THE CONSPIRASPHERE

THE GREATRESETAND OTHER HIDDEN THINGS

Even in societies that pride themselves on democratic values, dissenting voices have traditionally found it hard to gain a public hearing. Since the 1960s, particularly in the US and the UK, less scrupulous administrations have used the label of conspiracy theory to silence unconventional points of view or inconvenient investigations and intrusions into the workings of the power elite.

This has usually been a successful strategy, but not always. Woodward and Bernstein were called conspiracy theorists for their investigations into the Watergate affair, and not