Irecently pointed out that new conspiracy theories tend to arise around shifts in power and that they often originate from those who have lost power or seen their power threatened. As you worked your way through that article, I wonder if you noticed that I didn’t define “conspiracy theory,” something that, in retrospect, may have been unwise. Nevertheless, I deliberately left it undefined because I wanted to demonstrate that we all have a working definition of the term. Perhaps it would be useful for you to pause for just a moment to consider your own definition. What do you mean when you use the term “conspiracy theory?” Who do you mean when you use the related term “conspiracy theorist?” I suspect that most of these informal definitions share some common themes.
First, “conspiracy theory” almost always carries negative connotations, so that a conspiracy theory is a position that is in contradiction to the facts. Second, we usually assign negative moral value to “conspiracy theory” so that we look down on people who hold to such a position or feel looked down upon when others use the term of us. Third, we almost always use “conspiracy theory” to
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