XXIX. So, What's the Real Story?

Quite often you hear of people who express doubts about, or dissent from some conventional point of view. Such people are labeled "conspiracy theorists" by rabid defenders of the status quo. This epithet is often uttered quite nastily, as though the person being labeled had just introduced into the room their personal effluvia. It is as if the mere utterance of such a deviation constitutes a transgression against all society.

The thing is, why does the term "conspiracy theorist" have a negative connotation? It merely means one who thinks about conspiracies and where they might exist. The term is completely neutral. Hell, I qualify as a conspiracy theorist--the Kennedy assassination, the drug war, and 9/11 are just a few of the things I regard with suspicion.

It seems people who question conventional notions often find themselves ridiculed and vilified by those who would rather be told what to think and believe.