“While we were not watching, conspiracy theory has undergone Orwellian redefinition. A ‘conspiracy theory’ no longer means an event explained by a conspiracy. Instead, it now means any explanation, or even a fact, that is out of step with the government’s explanation and that of its media pimps…
In other words, as truth becomes uncomfortable for government and its Ministry of Propaganda, truth is redefined as conspiracy theory, by which is meant an absurd and laughable explanation that we should ignore.”
Paul Craig Roberts
“It is perfectly possible for a man to be out of prison and yet not free—to be under no physical constraint and yet be a psychological captive, compelled to think, feel and act as the representatives of the national state, or of some private interest within the nation wants him to think, feel and act. . . . To him the walls of his prison are invisible and he believes himself to be free.”
Aldous Huxley, A Brave New World Revisited
Just last week I was reading an essay by Ayn Rand written in 1964, “”Extremism’ or the Art of Smearing”. It was written to admonish the Republican Liberals going after Goldwater. But, it is entirely compatible with the quote above. The idea is that by changing the meaning or never even defining a term like “conspiracy”, it can be used as a very negative spear to smear the person using the term.