The most important fact about the term “conspiracy theorist” (or “conspiracy theory”) is not, as is typically assumed, that it describes an alarming paranoid tendency, which certainly exists, to interpret political events in a distorted, unfalsifiable way that undermines democracy. It’s that it’s an epithet which, at least since the JFK assassination, has been used dishonestly to discredit those theorizing about possible conspiracies regardless of whether the theories were plausible, even though powerful people do conspire, and even though “conspiracy” has long been a stand-alone criminal offense in every jurisdiction - based on a simple moral idea which is readily grasped - and which, in any individual case, may be proven true or false, or more or less likely, based on the evidence.
"Conspiracy Theory" Theory
"Conspiracy Theory" Theory
"Conspiracy Theory" Theory
The most important fact about the term “conspiracy theorist” (or “conspiracy theory”) is not, as is typically assumed, that it describes an alarming paranoid tendency, which certainly exists, to interpret political events in a distorted, unfalsifiable way that undermines democracy. It’s that it’s an epithet which, at least since the JFK assassination, has been used dishonestly to discredit those theorizing about possible conspiracies regardless of whether the theories were plausible, even though powerful people do conspire, and even though “conspiracy” has long been a stand-alone criminal offense in every jurisdiction - based on a simple moral idea which is readily grasped - and which, in any individual case, may be proven true or false, or more or less likely, based on the evidence.