“Birds Aren’t Real”
Birds? Doesn’t exist. All intelligence drones – how an ironic theory exposes real conspirators
Do birds like these Turkish pigeons really exist? An American internet movement is humorously questioning this (symbol image)
© Hopfi // Picture Alliance
A curious conspiracy theory is gaining more and more attention in the United States. The supporters: inside complain of massive espionage by the secret services using drones in the form of birds. Who is Birds Aren’t Real?
The corona pandemic has shed light on many dark corners of our society. In times of anti-vaccination campaigns and Telegram groups, it is clear that a large part of the population is susceptible to conspiracy theories. Many of these myths and narratives are based on the same pattern: A small elitist group dominates the common people, tells them lies and holds important information in front of them.
On TikTok and Instagram, another such narrative is gaining more and more followers: the conspiracy movement “Birds Aren’t Real”. Huge billboards greet drivers in Pittsburgh, Memphis and Los Angeles with their slogan, the organization’s accounts have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and YouTube videos are clicked millions of times. The only difference: the movement itself does not believe in its own history.
Birds don’t exist
“Birds Aren’t Real” has a similar structure to many common conspiracy theories. The followers: inside publicly claim that birds no longer exist. What we know as birds today are actually feather-camouflaged drones that the US government has been using to spy on the population since the 1970s. If you see them sitting on power lines, the robots take a short break to charge. So far, so bizarre.
The organization resembles conspiracy movements like Qanon not only in their narratives, but also in their appearance. So the following of “Birds Aren’t Real” gathers behind a charismatic leader. This is not a mysterious stranger like “Q”, but the Youtuber Peter McIndoe.
The charismatic leader
McIndoe, 23, dropped out of college four years ago and started the organization on the sidelines of a Women’s March in Memphis for spontaneous fun. To make fun of the right-wing counter-protest, he wrote the three words on a sign and held it up. McIndoe’s videos went viral on Facebook in a very short time, and the claim became a cult across Memphis. Graffiti and stickers could be seen all over town after a few weeks.
Together with a friend, he continued to work on the joke. They created a false story about the movement, hired an actor to act as a CIA agent who admitted to being involved in the covert operation, and sold several thousand dollars’ worth of merchandise. So they successfully led the usual practices of conspiracy theorists to absurdity. Local media jumped on the bandwagon a little later and reported on the organization and its allegations.
Until recently, Peter McIndoe appeared uninterrupted in his role as a serious religious leader. He attended television programs and gave interviews. Many listened to him in his role as the mad cult leader. Now, in an interview with the “New York Times”, he has for the first time publicly admitted and justified the satirical character of the organization. From his point of view, “Birds Aren’t Real” is a media-critical and parodistic movement with the aim of portraying the madness of conspiracy myths and making fun of them.
“Birds Aren’t Real” is part of the troll culture
McIndoe has been socialized primarily from the Internet. As a child of ultra-religious and conservative parents from Ohio, it was the social networks that gave him access to liberal world views for the first time in his youth. “My entire understanding of the world was shaped by the Internet,” says the 23-year-old today. “The only access to independent education was documentation on Youtube”.
Like Peter McIndoe, there are many people of the so-called Generation Z, children and young people between 9 and 24 years of age. You grew up in an American media landscape that is characterized by partisanship and misinformation. And this is exactly what “Birds Aren’t Real” uses to criticize them.
Meanwhile, “Birds Aren’t Real” has become a serious political movement. The followers have dared to leave the net and stand for independent information and liberal values in many parts of the country, including in the real world. The “Bird Brigade”, as its followers have christened, recently hijacked a religious march for tougher abortion rules. They disrupted the demonstration until the organizers were forced to break off the protest. On another day, “Birds Aren’t Real” supporters protested in front of the headquarters of the short message service Twitter for the removal of the bird from the logo of the tech company.
It is on this mixture of persistent satire and serious intent that the success of the movement rests. It is derived from the net culture of trolling, which aims to provoke certain population groups emotionally in order to intentionally spark a dispute. Trolling is emerging more and more as the way of speaking of Generation Z, with which young people rebel against entrenched power structures and their parents. Other prominent examples are the brief success of the Gamestop share on Wall Street or the Internet election campaign of former US President Donald Trump.
Escape from social media
The organizers of “Birds Aren’t Real” do not want to accept the charge of right-wing conspiracy theories of supporting Qanon or Trump through their movement. They just use their methods and hold up a mirror to them. So by their own admission they fight madness with madness. It is not a critical look from the outside, but a rebellion deeply from the rabbit hole – and the success seems to prove them right.
With his public role, Peter McIndoe now also wants to usher in a new phase of the movement. He says the people who really believe in bird spy drones would do the same with any other narrative. They can no longer be saved. “Birds Aren’t Real”, on the other hand, should remain a place to escape the misinformation of social media for a moment and to laugh at them.
Sources: The New York Times, Central German radio, Snopes.com