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Throughout the Covid pseudopandemic, the phrase “conspiracy theorist” soared through the zeitgeist.
Suddenly, anybody found questioning the official story was deemed a “conspiracy theorist” worthy of censorship and, in some instances, jail time.
The phrase “conspiracy theory” first appeared in academic discourse in the 19th century. It referred to the study and analysis of conspiracies, often focusing on political intrigue and secret plots.
Initially, the term had a neutral or even positive connotation, highlighting the importance of investigating potential covert activities.
Then, in the 20th century, the phrase began to take on a more negative meaning.
Enter the CIA during the 1960s.
“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.
James Tracy, circa 2013
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.
In other words, the CIA did not want people questioning the assassination of JFK, and wanted to control public discourse. (See Operation Mockingbird.)
The directive, known as Document 1035-960, was released by the CIA in 1976, after a FOIA (Freedom Of Information Access) request by the New York Times, in which it details a series of actions and techniques for “countering and discrediting the claims of the conspiracy theorists, so as to inhibit the circulation of such claims in other countries.”
One example was to remind “friendly elite contacts (especially politicians and editors)” about the accuracy and soundness of the Warren Commission Report, and that “further speculative discussion only plays in to the hands of the [Communist] opposition.”
Basically, if one challenged the government’s story, then one was an evil commie.
The CIA also told its members “[t]o employ propaganda assets to [negate] and refute the attacks of the critics. Book reviews and feature articles are particularly appropriate for this purpose.”
The phrase “conspiracy theorist” is now a regularly used pejorative.
The truth is that, however, being labelled a “conspiracy theorist” is a compliment because it means that one is not outsourcing one’s critical thinking.
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