A brief history of conspiracies

Someone was often helping out a poor guy in his village whom he met whenever he visited home. He had projects there, so the village dude became his handyman. Generous tips followed for a year or two, until our village guy started avoiding him.

Turned out local man was told his helper was stealing his luck and getting richer. No wonder all the money that was given to him ended up at the pub. Many ludo-playing locals are convinced their destinies are filing cupboards with money in secret urban rooms, as they starve. Myths are conspiracies in analog form.

There was a Nollywood movie about the World-Wide Web (www), believed to be a fulfillment of what was said in the Book of Revelation: that Satan would institute a government to rule over the whole world. The internet was clearly the means to that end, so many religious organizations hated it. In fact, when Facebook later came on, some pastors warned church members off it.

Today, there’s hardly a religious organization that isn’t on social media. Though the panic has disappeared, not long ago I met someone who’s not on WhatsApp; she believes people are initiated into the occult from it.

When the European Union introduced the Euro, it was, again, the prophecy about a single global currency: it would spread, conspiracies said. The Eco, ECOWAS’s stillborn version of a regional currency, offended some who felt apocalypse was afoot. And here’s the irony: you’d think they would be happy rather, seeing as they were now close to finally going to heaven.

It’s a global thing, conspiracy. Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Madonna—there were several videos explaining their lyrics and the art in their music videos, the signs they made—embodiments of Satanism and the end times. Obama was to be the last president, but Trump has stayed the hands of time. There’s currently a YouTube video claiming Bill Gates is on a weird satanic errand leveraging coronavirus to introduce a compulsory digital microchip into everyone. It is spreading wildly in America.

In Islamic spaces, suspicion of vaccines is based on the fear that some agency is fixated on whittling down the Muslim population. And fundamentalists don’t take it lightly: vaccinators have been bludgeoned to death even in Northern Nigeria. In the UK two days ago, a 5G mast was set ablaze by suspected arsonists. Such is the power of conspiracies.

And here’s the truth as I see it: there’s no end to aggravated fear. Technologists, who invested heavily into 5G, thinking to provide digital solutions and make money, may have to wait a really long while. The old lesson remains: no matter your intention in the world—whether helping the villager or a world in digital need, you can come to grief; and that, in enterprise, public fear can be the ultimate disruption.

By Immanuel James Ibe-Anyanwu…

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