Okay.
Have you ever questioned whether the birds you see on your balcony are real?
Guess not.
Me neither.
But across the US, more and more members of “Birds aren’t real”.
Are dedicating their free time to educating the public
about one covered up truth.
“Every single bird in the sky is a robot.”
“That's right.”
“Birds aren’t real” is a movement that says it believes that all birds in the US are
surveillance drones.
“It’s time to wake this country up.”
The group claims that over a period of more than 40 years.
“Since the Eisenhower administration.”
The U.S. government killed all the birds
and replaced them with identical surveillance drones to spy on Americans.
The “bird truthers”, as the group's members call themselves,
are mostly from Gen Z, and they are not holding back with their message.
People wear “birds aren’t real” T-shirts,
they swarm rallies and shout out a variety of slogans
In Pittsburgh, Memphis and Los Angeles, massive billboards have appeared.
The group's spokesperson, Peter McIndoe,
shows up all over the country with his white van.
The vehicle, which is designed to be as bird-unfriendly as possible,
has functioned as rolling office, like a home base, for the movement ever since its beginnings.
Started on the streets, the feathered gospel, as Peter calls it, soon took flight and entered our screens:
On Instagram, TikTok and Reddit “birds aren’t real” has racked up thousands of followers.
And there's also a Facebook page so,
in Peter’s words, the moms of the current “bird truthers” can be in on it too.
Several videos have gone viral with up to 21 million views.
It's only the social media platform with the bird logo that's lagging a bit behind.
On Twitter, you will only see a few people sprinkling their thoughts here and there,
like how we should focus more on spy pigeons than on spy balloons.
But for many of others, Twitter is still suspicious.
“Why don't our presidents talk, they tweets.”
In 2021, Peter and a flock of “bird truthers”
even demonstrated outside the platform's headquarters in San Francisco.
To protest the Bird logo.
Their activism soon caught the attention of popular youtubers.
“How deep does this go?”
And the traditional media.
“Birds aren't real.” “Birds aren’t real” - Vögel sind nicht echt.
“I think the evidence is all around us.”
“Birds sit on power lines.
We believe they're charging on power lines.”
When I came across this New York Times article, I really was surprised
because for me, the idea that birds are just robotic spy drones sounds absurd.
And that's not only because my husband is a bird nerd and a biologist,
always showing me new bird species on our balcony.
Online and offline, the avian conspiracy became a mass movement
and a token of Gen Z.
But many conspiracy theories sound totally weird and are still able to flourish.
Right.
So I want to know what
the birth truth is argument and why they believe in this theory.
Or are they just screwing with us?
Let's check it out.
The movement's ideology centers around the idea that between 1959
and 1971, the CIA took out 12 billion birds
and replaced them with avian like robots, designed to collect data
about the American population. “Birds aren’t real” grafitti started appearing.
People made “birds aren’t real” stickers, rallies spread around the country,
and “birds aren’t real” even ran for president in 2020.
“for President of the United States of America.”
The movement rapidly expanded
into both a comical pop culture reference and an online clothing brand.
The utmost priority was to reach as many people as possible.
“They're not crazy. They're absolutely 100% drones.”
At the center of the movement is Peter McIndoe.
“Hey, my name is Peter.”
A floppy haired college dropout
in his mid-twenties who always wear sunglasses or a hat.
Ask the spokesman for the movement, Peter organizes most of the rallies.
Does most of the groundwork, like talking with pedestrians.
And it's also the first port of call for media inquiries.
“the seagulls are taking your food to bring it back to the Pentagon for DNA.”
All this sounds pretty crazy, right?
And I guess I'm not the only one who raised their eyebrows
after watching these interviews for the first time.
In order to nip possible concerns and questions in the butt,
the “birds aren’t real”crew is constantly feeding
its social media channels with updates, details and statements.
Some international tech news also arrived with perfect timing.
“China takes spying to new heights.”
But there are so many obvious questions, so many arguments that can't be refuted.
What about the bird poop, we are confronted with every single day.
“We believe that bird poop on cars is, you know, a liquid tracking apparatus.”
And what about chicken meat?
Or like this police officer asked Turkey.
Well, the group that have an answer on all of these questions and even more,
they are also asking questions like have you ever seen a baby pigeon?
This is so weird.
They can't mean it seriously.
And pay attention because here comes the twist.
That's 100% correct.
“Bird aren’t real.”
It's a satirical conspiracy theory.
The movement's creator, Peter McIndoe,
and his followers know perfectly well that birds are real.
Theory is completely made up.
The people who gather at their rallies have known it all along on.
And the ones who spread the word on social media also are aware that it’s fake
But why are they doing this?
What's all this effort for?
Well, this is what happened:
In January 2017, Peter McIndoe traveled to Memphis to visit some friends.
Donald Trump had just been sworn in as president.
It was a weekend of women's marches across the US.
McIndoe looked out the window and noticed pro-Trump
counterprotesters who were older, bigger white men.
When you saw they were clearly aggravators,
the idea of interrupting to interrupters came into its head.
He went outside, ripped a poster off a wall, turned it over, and wrote
the first three words that occur to him “Birds aren’t real.”
Wake up! God, God!
McIndoe then he walked around improvising a new conspiracy.
A friend filmed Peter and the clip went viral.
“Let's watch Hillary Clinton.”
And from there, it just kind of blew up.
What was meant as a small acts of satire
has become a mass movement. On their social channels,
he and his team started posting the most ridiculous things.
So, for example, they posted a photo of a seagull and wrote in all caps.
“Warning: Stay away from seagull.
They have just been given a software update by the government.”
“How do you feel about seagulls?”
“I don't trust them, I'll tell you that.”
They also began posting videos
where he was in character and building the lore of “Birds aren’t Real” even more.
“You are looking at me like: No, it's not satire I really do believe this.”
“Honestly, it's kind of offensive.”
He reveals how the government has made it appear that birds are real.
At one point, he even hired an actor to portray a former CIA agent.
The video instantly went viral.
Peter also gave interviews
where he was fully embodying the conspiracy with a totally straight face.
He took the absurdity to a higher level each time, including puking live on TV
which he labeled as: “mainstream media wants to poison me live on TV.”
Thousands of people watched and shared this videos and posts.
Peter and his friends started selling merchandise.
Eventually, he dropped out of college to do it full time.
The movement grew from hundreds of people to tens of thousands of people.
For years, Peter played the role of the movement leader
with the deep held disbelief in avian creatures.
Then a few months ago, he broke character and started doing real talk for the very first time,
with tech journalist Taylor Lawrence from the New York Times.
At least since that day, it's been clear that “Birds aren’t Real” has become something
much bigger than just a funny internet joke. In quite the short time,
the team around Peter was able to construct an entirely fictional world
that was reported on by local media and questioned by members of the public.
“Genosided over 12 billion birds.”
Peter admits the “Birds aren’t real” is a parody social movement,
but that it also has a purpose in our post-truth world,
as many call it, where online conspiracy theories are on the rise.
These young people have come together try to fight
misinformation, but also having a laught at it.
It's a Gen Z attempt to fight lunacy with lunacy.
“That's the idea of it. Fighting lunacy with lunacy.”
“Birds aren’t real” is confronting a growing threat of misinformation
by creating misinformation.
You might ask yourself why we are talking about all this.
Well, especially if it comes to biodiversity loss or climate change.
Misleading or wrong information could be a real problem for our planet and for us.
The Yale Climate opinion map, for example, shows that only 57% of Americans
believe that global warming is caused mostly by human activities.
And that's exactly why
we really need an initiative like “Birds aren’t real” and its impact.
What's your idea for a fake conspiracy theory?
Let us know in the comments below.
And don't forget to check out our bird videos.