Kate Middleton conspiracies are just a harbinger of a future we should all fear

Images of Kate Middleton have sparked conspiracy theories — and show us what our future of doubt could look like. Getty Images

Where’s Kate Middleton?

To borrow from the National Enquirer’s once ubiquitous ’80s catchphrase, inquiring minds want to know.

And they’re not just passively eating what is fed to them. Nope they’re all Miss Marples on Adderall — harnessing the full power of the World Wide Web, aggressively concocting and dispensing wild theories and digging deep rabbit holes.

There have been four photos of the Princess of Wales released since it was announced in January that she would be taking three months off from royal duties to recover from abdominal surgery. And each one has only fueled more speculation about what’s really going on with her. Or hell, if the photos are even of her, or a doppelganger.

The Kate-anon cult includes the likes of Kim Kardashian (“On my way to go find Kate,” she captioned an Instagram photo) and Andy Cohen (“That ain’t Kate,” he tweeted after the release of the latest picture of the princess in the wild).

On the one hand, what’s the harm in poking some fun at the royals’ expense?

On the other, all of this faux-photo-fueled palace intrigue and conspiracy is starting to feel like a harbinger of some wacky, darker stuff to come for society — where we all start to question what is even real.

PhotoShop, AI, deepfakes: As technology improves, so does our skepticism of who and what to believe.

Doctored photo of Kate Middleton sitting in a chair surrounded by her three children 6
This Mother’s Day (UK) photo of Kate Middleton and her children was meant to squash simmering questions about her absence — but when it was revealed that it was manipulated, it was rejected by photo agencies. Prince of Wales/Kensington Palac / MEGA

A family portrait, shot by Middleton, of the late Queen Elizabeth II with some of her grandchildren and great grandchildren has now been flagged by Getty for being “digitally enhanced at source.” via REUTERS

Even Google has betrayed our trust as its Gemini chatbot image-generation tool served up wildly inaccurate images depicting black Vikings, female popes and Native Americans mixed in among the Founding Fathers.

We’ve officially stepped into the portal; it’s the bizarro world science fiction writers have been promising for generations. And it’s scary as hell.

After Middleton ’fessed up to doctoring a UK Mother’s Day portrait — shot by her husband, Prince William — of herself and her kids, news agencies have started scrutinizing other photos snapped by Middleton and officially released by Buckingham Palace.

Source : https://nypost.com/2024/03/19/opinion/kate-middleton-conspiracies-are-a-sign-of-a-fearsome-future