We need a Godwin's law analog for the phrase "conspiracy theory." Kooky conspiracy theories are things like the queen of England is a shape shifting reptile or

We need a Godwin's law analog for the phrase "conspiracy theory." Kooky conspiracy theories are things like the queen of England is a shape shifting reptile or commercial airliners are spraying us with "chemtrails." But more commonly the phrase is used as a guilt-by-association tactic to tar anyone who does not take every single official pronouncement or mainstream media story at absolute face value. Any attempt to dig deeper into realms like ideology, long-term political agendas, intelligence activities (ours or others), corruption, or financial "old boy networks" is instantly dismissed: "ooh you're a conspiracy theorist!" I'd say that the first one to use this phrase in a debate to refer to anything that is not obviously nutty/illucid or totally implausible loses the debate. It is in no way kooky to suggest that some public officials may be corrupt, that shady deals happen behind closed doors, or that governments lie. All of those things are established historical fact not to mention obvious manifestations of human nature. Conspiracies are a completely normal part of life. Hell this site is full of tech startup people... every single early stage startup with any kind of secret technology, strategy, or long-term agenda is a conspiracy, as is every private equity transaction. What do you do when you close a round folks? You meet in secret with deep pocketed people and discuss secret plans and then sign confidential documents. You expect me to believe that such meetings never take place at the scale of international relations, finance, military/intelligence activities, etc.?