My position on “conspiracy theorists” reflects my position on Ukraine/Russia: tread carefully.

The three general groups here are:

1. Genuine authorities on a subject who are dismissed as “a conspiracy theorist,” with the clear goal of undermining that authority.

2. Enquiring minds who raise legitimate concerns drawn from extensive research, reliable sources, and back their concerns with relevant data. Those in this group are connected to group 1 and are often ridiculed as “unenlightened” from those on the Right, “not woke” from those on the Left.

3. The noisy Gnostics. People who call everything a conspiracy, stirring the pot for gain, grins, and giggles. The back-water blog/vlogs looking to make a name for themselves, by subjectively, and selectively spouting claims as though, they, themselves, were an authority. Those in this group often are behind the demonising – or add to the logical fallacy packed dishonest criticisms – of those in groups 1 & 2.

Listen to/filter those attacked as conspiracy theorists in category 1 and those ridiculed as “unenlightened” or “not woke” in category 2. Generally tune out those in category 3.

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©Rod Lampard, 2022.