reply to post by Tikitiboo
Well, of course you're talking about the two semantic identities of the word "conspiracy"
One is its authentic meaning and one is its extended meaning that tends to be the meaning intended in most situations where the word is used, even
here on this site.
It actually does not serve anyone's arguments to use the word conspiracy, because it seems that even the posters, to some extent, intend the second
meaning.
Conspiracy:
(1) Original meaning - two or more people (or entities) aspiring and working towards an action or goal together, usually in a deceptive or strategic
way.
(2) Extended meaning - fantastical machinations that are almost impossible-to-plan (because of time, involvement of too many people, technical
limitation or all of the above) that are formulated by
not necessarily more than one person, which attempt to explain what otherwise would seem
like terribly convenient or fortuitous coincidences or non-sequiturs.
Conspiracies in the true, original sense of the word are happening all around you all day long. Some vulgar and banal examples of conspiracies in your
everyday life or in your community:
-Two male friends approaching two female friends at a bar deciding beforehand who will be talking to whom.
-Two siblings deciding how to tell the story of the broken TV to mom.
-Two married people devising a way to be alone away from their respective spouses for intimacy.
-Two neighbors developing a passive-agressive strategy to get rid of a noisy neighbor.
-A police unit devising a secret entrapment for some drug ring.
-A city official and a prominent businessperson having closed door meetings with quid pro quos, plotting the sale of city land for a commercial
purpose.
Conspiracy theory, at face value, should only signify a set of plausible circumstances that can be tested or recreated to show that perhaps two or
more people were in cahoots for X purpose or goal.