Should We Believe Stevie Wonder is Blind?

The Official Story

Stevie Wonder was born prematurely in the 1950s when it was common practice to incubate premature babies with high amounts of oxygen. It is now known that the extreme levels of oxygen from these incubators lead to blindness. Stevie Wonder is known to the world as a very successful musician that is also blind.

Conspiracy Theory

Stevie Wonder is a popular Motown artist that is said to be completely blind but skeptics believe this to be untrue. His lyrics describe vivid imagery that would not be becoming of someone that has been blind since birth. Stevie Wonder likes to sit courtside in basketball games which is unnecessary for someone who cannot watch the game themselves. He has been seen taking photographs and has been known to be a prankster in his childhood, which would be difficult for someone that is completely blind to do unassisted. Most notably, there is a viral video of Stevie Wonder performing onstage when his microphone stand fell down and he immediately reached out for it, possibly proving that he was aware of the situation and is not completely blind like he claims. In addition to this there have been several people within the entertainment industry that have claimed Stevie Wonder is not blind. One of these people were Shaquille O'Neal who claimed that Stevie greeted him in an elevator and said “What's up, Shaq”

The Evaluation

This post will evaluate the conspiracy of Stevie Wonder’s blindness according to Coady’s definition of conspiracy theories. David Coady’s criteria for conspiracy theories notes that a conspiracy theory is a proposed explanation of a historical event in which conspiracy agents acting secretly in concert have a significant causal role. The conspiracy suggested by the proposed explanation must be a conspiracy to bring about the historical event which it claims to explain and the proposed explanation must conflict with an official explanation of the same historical event. The conspirators are not limited to being a small group and can involve interconnected networks of conspirators. There is no success requirement for the conspiracy theory meaning that the conspiracy does not have to be the end goal of the conspirators and the event can be the result of a failed conspiracy.

The conspirators would include Stevie Wonder himself along with close family members and possibly record label executives that are in on the secret. This is plausible given that his immediate family would be privy to his medical conditions and the record label would market Stevie as a commodity. The end goal would be to create a popular and successful musician that has a trademark look so the success requirement, while not needed, would be unambiguous. He was known as a child prodigy, already being able to play several instruments and sing at a young age so adding a handicap on top of his extensive skill set would make him more marketable. The historical event would be Stevie’s ongoing musical career that dates back to 1961 when he signed to Motown Records at the age of 11. The conspirators, in this case Stevie Wonder, his family, and record label executives, would be directly responsible for perpetuating the lie that Stevie is 100% blind. He was marketed as being a blind musician and his black glasses were signature to him so he stood out among the other rising Motown stars.

The explanation of it being more marketable is plausible and conflicts with the official story that he is really blind but there isn’t a lot of evidence to support the idea that he’s lying about his medical condition. Most of the instances where he was caught doing things a blind person would be unable to do can be explained. The viral video of Stevie catching the microphone stand can be attributed to the guitarist behind him shouting towards Stevie to catch the stand before it fell. Furthermore, the stage setup would undoubtedly be explained in detail for a blind person to get a better feel for their environment and to prevent any avoidable blunders. Stevie has been blind since he was born, giving him ample time to adjust himself and get used to his handicap. Blind people can follow along with movies and sporting events based on the dialogue and the narrator/ announcer (1) and being that Stevie Wonder is a high profile celebrity with a disposable income, he might just want to sit up front because he can afford to do so. There are devices that are made with blind people in mind, including cameras (2) and there are a number of famous blind photographers. There have been a number of people that allude to Stevie faking his blindness which can be considered conjecture without any solid proof. The best possible evidence would be Stevie’s physical appearance without his signature black glasses. His eyes are noticeably cloudy, the muscle is atrophied, and his eyes move in a way that is commonly seen in blind people.

Stevie Wonder did not fake his blindness for over five decades for a promotional gimmick. The evidence cited by the conspiracy theory is lacking. He stood out as a child star and is a talented singer, songwriter, and all around musician and would not need to rely on a lie to attain success in the entertainment industry. In accordance to Coady’s criteria of conspiracy theories, the theory that Stevie Wonder is faking his blindness should not be believed.

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Sources

1. https://www.bosma.org/Blog/February-2018/How-does-a-person-who-is-blind-watch-the-Big-Game
2. https://www.visionfoundation.org.uk/real-stories/how-does-a-blind-person-take-photos/

The original conspiracy theory

http://conspiracytheory.wikidot.com/wiki:stevie-wonder-isnt-blind

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