You say 'conspiracy theorist' like it's a bad thing

Just had to buy the Mirror today. Sometimes you see a front page and you just know you have to buy it.

It's an interesting one. I'd hate to agree with al Fayed, but there definitely seems to not quite make sense. But, hey, people tell big ole lies to the public and get away with it Lone gunman, WMD, neo-liberalism. Just label your opponents 'conspiracy theorists' and suggest they probably think the moon landings were faked, and you're laughing all the way to Area 51.

Label someone a conspiracy theorist and you automatically label them paranoid. The Oxford (pocket, don't get me started...) dictionary defines 'conspiracy' as 'a secret plan by a group to do something unlawful or harmful' and 'theorist' as 'theoretician' or 'a person who develops or studies the theory of a subject.' So 'conspiracy theorist'= 'a person who develops or studies the theories of secret plans by a group to do something unlawful or harmful.'

Watergate was a conspiracy. TTEOSE definitely resulted from a conspiracy. In a way, the US achieved independence through a conspiracy (declaring yourself independent from Britain is a crime under, er, British law). So they're major, world-changing events. Surely something worth studying then. Like the media.

So unless 'theorist' has an extra meaning of 'someone who sees things everywhere' I'm not a big fan of people who use that phrase. Besides, it's amazing to hear about the plots that come out under the thirty year rule. Imagine what we'll be hearing in 2033. Maybe we'll even find out who really killed Diana.

Remember, just because you're not paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you.