Evgeniy Bai
Huge billboards that say “Birds Aren't Real” can be seen everywhere — in Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Memphis, and many other cities in the United States. According to the New York Times, hundreds of thousands of users have subscribed to accounts with "fake birds" on Instagram, TikTok. On YouTube, numerous videos about this conspiracy theory give people real seizures.
Last month, supporters of the Fake Birds movement staged a rally in front of Twitter's San Francisco headquarters, demanding that the bird be removed from the company's logo.
Hundreds of thousands of young Americans wearing Birds Aren't Real T-shirts are organizing massive rallies across the country, spreading their message: Birds are drones created by the US government to spy on people.
The author of this theory was an extravagant fellow from Memphis, 23 years old, Peter McIndo. He invented "Fake Birds" in 2017. Peter hired an actor to back up his theory. He introduced himself as a CIA agent who uncovered a "conspiracy of authorities" to track US citizens using bird drones. The video with his "confessions" on TikTok was watched by 20 million people. Other actors portrayed adults who piously believe in this theory.
For five years, Peter acted as a true adherent of this dogma and directed the anger of those who followed him against those who did not believe that "the birds are not real".
Could he have imagined, when he conceived this game, that so many people would believe in his joke? In fact, Peter just wanted to laugh at those who advocate countless conspiracy theories like the most famous one - Qanon. Its adherents argue that American Democrats and Hollywood figures associated with Satan and drinking the blood of babies have established unlimited control over America.
“It was a way to resist the madness of this world by fighting sleepwalking with sleepwalking itself,” says Clay Cronis, organizer of the Fake Birds branch in Pittsburgh.
Most of the members of the movement who call themselves the "Bird Brigade" grew up in a world full of misinformation. Some of them have close people caught in the network of various conspiracy theories. The activists of the movement in the fight against the idiocy of this world have united, having acquired a spiritual kinship.
"The birds are not real" is not some kind of external petty satire on conspiracy theorists, - says McIndo. - This is a struggle from the inside, because many people have started a real insanity and "birds" help to overcome it".
The brigade movement, meanwhile, is becoming a political force. In 2018, its activists took part in protests against the growing massive violence in the United States. In September of this year, they protested against the ban on abortion in the state of Texas. The supporters of the ban held their rally and were extremely aggressive. But when McIndo's supporters began shouting, "The birds are not real," they drowned out the "chants" of the Conservatives and they dispersed.
Peter says he has extensive plans for the upcoming 2022. “Yes, we have been deliberately spreading disinformation for several years”, - he says. “There was only one goal — to put a mirror in front of America so that it would look at itself carefully”.
McIndo will definitely not be left without work. In 2024, the next presidential elections will take place, and if Donald Trump wins them, then the QAnon conspiracy theory and others similar to it will begin to walk with renewed vigor across the expanses of America.