One of the more fascinating - if dubious - conspiracy theories out there revolves around Monarch Mind Control. This is a "puppetmaster" technique which is said to have been used by the Nazi party, and adopted by the U.S. Military under project MK-ULTRA.
I have to stop right here and say: it is straight up wish fulfillment to believe that the Nazis used mind control to propagate their beliefs and commit their crimes against humanity. The dismal truth is that in Nazi Germany, people did terrible things to other people of their own free will.
But I would say that, wouldn't I? Because one of the primary goals of Monarch Mind Control is to program the American population to believe that there is no Monarch Mind Control.
They do this (so it is said) via the American entertainment industry. Here's how it works: little girls are indoctrinated through the Princess Myth to believe that they should lie back passively and wait for their prince to show up and save them. When they hit puberty, their prince shows up to claim his passive prize.
Except it's not a prince, it's the Monarch entertainment machine. It snaps up these passive, willing victims (like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and every pop starlet ever). It assigns them a handler, feeds them drugs to keep them compliant, and whores them out on stage to make billions of dollars. And when they get too old or sick to perform, it casts them away and starts over with a new fresh face.
As a feminist, I have a slightly different perspective on the princess myth. I believe that it's programming women to be passive, but that it's the patriarchal culture at large which is responsible for this, and which benefits from women's continued passivity.
And here you can see the heart of the problem: all of these observed phenomena are easily open to interpretation by any lens you care to hold up. If music videos often feature imagery of pop stars reflected in mirrors, is that a symbol of Monarch Mind Control, or is it a half-baked take on some vaguely philosophic-sounding stuff like "the duality of human nature?" Or is it just because pop stars like to look at themselves in mirrors?
In the end, I think the ultimate critique of this theory is that it is utterly unnecessary. If reality television has taught us anything, it's that any American - male or female - will gladly throw away their lives in exchange for televised fame. Why construct an elaborate mind control system when your victims offer themselves up so willingly in the first place?