10 Hilariously Stupid Conspiracy Theories (That People Actually Believe)

4. The US Government Created HIV

HIV Budding Color
By Photo Credit: C. Goldsmith Content Providers: CDC/ C. Goldsmith, P. Feorino, E. L. Palmer, W. R. McManus [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

As one of the biggest killers in the world, HIV is a notoriously destructive disease. No cure has yet been found, fuelling a global conspiracy theory that the CIA actually invented the disease in order to kill off homosexuals and black people.

The HIV conspiracy theory is a worryingly widespread rumour, and it's a belief shared by Thabo Mbeki, the former South African president, along with a number of other public figures. Wangari Maathai, the first female Nobel Peace Prize winner, even used her acceptance speech to talk about how HIV and AIDS were created by Western scientists.

Like only the best conspiracy theories, the theory began with a nefarious agenda though. A Snopes study found that the source of the rumours originated from an old propaganda campaign, published by the Soviet Literary Gazette magazine.

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Tom Butler hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.