What exactly is a conspiracy theorist?

Labels reinforce ideologies and silence debate

- SHANE FUDGE

EVEN to those who do not subscribe to a hidden or conspiratorial agenda, it should be clear that we are not living in normal times: death and disease, the ramping up of global conflicts, adverse weather events, the mass movement of people across borders and the number of these events has risen exponentially since the turn of the decade.

We are living in the most divisive time that can be imagined. Families have broken up, relationships have ended, friendships lost. The covid vaccination programme gave birth to a whole new political narrative - those who have been jabbed, and those who were willing to question what they were being coerced into doing.

Early in the pandemic, there were people prepared to ask questions and challenge the institutions and motivations of the people overseeing all of this. These people, in turn, were vilified, ostracised, and shamed, by people who chose to believe that the government had their best interests at heart. The term 'conspiracy theorist' became the go-to phrase to use on anyone who had the temerity to raise questions or to express doubt about the official narrative.

According to U.S. professor Lance deHaven-Smith, the term conspiracy theory merged into the cultural lexicon via a CIA-instigated propaganda campaign after the Kennedy assassination in 1963.

The CIA was aware of suspicions around the official narrative of a 'rogue gunman', the possible involvement of other protagonists, and that there may have been more sinister motivations for Kennedy's death.