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Conspiracy theorists appear in ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]''. In the first, they are referred to as "town crazies," and suburban ones are a bit more geared towards conspiracies than others (who are sometimes just plain nuts), even catching onto the plot of the [[Villain Protagonist]]. In the second, "The Freak," a California hippy, occasionally has these moments.
* Bosco from the Telltale ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' games. Oddly enough, he's usually right!
* Pretty much every character in ''[[Deus Ex]]'', but when one considers that the conspiracies usually prove true only minutes after being first mentioned, and that just one conspiracy is nowhere ''near'' enough for this game, it's to be expected.
** And as an added [[Genius Bonus]] for people who follow conspiracy theories, pretty much all the ones in the game are based on [[Truth in Television|real-life conspiracy theories]].
** At one point, you can try explain the conspiracy you're working against to a minor character, who'll react with amusement and think you're a complete nutter.
** The [[Prequel]], ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution|Human Revolution]]'', has Lazarus, a paranoid radio host ''convinced'' that FEMA are the foot-soldiers of a fear-mongering [[One World Order]] conspiracy group bent on using the augmentation debate to fulfill their nefarious schemes. Anyone who has played the original ''[[Deus Ex]]'' will be impressed with [[Straw Man Has a Point|how much he got right]].
* The Truth from ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', though revealed to be much more insightful than he appears.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xgp1e0JQyGI Boyd] in ''[[Psychonauts]]'' is so [[Crazy Awesome]], he invented the [[Milkman Conspiracy]]. And you get to [[Battle in the Center of the Mind|dive into his mind]]...
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* No-Bark is Novac's town crazy in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]''. He believes a rash of ghoul attacks coming from an abandoned rocket factory are the work of "Ghosts! Commie ghosts that don't know they're dead!" Their objective: to fly to the moon, paint it pink and stick Lenin's face on it.
 
== Newspaper[[Web Comics]] ==
 
* Sylvester from ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20200313130906/http://www.agameoffools.com/ A Game of Fools]''.
== Web Comics ==
* According to ''[[Polk Out]]'', there's a reason toilet paper hasn't changed since its fruition.[https://web.archive.org/web/20120428004952/http://www.polkout.com/page20.htm See here.]
* Sylvester from ''[http://www.agameoffools.com A Game of Fools]''.
* According to ''[[Polk Out]]'', there's a reason toilet paper hasn't changed since its fruition.[http://www.polkout.com/page20.htm See here.]
* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' there has been a recent flood of these into Moperville after a supernatural incident during a news broadcast.
* Deconstructed in [http://exterminatusnow.comicgenesis.com/d/20101206.html this] ''[[Exterminatus Now]]'' comic.
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* ''[[Homestuck]]'': Roxy is considered one by her friends (mostly Jane) in-universe. Given that her theories include "Betty Crocker is {{spoiler|an alien sea witch overlord"}}, they're probably justified for having that opinion. {{spoiler|Actually, she's got more or less the full story and is probably the only protaganist to get close to the full story behind BC.}}
** And it turns out that this is because {{spoiler|she lives hundreds of years in Jane's future, where the world was already conquered and ravaged by BC}}
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20140209162501/http://sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3498 Squidley has a fit of it.]
* In ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' Miko made huge leaps in logic and crafted a huge conspiracy pinning the blame for a horrible situation that she created on Roy and company. It's ultimately the main reason she couldn't earn redemption -- she just couldn't accept that anything was her fault.
 
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Melee's End]]'': A [[Incredibly Lame Pun|prime]] example: Samus.
* Illuminati and Ancient Astronauts are common themes in [[Doctor Steel]]'s songs and web videos, though perhaps just for flavor. (Or ''are'' they...?)
* ''[[FSTDTFundies Say the Darndest Things]]'' has an entire section dedicated to making fun of them.
* Mr. Liatsis, a teacher from the V4 pregame of ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', is commented on as being a notorious conspiracy theorist. Some students have their moments as well.
* [[YouTube]] personality [[The Real Weekly News]] made a video called "[[Hulu Tube]]: Phasing You Out of [[YouTube]]." In this video, he states that the (at the time) recently added "Shows" tab on [[YouTube]]'s front page was a grand conspiracy by companies like ''[[Burger King]]'' and ''Disney'' (seriously, those were his two big examples) to get all the normal content creators off of [[YouTube]]. Mentions of [[Tin Foil Hat|tin foil hats]]s were pretty common from critics of the video.
* ''[[Binder of Shame]]'': Collateral Darren insists, among other things, that employers only insist on being sent resumes as part of a conspiracy to make more money for paper manufacturers, because at the interview you have to write down all the same information on a job application.
* Mercilessly [[Parodied Trope|mocked]] in the ''[[College Humor]]'' video ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zbl-vMN2gzo Deceptive Deceptions]''. Truly something to behold: among the things "uncovered" as part of a massive conspiracy embracing all of humanity in this "truthumentary", they include the shooting of [[Tupac Shakur]], Dan AkroydAckroyd's role in ''[[Caddyshack]] 2'' and ''[[Nothing but Trouble]]'', [[Paul McCartney]]'s replacement by a doppelgänger, Helter Skelter possessing Charles Manson with the spirit of the Anti-Christ, [[Adolf Hitler]] actually being "a cyberganic demon" created by Nazi scientists, [[NASA]] faking the space landings, the [[John F. Kennedy]] assassination, ''[[Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]'', Dick Cheney, Nabisco, AOL, CITGO, Atkins, Adidas, the New York Knicks, Hooters, and [[Google]]. And the identity of the secret cabal that is more powerful than [[The Government|the American government]], the Freemasons, and [[The Illuminati]]? {{spoiler|The ''College Humor'' staff}}.
* ''[[Above Top Secret]]'' is the [[Wretched Hive]] of conspiracy message boards.
** ATS has actually played a role in some notable conspiracy theories. Someone who called himself [[wikipedia:John Titor#Outline|John Titor]], posted on the site in 2000, claimed to have traveled back in time from 2036. His predictions of the USA falling to civil war and breaking into 5five subnations was memetic for a while, but disproven by 2004. Some of the first [[wikipedia:9/11 conspiracy theories#No plane theories|"no planes"]] 9/11 theories appeared on this site. Many ATS users suspected that the "no planes" theory was itself a conspiracy to make truthers proposing more rational theories look crazy by association.
* Downplayed and lampshaded by [[The Nostalgia Critic]] when he believes the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' movies cut out a World Trade Center scene as to not offend anyone after 9/11.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
 
== Western Animation ==
* [[The Question]] from ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]''. "There was a magic bullet! It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth!" However he is also played oddly positively for a conspiracy theorist as while his tendency to connect everything to a single overarching conspiracy (supposedly dating back at least to [[Ancient Egypt]], and [[Ancient Conspiracy|secretly controlling the world ever since]]) is shown to be insane it also allows him to see the connections to the real conspiracies. He's even called the League's "Data Guy" and is a case of someone being a [[Properly Paranoid]] [[Crazy Awesome]].
** [[Properly Paranoid]] [[Crazy Awesome]] to the point that Batman of all people calls him uptight. The rest of the JL can only give Batman dropped jaws.
** Also, the tips at the end of shoelaces are called [[What the Heck Is An Aglet?|aglets]]. Their true purpose is ''SINISTER''.
** In his intro in the animation The Question's room aboard Watchtower is shown, with a posterboard showing an elaborate conspiracy that the Girl Scouts are behind crop circles, that the government is using boy bands to control the public, and that they are part of a single grand conspiracy with the aglets and the magic bullet. He's convinced that this all ties together somehow, but admits to not having figured out ''how''.
*** The Boy Band one might even be a [[The Cuckoolander Was Right]], as in the hacked file on Cadmus has a a [[Freeze-Frame Bonus]] file tiled BRAZILIANBOYZ.
** In the same episode he comments that Supergirl eats peanut butter sandwiches. When asked if he goes through her garbage, he says one of his most memorable quotes, "Please... I go through ''everyone's'' trash."
* Dale Gribble on ''[[King of the Hill]].'' A believer in every conspiracy theory known, yet unable to discover that his wife had been cheating on him.
** And when he finally realizes that the only time she could've gotten pregnant was during the time John Redcorn was visiting, he comes to the logical conclusion. {{spoiler|His son was conceived when aliens artificially inseminated his wife!}}
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** And again, due to the effects of a Ritalin Expy, in "Brother's Little Helper". This time, he's right.
* Matt Bluestone from ''[[Gargoyles]]'', thanks to his obsession with the Illuminati (which actually does exist in the show's universe).
* Members of "'''H'''umans '''A'''gainst '''T'''he '''E'''xtraterrestials" (from the second2003 ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' cartoon) believed that the aliens which had recently invaded Earth had left behind agents to infiltrate the planet, and were willing to blow up Manhattan in order to exterminate them.
* Dib from ''[[Invader Zim]]''.
* Huey Freeman from ''[[The Boondocks]]'' believes that that there's a Government Conspiracy against black people from, you guessed it, the white man.
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* Numbuh One from ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. Considering the world he lives in, he more often than not is [[Properly Paranoid]].
* Freezbone from ''[[Freefonix]]''. Everything is either a conspiracy, or aliens.
 
 
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{{quote|:Remember, tin-foil hats preventing mind control is merely a lie cooked up by Reynolds Corporation in order to sell more tin-foil and fund the New World Order. But you didn't hear it from me.}}
 
{{reflist}}