Conspiracy theories can be thought of as revisionist history that is still political. Speculation is a normal part of analyzing politics. So, while these theories are commonplace historically speaking, the use of the term "conspiracy theory" for stigmatization and idea repression is relatively new^[1]. Yet as a result of this, conspiracy theories today only surface in fringe media that are counterproductive for accurate discussion. To upgrade the discourse, I'm arguing for the integration of conspiracy theory discourse into an open peer reviewed system.

Obviously, conspiracy theory is a loaded term; stigma makes it difficult to use in serious discussion. Confusing things even more, it has changed with time. Miriam-Webster defines conspiracy theory as, "a theory that explains an event or set of circumstances as the result of a secret plot by usually powerful conspirators". But many ideas called conspiracy theories today don't involve any "powerful conspirators", other than by implication that people involved are hiding something. In some places it has just become a by-word for overly-accusatory speculation. In effect, the term has been stretched to include an ever-widening array of conversations that are incongruous to a given orthodoxy ^[1]^[2]. In some interesting cases in American politics, a theory is published as permitted speculation in news media allied with one party, but labeled a conspiracy theory in the discourse of another party. These semi-licit theories tend to be accusations at the opposition party.^[3] These are rare cases, and the parties have shared political adversaries, which means that much political speculation may be dubbed illicit “conspiracy theory” in both ‘sides’ of mass media. In this way, language that would otherwise be a useful tool for speaking truth to power became socially unacceptable. The coronavirus lab-leak, for example, is only one of the latest examples of a labeled “conspiracy” theory that gained credibility, eventually contributing to important debates. ^[4]

Stigmatization of conspiracy theories is more corrosive to democracy than the theories themselves. Condemning a wide swath of fact-based conversations insults the intelligence of everybody involved. Even worse, that discourse manipulation has eroded people's trust in even basic reporting systems, which paralyzes people from meaningful political a...

rick_s

rick_s