I've been speaking for years about the Pavlovian style conditioning society has undergone when it comes to the phrase "Conspiracy Theory". We have been so conditioned that when we hear those two words together our protective training that has been conditioned kicks in and we engage mental spam filters. We had better not pay attention or listen to anything said from that point on because the dreaded "Conspiracy Theory" label has been engaged.

Sadly this technique has been very effectively employed. I'd even go so far as saying the application and conditioning themselves are an actual conspiracy.

Now lately I've been increasingly seeing intellectuals refer to things as not being a "Conspiracy" and trying to distance themselves preemptively from that application. They drop the word THEORY which is rather important. The Theory indicates it is an idea, a speculation, a working concept, something that might be likely but hasn't been definitively proven, etc.

Conspiracy on the other hand only requires two or more people planning together to achieve a goal through underhanded methods. This describes virtually every bank robbery, many kidnappings, etc. It certainly involves a lot of the actions that result in violating Constitutional Rights by actions of people in the Government.

People will say "It is not conspiracy" leaving off the word theory and they will proceed to describe what actually proves it is CONSPIRACY and not a theory.

The conditioning has been so thorough that people are afraid to use the word.

There are other phrases and labels used the same way these days. Racist, Transphobe, Homophobe, Islamophobe, Anti-Semitic, Fascist, etc. All of those words have actual meanings. Yet they are not used with accuracy of meaning in mind. They are used the same way as the label "conspiracy theory" to trigger a conditioned response to engage mental spam filters and try to get people to self isolate themselves from people that have been targeted with such labels.

Don't listen. They are crazy. Don't listen. They are conspiracy theorists. Don't listen. They are white supremacists. Don't listen. They are anti-semitic. Don't listen. They are fascists.

They don't even need to offer proof. The conditioning is such that those words don't require proof. People treat it as truth and blindly are mentally herded.

This technique works in other places. It historically has worked with words like Blasphemer, Heretic, Infidel, Nonbeliever, Pagan, Slave, etc. In present day it also works with Denier, Climate Denier, Anti-Vaxxer, Trump supporter, etc.

It all short circuits something extremely important...

Communication.

How do you know a person is wrong if you do not listen to what they have to say and think about it?
Do you believe because some parts of what a person says are provably wrong that everything they say is as well?
If so, how do you know if you don't actually listen?
Can you read a book without believing it?
If so, then why ban books?
Can you listen to a person speak without believing them?
If so, then why censor them?

If we cannot communicate then we are doomed. You don't have to agree with anyone. Yet if you are not even listening to find out why you disagree then you are doomed. If you blindly let someone else tell you why you shouldn't listen to someone without finding out for yourself then you turn yourself into a mental servant of the person you let make those judgement calls for you. A mental slave of sorts.

Is it a conspiracy?

Often the answer is YES.

It is a conspiracy theory until it is proven. At that point it is simply a conspiracy.

Conspiracy without the addition of the word theory is a very different thing yet I increasingly see people dropping the word theory and treating conspiracy by itself as the same thing.