Rethinking “Conspiracy”

What is a “conspiracy theory” really?

We can start with a dry yet intuitive defintion: “conspiracy theories are allegations that powerful people or organizations are plotting together in secret to achieve sinister ends through deception of the public.”

This is the hardcore side of things, a nation-wide or perhaps even global scheme of deception. But there’s another, softer side to conspiracy.

What does it mean to conspire? And when do people do so?

Taken loosely, two people conspire when they decide on something together.

Two young boys conspire when they decide together to sign up for the baseball team instead of the football team. A group of teenagers conspire when they choose a party bus instead of a limo to go to their prom. A mom and dad conspire when they play rock paper scissors over who has to help Johnny with his homework.

At this level, there’s nothing sinister.

So what is it that makes the conspiracy theory so vulgar? Why does it invite so much derision if it is based, quite simply, upon mere mutual decisions?

This turns out to be an incredibly tricky question. But we do have one ready and willing guide — history.

For such a seemingly timeless concept as conspiration, there is no mention of the term “conspiracy theory” in known literature before 1876. So where on earth does it come from and why is it so new?

I must admit, I’m no historian. But I can piece things together.

America was especially attuned to scandal in the late 19th century. There was “muckraking”, “pork-barreling” and generalized political debauchery. In 1875 in particular, the U.S. dealt with a particularly salacious scandal — the “Whisky Ring”.

The Whisky Ring is a classic example of unsavory conspiracy. This wasn’t just the mutual agreement of everyday folks; this was an illicit and recklessly self-interested quid pro quo within the American government itself.

Taxes on liquor increased after the Civil War, and distillers were eager to get back to normal again. The politicians, as always, were interested in making a little side cash. Naturally enough, these two parties struck a deal. The government would let the increased tax slide but only if the distillers agreed to share a portion of their profit.

When all was said and done, America’s own Internal Revenue Service had siphoned off millions in “whisky funds”. When we moan and groan about the government “wasting our tax dollars”, this isn’t usually what we have in mind!

This wild historical ride brings us to our next point — there is another, often overlooked usage of “conspiracy theory”.

Enter conspiracy theory the legal term.

Legally speaking a “conspiracy” is simply a mutual agreement reached with intent to break the law. If three brothers decide to run a money laundering business, they conspire in this sense.

What the lawyers do is try to get to the bottom of things; they do their best to fashion an account of what happened and how it happened. In other words, lawyers offer a “theory” of the given case they work on. Put these two terms together and a “conspiracy theory” is simply a lawyer’s account of a case of conspiring parties.

In this light, the term isn’t so spookily ominous after all.