Loading...Have you ever been to a small city in Germany called Bielefeld? Most likely, you haven’t ever heard of it, been to it, or even known someone has been to it. So then how do you know it exists? I told you exists, but aside from by word, how do you know? If you looked it up, you’d see maps, images, probably even videos, but for all you know they could just be an elaborate ruse. This is the idea behind the Bielefeld Conspiracy, which YouTuber Tom Scott explains in today’s featured video.
Back in 1994, the people of the Internet, especially in Germany, decided to create a joke. The joke went as follows: because Bielefeld is such as small city, not many people have been there or live there. So, if we claimed that there was some conspiracy that wanted you to believe that Bielefeld was a real city even though it doesn’t exist, anyone could very easily explain away any arguments saying that it in fact does exist. Even though this just seems like an average Internet joke, Tom Scott takes it a step farther and uses Bielefeld as a way to discuss perception, belief, and more.