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The Inventive Conspiracy Theorists of the Spanish Flu
COVID-19 is a man-made virus that escaped a military Chinese lab.
No, wait, it’s Bill Gates’ nefarious attempt to control the world’s population, and it was already being produced in 2015.
Fools! It’s a biological weapon, and it spreads through 5G networks. Or perhaps microchips. Or radiations. Unclear.
But, guys, it probably doesn’t even exist: it’s all a government hoax, meant to scare people into getting vaccinated.
Strap on your tinfoil hats, ladies and gents, and open your umbrellas, because it’s raining conspiracy theories this year.
… or maybe it’s not just this year. Maybe it’s every damn year since humanity has acquired the ability to talk.
We’ve Got a City to Burn
Take the Great Fire of Rome, for instance. Starting on July 19, 64 A.D., a catastrophic fire spread through Rome and raged for days: two-thirds of the city were wiped out. Fires were a common occurrence — dozens of minor ones broke out in Rome every day — but a combination of strong winds fanning the flames and an extremely dry summer made that…