History Main / MindControlConspiracy

Life sucks sometimes, [[ButtMonkey doesn't it?]] You got fired from your job, your girlfriend broke up with you, and [[PerpetualPoverty you're about to be evicted.]] Things have really [[BreakTheCutie taken]] a [[HumiliationConga downward turn]]. But don't worry! It certainly isn't ''your'' fault.

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See, there's these people. [[NebulousEvilOrganization Bad people.]] They don't like you. They don't like much of ''anyone''. And they oppress you. They have satellites that can beam pictures into your head, that's why you kept [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing all that stuff]], lost concentration at work. They plant radios in your teeth so that you think you're HearingVoices. They [[MindControlDevice shoot these weird rays into your brain]] so that you have those... urges... [[ItsAllAboutMe it's not you.]] It's them. It's all their fault. They're the ones doing this to you! It's all them. [[MadnessMantra All them, all them, all them, all-]]

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]
* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]]. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:King Karl Fritz removed the Eldians' memories of the world around them via the power of the Founding Titan after moving them to Paradis Island and raising the Walls, intending for them to live in peace after the Great Titan War that ended the Eldian Empire, and the Royal Government kept the existence of the outside world and the other humans in it a fiercely guarded secret ever since]].
* ''Anime/WelcomeToTheNHK'': Sato and his senpai blame all of the troubles in their lives on conspiracy theories. Sato even believes the titular NHK is actually an organization that exists only to turn civilians into {{hikikomori}} like himself.

* [[FanFic/EquestriaAHistoryRevealed Equestria: A History Revealed]]: The LemonyNarrator seems to think that a lot of Equestria falls under this, and sees Celestia as the DiabolicalMastermind, even when things clearly point against that. That doesn't stop her from [[IRejectYourReality believing it though]], and creating her own [[ConspiracyTheorist theories]] through copious amounts of InsaneTrollLogic.
** In a more literal example, she states that as a failsafe, Celestia had [[spoiler:placed a subconscious mind control spell on all of the mane six to control them if they get out of hand]]. And that's just one of the many mind control examples she believes Celestia supposedly utilizes.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

* ''Literature/OneFlewOverTheCuckoosNest'': Chief Bromden's belief in the Combine.
** Then, at the end of the book, just before [=McMurphy=] tries to strangle Nurse Ratched, Chief Bromden has a terrifying moment of clarity and realizes the ''true'' MindControlConspiracy:
--->''First I had a quick thought to try to stop him, talk him into taking what he'd already won and let her have the last round, but another, bigger thought wiped the first thought away completely. I suddenly realized with a crystal certainty that neither I nor any of the half-score of us could stop him. That Harding's arguing or my grabbing him from behind, or old Colonel Matterson's teaching or Scanlon's griping, or all of us together couldn't rise up and stop him.''
--->''[[WhamLine We couldn't stop him because]] [[spoiler: we were the ones making him do it.'']]
--->''[[spoiler:It wasn't the nurse that was forcing him, it was our need that was making him push himself slowly up from sitting, his big hands driving down on the leather chair arms, pushing him up, rising and standing like one of those moving-picture zombies, obeying orders beamed at him from forty masters. It was us that had been making [[{{Determinator}} him go on for weeks, keeping him standing long after his feet and legs had given out, weeks of making him wink and grin and laugh and go on with his act long after his humor had been parched dry between two electrodes]].'']]
-->''[[spoiler:We made him stand and hitch up his black shorts like they were horsehide chaps, and push back his cap with one finger like it was a ten-gallon Stetson, slow, mechanical gestures - and when he walked across the floor you could hear the iron in his bare heels ring sparks out of the tile.'']]
* In Creator/IainBanks's novel ''Walking on Glass'', Steven Grout believes that he is being influenced by orbital mind control lasers.
* ''{{Literature/VALIS}}'''s Horselover Fat is a victim of the three-eyed Soviet space aliens' orbital mind control lasers. Said lasers are pink.

* Creator/RichardMatheson's story "Legion of Plotters" takes this to its logical-- and tragic-- conclusion.

** In the Lone Gunmen origin-story episode Suzanne Modeski found a tracking device the Conspiracy had put in her tooth. Which she removed with pliers, somehow managing to avoid passing out from the pain. %%comment%% Is it "Holly Modeski"?
** Mulder's water was spiked with LSD in "Anasazi" in order to elicit violent behavior.
** In "Wetwired", the television was sending subliminal messages through red/green wavelengths, again eliciting violent, homicidal behavior. Scully almost succumbs, nearly shooting Mulder in the process. Mulder is unaffected, as it is revealed he is red/green colorblind.
** The appliances in "Blood" were commanding normal citizens to kill by catching them when their intense phobias were exploited. As in "Anasazi", an LSD derivative was used to incite the behavior.
* ''Series/StarskyAndHutch'': In one of the episodes, a serial killer turns out to be a seriously deranged man who believes he's being mind-controlled. He wears tinfoil under his clothes to shield himself from radio waves and his house has tinfoil wallpaper.

* In the ''{{TabletopGame/Illuminati}}'' card game, the Orbital Mind Control Lasers are very valuable minions for any AncientConspiracy.

* ''VideoGame/{{Syndicate}}'': You (Eurocorp) and all the other Syndicates are trying to TakeOverTheWorld through this and {{cyborg}}-manned force. Civilians all have a chip in their heads that does all the functions of a phone or computer, and [[LotusEaterMachine makes the world look far more pleasant]]. In ''Syndicate Wars'', Eurocorp has been maintaining the mind control conspiracy for years.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/StrokerAndHoop'' involved a case where a client thinks Ron Howard is reading his thoughts and controlling his actions via satellite. He was right, by the way -- this turns out to be how Ron Howard gets people to see his movies.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' does not have one, no matter what anarchist propaganda the Gaang may preach about the honourable guardians of justice, [[SecretPolice the Dai Li]]. But why are we bothering you with all of this distressing talk? The Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai- and you are, of course, pleased to serve him. And do remember- [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou there is no war in Ba Sing Se. There is no war in Ba Sing Se.]] [[BigBrotherIsWatching There is no war in Ba Sing Se.....]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E6TheComputerWoreMenaceShoes The Computer Wore Menace Shoes]]" has Homer create a lie for his blog saying that flu shots control the minds of children. Later, Homer is captured and taken to [[Series/ThePrisoner1967 a mysterious island]] because his lie turned out to be true, as flu shots are given before Christmas so people will get the urge to shop.

See, there's these people. [[NebulousEvilOrganization Bad people.]] They don't like you. They don't like much of ''anyone''. And they oppress you. They have satellites that can beam pictures into your head, that's why you kept [[{{Hallucinations}} seeing all that stuff]], lost concentration at work. They plant radios in your teeth so that you think you're HearingVoices. They [[MindControlDevice shoot these weird rays into your brain]] so that you have those... urges... [[ItsAllAboutMe it's not you.]] It's them. It's all their fault. They're the ones doing this to you! It's all them. All them, all them, all them, all-

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]]. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:King Karl Fritz removed the Eldians' memories of the world around them via the power of the Founding Titan after moving them to Paradis Island and raising the Walls, intending for them to live in peace, and the Royal Government kept the existence of the outside world and the other humans in it a fiercely guarded secret ever since]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]]. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:King Karl Fritz removed the Eldians' memories of the world around them via the power of the Founding Titan after moving them to Paradis Island and raising the Walls, intending for them to live in peace, and that the Royal Government kept the existence of the outside world and the other humans in it a fiercely guarded secret ever since]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]]. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:King Karl Fritz removed the Eldians' memories of the world around them via the power of the Founding Titan after moving them to Paradis Island and raising the Walls, intending for them to live in peace, and that the Royal Government kept the existence of the outside world a fiercely guarded secret ever since]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]]. It's eventually revealed that [[spoiler:King Karl Fritz removed the Eldians' memories of the world around them via the power of the Founding Titan after moving them to Paradis Island and raising the Walls, intending for them to live in peace]].

* ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'': [[spoiler:The memories of the entire population seem to have been altered when humanity entered the Walls, removing all knowledge of the world outside the Walls. When Erwin's father theorized this to be the case, and Erwin let slip his father's theories in public, the 1st Squad murdered him]].

* After seemingly collapsing into paranoid schizophrenia[[note]]he was never formally diagnosed, but persecutory delusions, particularly the influencing machine kind and especially when paired with a WordSaladPhilosophy, are a classic schizophrenia symptom, so schizophrenia is taken as the most likely cause of his beliefs[[/note]] during disbarment hearings, Francis E. Dec came to believe that a "Worldwide Mad Deadly Communist Gangster Computer God" was, among other things, directing its minions to replace people's brains with "Master Race Frankenstein Radio Controls" that would receive a "Constant Threshold Brain Wash Radio" signal to reduce the world to a state of "World-Wide Living Death Frankenstein Slavery".