I believe you'd have to be cloistered in a room of silence for the last decade or more to have avoided people referring to something as a "conspiracy theory" with a tone of ridicule and dismissiveness. That is not unusual. It actually seemed to be something that was being pushed as the normal reaction. It was legitimizing what is known as an Appeal To The Stone fallacy. Which is framing something as ridiculous without proof of it being ridiculous and thus using that as the justification to not discuss or think about specific topics. Evidence is not looked at or considered once the Appeal To The Stone is accepted and the ridicule is used to steer people away from consideration and discussion.
That has been going on for a long time. They carefully conditioned people not even think about what the words Conspiracy and the word Theory actually mean. They are separate words and they have meaning. People don't even consider those meanings they simply utter the phrase, or they run away from a topic when they hear someone else utter "conspiracy theory".
Recently I've noticed a new phenomena. I have noticed it happening enough that I thought I should write about it.
"Nah, man that's just a conspiracy".
I've noticed that people have just stopped using the word theory. This is a clear red flag that they don't actually understand the word and are just reflexively uttering words. They are going immediately for the Appeal To Stone and are thus sheltering their mind from thinking. That is uncomfortable, it's a conspiracy. I'm glad I said it's a conspiracy because now I don't actually have to think about that uncomfortable topic.
Reality doesn't care about your mental comfort.
Truth and falsity are not dictated by whether you are comfortable or not.
Yet, that still is not the issue.
They dropped the word theory. This clearly indicates they have no clue what they are talking about.
Why?
Conspiracy is a crime. People are actually tried and convicted for conspiracies every year. Without the word THEORY you are actually stating the thing the people you are arguing with are saying and you don't even realize it.
"Nah, man that's a conspiracy."
"Exactly, it's a conspiracy, so let's prosecute them!"
"Nah, man it's not real."
"Your saying it s a conspiracy theory?"
"Yeah."
"So when you said it's a conspiracy you were making a mistake?"
"No, I wasn't making a mistake. It is a conspiracy."
"You do realize without the word theory you are stating it is happening, and that is what I was claiming."
"It's not real."
"That is usually what people call a conspiracy theory, yet even people that speak conspiracy theories are not saying it is absolute. They are providing it as a possibility based upon evidence and knowledge that they have encountered. The more evidence you have then that theory becomes more and more probable. Yet simply calling it a conspiracy theory doesn't mean it is wrong. Even the official explanations are technically speaking often conspiracy theories. Yet if you drop the word theory then you are not giving a reason NOT to listen to it, you are stating it is fact. Conspiracy is a crime, so if it is a fact then it should be prosecuted."
"You're an idiot!"
"Ad Hominem, Appeal To The Stone, what next?"
