Maybe it's a conspiracy maybe not.  Personally,  i think it's more or a case of "monkey see,  monkey do."  First one monkey starts beatin' on a hollow log,  next thing you know the whole troop is beatin' on the same hollow log.  Yep,  beatin' on the log,  makin' their monkey noises,  then the next thing you know they bust the log,  mourn it for a brief moment and move on to something new.