Is the term "Conspiracy theorist" a derogatory term?

[JudasMaiden]

Are the terms "Conspiracy theorist" and "Conspiracy theories" derogatory terms against people who are actual critical thinkers? I think yes, because questioning the bullshit preached by the corporate mainstream media(which I believe is owned by the very same corporations who collaborate with the government to keep the masses pacified and stupid) and the public education system would ruin the plans of the bourgeois (exposing some hidden actual evidence could prove the "conspiracy theories" true). Also the term "Conspiracy theorist" sounds like an Ad Hominen attack.

I think this video sums it all up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJA1R8YIHk

Here are some "conspiracy theories" I actually believe:
1. JFK's and MLK's assassination were done by the government, but were covered up.
2. Tap Water is fluoridated a lot to help keep the masses apathetic and compliant. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIslPT2G1Y)

[#FF0000]

"Conspiracy theorist" has negative connotations because the people it describes are usually dumb as hell.

Fluoridated water does not make anyone "passive, obedient, and stupid" lmao

[Orange Juche]

There's a difference between believing certain conspiracies occurred (a conspiracy theory) and being a conspiracy theorist. The keyword being theorist. Someone who actively is finding conspiracies to believe in, rather than objectively coming to the conclusion that a conspiracy is likely the most reasonable explanation.

Whether it's derogatory depends on how you feel (and how deeply you feel it) about people who invest in diverting meaningful political energy into nonsensical theories to make the world less gray and more black and white, to fit it into a neat little box, because it's easier to deal with that way.

[Bala Perdida]

When talking with my cousin about the NSA civilian spying and the patriot act's unconstitutional detainment policies he called me a "conspiracy theorist" even though those two things are widely know facts. Not to sound like a hippy, but his views of the government are basically conformist and he refuses to believe the NSA spys on people as much as the evidence shows and defends the government as a legitimate institution, despite not benefiting from it. So basically any critical thinking is challenged with with a corporate media white washing, and I'm just a crazy conspiracy commie! He also doesn't care about the wrong the government does because "it doesn't effect him". Its pretty concerning, his attitude.

[Brutus]

This shit is on par with wearing a tin foil hat so THEY can't read your brain waves.

[Thanatos]

Conspiracy theory is a bit like PC - it works both ways.

Right-wing nuts scream PC whenever they're asked to behave. Likewise, they also scream conspiracy theory whenever the establishment (their version of events, rather) is questioned. Of course, if the govt. happens to be other than right wing, then they'd invent their own conspiracy theories.:rolleyes:

So my point is, it works both ways.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

I don't think it has to be derogatory even though it generally is. Lots of conspiracies turn out to be true, but that list never seems to include the all encompassing theories about secret societies or extra dimensional lizards who secretly control every aspect of social life. I feel that more and more the term is reserved for the people who believe in secret society stuff while people with more plausible conspiracy theories are generally just viewed as normal dissidents or whatever.

The OP actually kind of illustrates this himself, #1 is somewhat reasonable especially MLK's assassination and belongs in the realm of possiblity, #2 is some moonbat shit that you should be ashamed to believe and ties in entirely with the all encompassing social control space lizard camp of conspiracies.

[Celtic_0ne]

I don't like conspiracy theorists because they shift the blame from capitalism to the fictional organizations like The New World Order and the Illuminati.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Yes, it's completely derogatory and is a really blatantly stupid way of avoiding the subject matter or alternative theory in question.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

Fluoridated water does not make anyone "passive, obedient, and stupid" lmao

Probably not but it can kill you and lead to a host of other health concerns.

[Slavic]

@Vox (Since revleft seemed to stop allowing me to quote)

Can you actually provide links to those claims?

Any compound can cause death at high concentrations, but the levels in which drinking water is fluoridated is far bellow lethal levels.

[#FF0000]

Probably not but it can kill you and lead to a host of other health concerns.

Fluoridated water in the US has .7-1.2 ppm, depending on the local climate (less fluoride in the water in warmer climates). At those levels, you would die of water drunkenness before fluoride poisoning.

I haven't seen any independent studies that demonstrate any health issues caused by fluoridated water, either.

I mean, of course fluoride can kill you -- almost any substance in high doses can (even water).

[Sinister Intents]

Isn't fluoride carcinogenic?

[#FF0000]

Isn't fluoride carcinogenic?

There haven't been any strong links found between fluoridated water and cancer yet (as of 2006)

[Criminalize Heterosexuality]

One thing that has always bothered me is - why does it matter who shot JFK? The man was a bloody, racist, anti-communist butcher. So why are so many "leftists" obsessed with proving the gummint did him in? If they did, kudos.

[Sinister Intents]

There haven't been any strong links found between fluoridated water and cancer yet (as of 2006)

Ahhhh alright, but I mean in general isn't it carcinogenic because its a very strong oxidizer or something like that. If you're drinking fluoridated water and using fluoride toothpaste and other fluoride items, couldn't that put you at a higher risk of cancer then? Along with all the other carcinogenic garbage that gets consumed with food. Like with Pringles potato chip's being coated with a carcinogenic chemical so that they maintain their shape. I'd provide links but I'm on a cellphone and phone posts aren't easy for me...

[bropasaran]

ABC of Communism 1, 11

"In capitalist society, machinery and factory buildings take the form of capital. But do machinery and buildings always take the form of capital? Certainly not. If the whole of society were a cooperative commonwealth producing everything for itself, then neither machinery nor raw materials would be capital, seeing that they would not be means for the creation of profit for a small group of rich persons. That is to say, machinery, for example, only becomes capital when it is the private property of the capitalist class, when it serves the purpose .of exploiting wage labour, when it serves to produce surplus value."

Das Kapital, 1, 33

"Political economy confuses on principle two very different kinds of private property, of which one rests on the producers’ own labour, the other on the employment of the labour of others. It forgets that the latter not only is the direct antithesis of the former, but absolutely grows on its tomb only."

"We know that the means of production and subsistence, while they remain the property of the immediate producer, are not capital. They become capital only under circumstances in which they serve at the same time as means of exploitation and subjection of the labourer."

"There the capitalist regime everywhere comes into collision with the resistance of the producer, who, as owner of his own conditions of labour, employs that labour to enrich himself, instead of the capitalist. The contradiction of these two diametrically opposed economic systems, manifest itself here practically in a struggle between them."

[DasFapital]

The only one so called conspiracy that I think has any traction is the events surrounding MLK's death. With Kennedy I don't think the government would have had much reason to kill him and the 9/11 theories are too insanely complicated to be believable.

[Dodo]

Are the terms "Conspiracy theorist" and "Conspiracy theories" derogatory terms against people who are actual critical thinkers? I think yes, because questioning the bullshit preached by the corporate mainstream media(which I believe is owned by the very same corporations who collaborate with the government to keep the masses pacified and stupid) and the public education system would ruin the plans of the bourgeois (exposing some hidden actual evidence could prove the "conspiracy theories" true). Also the term "Conspiracy theorist" sounds like an Ad Hominen attack.

I think this video sums it all up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BJA1R8YIHk

Here are some "conspiracy theories" I actually believe:
1. JFK's and MLK's assassination were done by the government, but were covered up.
2. Tap Water is fluoridated a lot to help keep the masses apathetic and compliant. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUIslPT2G1Y)

It is a powerful tool. You have to be very careful with this stuff. If you do not have a "scientific" method, anything can be a conspiracy theory. Fİrst of all:
http://johnmolyneux.blogspot.se/2011/09/whats-wrong-with-conspiracy-theories.html

Then you have to emphasize the importance of method, whether your opposer accepts it as scientific or not. Science is not a statis concept anyway, but you have to show that this is empirically easily provable. Or you can try the Popperian falsification kind of stuff.

Especially if you are a Marxist, you should refrain from "conspiracy" thinking and have a methodological base. You have to put a thick line between that mysterious conspiracists and Marxists understanding of power relations.

[Skyhilist]

I don't think the MLK Jr. one is really a conspiracy theory at all given that the government was found guilty in court.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

One thing that has always bothered me is - why does it matter who shot JFK? The man was a bloody, racist, anti-communist butcher. So why are so many "leftists" obsessed with proving the gummint did him in? If they did, kudos.

What's funny is that right before JFK gets into his rant against secret societies in the speech people always point to, he's making a joke about Marx, suggesting that if American newspapers of the time had paid him better for his journalism he never would have felt the need to become a revolutionary. Clearly JFK was really on our side though folks.

[Illegalitarian]

Conspiracy Theories doesn't seem inherently derogatory. I don't think you'll find much of anyone who buys the story of both the JFK or MLK assassinations, for example, or even the mysterious circumstances around the death of Uncle Joe.



Then there are the "Illuminati FEMA death camp chemtrails be after me" type shit that is super destructive and harmful to our struggles. I guess it's more simple for people to blame the world's woes on GMO's and a secret group of powerful men controlling the entire world in some sort of cult-like organization because that's just how the human mind works, breaking things down into simple equations that they can understand. It's more convenient and simple for them to point the finger at the Illuminati or FEMA or some such than it is to actually think about material conditions, class society, and other legitimate problems that arise out of these things, as well as being more convenient for the exploiting class that truly does oppress and exploit the vast majority of the worlds population.


What I'm trying to say is we need to attack and correct some of these more growingly popular conspiracy theories whenever and wherever we see them. These is exploitation and oppression going on in the world that has been seeing to the end of millions of lives for many years and keeping most of everyone else in horrible conditions as well, but this is simply the nature of class society, not the work of The Pope and Obama and Cameron all huddled together in a little room wearing funny hats.

[Illegalitarian]

As for the death of JFK, not that it matters, but if I were a betting man I'd put my money on the Soviets. Guy defects to the USSR, comes back several years later and then kills JFK a few months later? Pretty fishy to me, but that's just a theory!

[TheSocialistMetalhead]

There is a clear difference between critical thinking and coming to the conclusion that there is some sort of conspiracy at work. Consider the fact that most 'conspiracy theorists' have very little reason to actually believe the theories they claim are true.

In a way, buying into conspiracy theories is more gullible than not doing so and coming to a realistic conclusion based on material conditions.

However, I do think they're both derogatory terms and are often used to dismiss people who are actually critical and have done research that led them to certain logical conclusions. In other words, I think a lot of conspiracy theories aren't 'conspiracy theories', if you get what I mean. If you claim that they are, you might as well forget about believing anything you were taught in history class because that also needs to be interpreted by people who often have certain opinions.

[Dodo]

Conspiracy theorists do not have a falsifiable method. What they are saying can be completely true, but that does not mean its suggests anything. It does not have any method. Religion is a similar thing.

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

One thing that has always bothered me is - why does it matter who shot JFK? The man was a bloody, racist, anti-communist butcher. So why are so many "leftists" obsessed with proving the gummint did him in? If they did, kudos.

Yes, why oh why would people want transparency or objective data concerning the practices of them that rule them. :rolleyes:


Fluoridated water in the US has .7-1.2 ppm, depending on the local climate (less fluoride in the water in warmer climates). At those levels, you would die of water drunkenness before fluoride poisoning.

I haven't seen any independent studies that demonstrate any health issues caused by fluoridated water, either.

I mean, of course fluoride can kill you -- almost any substance in high doses can (even water).

This, from a medical standpoint, is absolutely horrendous dude. Not to mention there have been (in the US mind you) outbreaks of overfluoridation which caused flouride poisoning. Why would we want a medicine being administered in such a way, where you can't control dosage? Where, the patients whom your prescribing this medical treatment have no consent whatsoever? The basis for this seems pretty shoddy to me and the actual medical benefits seem questionable and remain to be seen. Das why I don't like it.


@Vox (Since revleft seemed to stop allowing me to quote)

Can you actually provide links to those claims?


Doctor gives 50 reasons (http://fluoridealert.org/articles/50-reasons/)

[Jimmie Higgins]

Are the terms "Conspiracy theorist" and "Conspiracy theories" derogatory terms against people who are actual critical thinkers?yes and no. I think the charge of conspiracy theorist is often used to try and discredit someone or some argument, but on the other hand I don't think most of what would be considered conspiracy theories today (arguments that rely on a lot of speculation based out of "evidence" of discrepancies in the official story) are actually critical thinking. This is how the term can be applied as a slur: someone actually investigating government spying or corporate plots can be called a conspiracist and then lumped in with totally speculative arguments about fake moon landings or the secret North American government run by Mexico.


I think yes, because questioning the bullshit preached by the corporate mainstream media(which I believe is owned by the very same corporations who collaborate with the government to keep the masses pacified and stupid)I think this is the underlying flaw in most conspiracy theories: the assumption that if people knew "the truth" then action naturally follows. It privileges "those in the know" vs. "the sheeple" who "blindly" follow the official story. There's more than enough unspeculative, verified information out there that if knowing about misdeeds or collusion in the state and economic power centers was all that it took, then there would have been revolutions the world over many times now.

Doomsday and speculative conspiracies actually help muddy the water and make it more difficult to point out the overt and verifiable plans and designs of the ruling class.