I grew up loving The X-Files, so conspiracy stuff was always interesting to me. I never bought into any of it, but it used to be fun.

I blame reality TV for our current state. They took what was probably one of the best tropes in sci-fi, started talking about it in documentary form, and a whole generation of brainless fucking idiots took it way too seriously, ruining it for the rest of us. Shows like Ancient Aliens took the whole "just asking questions" tactic to insane levels, and it bled over into politics and social issues, providing cover for people to "question" if wildfires may have been started by Jewish space lasers. It's so infuriating.