Welcome to the Conspiracy Series.
This week we will dive into the conspiracy that birds are actually government-issued spies.
Behind the Conspiracy
This theory is simple. Apparently the government replaced birds with drones to spy on us. Theorists say that the government killed 12 billion birds between the years 1959 and 1971 in order to replace them with spying drones. This was done with “specially altered B-52 bombers”.
You may have heard of this if you’re an avid TikTok watcher. “The birds work for the bourgeoisie” is a video that went viral a few months ago, but the theory has been around for a bit longer than that. In fact, some people have devoted themselves to this theory in a way that seems a little crazy. The Birds Aren’t Real campaign has been in motion for years and there is even a website selling Birds Aren’t Real merchandise.
The people behind Bird Aren’t Real have done their research. Their website has a detailed history of their theory that birds were killed and replaced with government drones. It’s a bit of a long read though.
gif sourced from Reddit
Debunking
This conspiracy is more about poking fun at conspiracy theorists than being an actual theory. Anyone who has any real common sense can tell that birds aren’t spying drones that work for the government. Because of recent pop culture references to birds being government spies, the theory has gained popularity. The TikTok previously mentioned was very popular for a while and Blue Sky Studios, owned by Disney, just released a movie called “Spies in Disguise” about bird spies. This theory is more fun than fact.
What I Think
This theory I’ve never even had a second where I thought, “wait a minute, what if it’s actually real?”. It’s funny to think about and it’s become a bit of a joke to say “the birds work for the bourgeoisie”, but I believe that this theory is no more than fun. It’s more of a meme than a theory.