“Conspiracy theory” is a term that at once strikes
fear and anxiety in the hearts of most every public figure, particularly
journalists and academics. Since the 1960s the label has become a disciplinary
device that has been overwhelmingly effective in defining certain events off
limits to inquiry or debate. Especially in the United States raising legitimate
questions about dubious official narratives destined to inform public opinion
(and thereby public policy) is a major thought crime that must be cauterized
from the public psyche at all costs.
Conspiracy theory’s acutely negative connotations
may be traced to liberal historian Richard Hofstadter’s well-known fusillades
against the “New Right.” Yet it was the Central Intelligence Agency that likely
played the greatest role in effectively “weaponizing” the term. In the
groundswell of public skepticism toward the Warren Commission’s findings on the
assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the CIA sent a detailed directive
to all of its bureaus. Titled “Countering Criticism of the Warren Commission
Report,” the dispatch played a definitive role in making the “conspiracy
theory” term a weapon to be wielded against almost any individual or group
calling the government’s increasingly clandestine programs and activities into
question.
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