The “Conspiracy Theory” Label: Powerful Tool of Media Disinformation and Political Discourse | Global Research
The “Conspiracy Theory” Label: Powerful Tool of Media Disinformation and Political Discourse | Global Research
On March 18, 2014 Cass Sunstein released his latest collection of essays, Conspiracy Theories and Other Dangerous Ideas.[1]
Like his other works geared toward a mainstream readership, the
prominent Harvard law professor, former Obama administration regulatory
czar, and NSA advisor [2] points to numerous alleged dangers posed by
even “rational people” who are susceptible to adopting “crippled
epistemologies.” What Sunstein fails to explain throughout his most
recent medley of gentle authoritarianism is how the “conspiracy theory”
term has received vigorous promotion from the editorial practices of
certain major corporate news media.
“Conspiracy theory” is not merely a flippant or off-handed water
cooler term, but rather a powerful tool of political discourse.
“Deployed as a pejorative putdown,” political scientist Lance
deHaven-Smith observes,
the label is a verbal defense mechanism used by political
elites to suppress mass suspicions that inevitably arise when shocking
political crimes benefit top leaders or play into their agendas,
especially when those same officials are in control of agencies
responsible for preventing events in question or for investigating them
after they have occurred.[3]
