Where does the term 'conspiracy theory' come from?
Was it really via the CIA in the 1960s in response to the JFK assassination?
As a follow up to my post “You must be a conspiracy theorist” I wanted to explore the origins of the term and how it’s been used from its origins up until today.
Origins of the term
For a while I thought that the CIA invented this term in response to criticisms regarding the Warren Report, which was setup to ‘investigate’ the JFK assassination. Despite that commission being a circus show meant to check an bureaucratic box instead of investigating in real ‘conspiracy’, it turns out the term didn’t originate there – it’s much older.
From Wikipedia,
The word "conspiracy" derives from the Latin con- ("with, together") and spirare ("to breathe").
Robert Blaskiewicz comments that examples of the term were used as early as the nineteenth century and states that its usage has always been derogatory. According to a study by Andrew McKenzie-McHarg, in contrast, in the nineteenth century the term conspiracy theory simply "suggests a plausible postulate of a conspiracy" and "did not, at this stage, carry any connotations, either negative or positive", though sometimes a postulate so-labeled was criticized.
...
The earliest known usage was by the American author Charles Astor Bristed, in a letter to the editor published in The New York Times on January 11, 1863. He used it to refer to claims that British aristocrats were intentionally weakening the United States during the American Civil War in order to advance their financial interests.
England has had quite enough to do in Europe and Asia, without going out of her way to meddle with America. It was a physical and moral impossibility that she could be carrying on a gigantic conspiracy against us. But our masses, having only a rough general knowledge of foreign affairs, and not unnaturally somewhat exaggerating the space which we occupy in the world's eye, do not appreciate the complications which rendered such a conspiracy impossible. They only look at the sudden right-about-face movement of the English Press and public, which is most readily accounted for on the conspiracy theory.
So what was the CIA’s role?
So, they didn’t create it, but they sure helped popularize it in the 1960s. Also from Wikipedia we get this excerpt,
The term "conspiracy theory" is itself the subject of a conspiracy theory, which posits that the term was popularized by the CIA in order to discredit conspiratorial believers, particularly critics of the Warren Commission, by making them a target of ridicule. In his 2013 book Conspiracy Theory in America, political scientist Lance deHaven-Smith wrote that the term entered everyday language in the United States after 1964, the year in which the Warren Commission published its findings on the Kennedy assassination, with The New York Times running five stories that year using the term.
Operation Mockingbird, which was the CIA infiltration of its agents in popular news platforms of the day, pushed these stories.
Here’s the CIA document and the relevant excerpt:
CIA Document 1035-960
Conspiracy theories have frequently thrown suspicion on our organization, for example by falsely alleging that Lee Harvey Oswald worked for us. The aim of this dispatch is to provide material countering and discrediting the claims of the conspiracy theorists, so as to inhibit the circulation of such claims in other countries. Background information is supplied in a classified section and in a number of unclassified attachments.
How the term has been weaponized
As we can see throughout history, powerful entities have used the term to discredit opposition.
In today’s age, it’s still used by the CIA/three letter agencies…from a Washington Post article from 2013,
Sunstein was the head of the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs until last year, when he returned to teaching at Harvard Law School.
As one of our intrepid commenters pointed out yesterday, while at Harvard in 2008, Sunstein co-authored a working paper that suggests government agents or their allies "cognitively infiltrate" conspiracy theorist groups by joining "chat rooms, online social networks or even real-space groups" and influencing the conversation.
And the normies hear a certain narrative is ‘a conspiracy theory’ and defend their enslavers by using groupthink and mob mentality to silence any form of dissent.
Think about online or in-person interactions with normies during the past few years. Any mention of vaxx side effects, alternative treatments, that lockdowns were detrimental, you name it – these were all considered crazy conspiracy theories. They helped defend the establishment, and thus have blood on their hands as well.
But they’ll never admit that (at least the vast majority won’t).
They’ll deflect, saying “Oh but at the time we didn’t know” or something similar. Some backtracking has already begun. But we can’t let them off the hook so easily – otherwise we’ll just a repeat of this the next time the WHO decides that something is a ‘pandemic’.
Now, any criticism of the Russia conflict is met with similar force. Any mention of the real history of that region, the Minsk Agreements, or that there are Nazis fighting for the Ukraine currently, means you believe in ‘conspiracy theories’ and also support Putin (who’s the reincarnation of Hitler too, they’d have you believe).
The trend will continue for each and every ‘next thing’ that comes up. Equivalent to a bunch of NPCs awaiting their next software update to tell them what to think, sadly. And even worse, I think it’s clear that there’s been a deliberate attempt over the years to keep people in a dumbed down state, in a state of spiritual ignorance, despite each of us having divine spark within us.
Conclusion
When the MSM or a normie tells you “that’s a conspiracy theory”, chances are you’re closer to reality than their version of reality they’re trying to push onto you.
It means they don’t want you straying too far from the herd.
It means, if you’re new to that given idea/concept/news story, you might want to do a bit of independent digging to figure out for yourself what reality is.
Non-linear warfare is only going to continue, so expect further attempts to discredit any straying from the herd in the years to come.
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Thank you, your article is just great, so I am definitely going to quote it in my article (writing in Slovene) ;)
This article really speaks to our present day situation. Keep these articles coming! They give me a peak behind the veil that’s so valuable in todays world.