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"Conspiracy theory" is usually used in the non-technical sense of the word to be derogatory, or imply that the theory is false; conspiracy theories that the wri
by fouric 5y ago
"Conspiracy theory" is usually used in the non-technical sense of the word to be derogatory, or imply that the theory is false; conspiracy theories that the writer doesn't want to imply as false (e.g. Epstein didn't kill himself, members of Congress engaging in insider trading) seem to not usually be described using the specific phrase "conspiracy theory" - even when that's what they are.
- betenoire 5y agoI get the derogatory nature of the term, but both of your examples include groups of people keeping information from the rest of us. I'm curious if you have an example of a derogatory conspiracy theory that doesn't have a literal conspiracy in it.
- fouric 5y agoMy point was that the above example was called a conspiracy theory because it was against the norm, not merely because it was a conspiracy, because there are conspiracies that aren't called that because of the connotations of the term. I'm not saying that the term describes non-conspiracies.