When people use the term "conspiracy theory" or "conspiracy theorist" as a means of discrediting others, it's a bit awkward. The person labeling is short-sighted, because in the long run of history, many conspiracy theories turn out to be true.
Early on, it was J.E.Hoover (head of the FBI) who declared "there is no mafia." He spoke in the name of the US government, and it turned out it was a lie. Regardless of whether his lie was a strategic feint to further ensnare more mafioso, it was still a lie. MK-ULTRA (CIA sponsored mind control experiments), The Tuskegee Syphilis Study (injecting African Americans with disease and monitoring them) and Operation Mockingbird (government controlled media) were all wildly outlandish propositions during their introduction into our society, and anyone attempting to acknowledge them would be laughed at (even called crazy), but nevertheless, they turned out to be true. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was reported by our government as an attack on a US ship by the North Vietnamese. At the time, anyone who doubted it would be considered a "conspiracy theorist" even though they would've been right (it was propaganda). During he Iran-Contra scandal, our government lied, and Ollie North went to jail. It's been proven the government has lied then and many other times. Why is that so difficult to conceive of presently?
Did the government just decide to stop lying now?
Here's part of the problem: when our government lies about what it tells the public, that divides the public into those who believe the lie and those who believe it's a conspiracy. That means, EVERY TIME the government lies they create conspiracy theorists. Why can't our government just be honest like the way we expect them (and pay them) to be?
President Nixon is actually given credit for coining the phrase "conspiracy theorist," because of all the US citizens calling him out on his lies. Is that irony or satire (or just an attempt to defame/discredit those who know the truth)?
Overall, "conspiracy theorists" often prove they were right. There was a conspiracy to lie/withhold/interfere/confuse the public.
Now, why would they do that? A better question may be, is that who you want running this country?
