Anatomy of a Conspiracy Theory

Everyone knows the term “conspiracy theory” was hijacked by the agenda to be used as a denigration applied to any idea that is contrary to the official narrative. The story goes that it was invented by the CIA back in the day (what wasn’t?) and has worked its way into the vernacular very intentionally by the “powers that be.”

Originally, a “conspiracy” was defined as “a secret plan to do something unlawful or harmful.” When I was a kid and watched a slew of ’40s and ‘50s spy movies, I heard the term a lot. Actually, any crime film that dealt with bigger things than a bunch of greasy thugs stealing old ladies’ purses had plenty of “conspiracy” stuff in the plot—a conspiracy to kill the president, a conspiracy to take over the government, a conspiracy to spread a virus around the world to lower the population (oops, that’s a current conspiracy, right?) Stuff like that.