Once again Bill Gates became the target of conspiracy theorists. This time the Founder of Microsoft is called a modern wizard. This isn't the first time Gates' name has been brought up in conspiracy theories, but this latest one is quite interesting to discuss.
Manvir Singh, researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, France, says there are many similarities between the COVID conspiracy around Bill Gates and theories about witches in the past. Both arise in a context of uncertainty when people face unexplained misfortunes.
"Both attribute the misfortune to a powerful and evil figure working through invisible means. Both of them bring this misfortune into a power, a figure who commits an unseen evil," Singh said.
An analysis by The Guardian based on Tangherlini's work reveals how conspiracies often arise around Bill Gates, showing much in common with theories developed about witches centuries ago. For example, similar to how people used to believe that magicians would abuse items such as brooms to fly and wands to cast spells. Some modern Americans think Gates used vaccines to implant microchips and enable chips with 5G.
Like a wizard partnered with Satan, Gates has dark allies in the form of Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Joe Biden, as well as the Chinese government. These inaccurate posts come from conspiracy theorists on Reddit and 4chan.
Another false theory surrounding Gates is that the pandemic is his plan to reduce the world's population and vaccination is a way to sterilize the population. Similarly, people in the 19th century, they believed that witches would use potions and spells to cause miscarriages.
The parallels mentioned by Professor Timothy Tangherlini of the University of California show how the study of historical folklore is linked to modern disinformation campaigns. The strategies used both in the past and now are the same, related to explaining the threats and uncertainties that occur.
"Not only is this belief in witches very fitting, but this (theory) also includes the form of a negotiation of strategies to overcome threats that actually occur in reality," said Tangherlini.
"Gates is in some ways the 'perfect villain' in contemporary society, because he appears in so many different contexts - and can play the villain in each of those contexts."
Why is Bill Gates so often the target of conspiracies? The answer is explained by Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. According to him, those who have wealth are considered to have the power to engage in and cover up activities that ordinary people cannot know about. As a result, Bill Gates is the inevitable subject of conspiracy theories.
In this conspiracy theory, Gates' wealth coupled with his ties to Big Tech, government contacts, and his control over public health foundations gives him the 'means' to engage and cover up unwanted activity without being detected.
