The media tore into Adams after the debate. In fact, if anything, the sensationalist conservative media outlets went easier on him than the more established, mainstream outlets. For quite some time, the latter had been devoted largely to secondary journalism, i.e. relying parasitically on the hard work of the largely vanishing indymedia market. Over time, the smaller and more agile outlets had found themselves increasingly unable to compete, as the mainstream outlets looted as much of their work as they possibly could, while cynically dismissing the rest of their work as ‘conspiracy theories.’
Many of the ‘conspiracy theories,’ of course, were not conspiracy theories at all. For example, the view that Washington wanted to play divide and rule in various areas of the world was now dismissed as a conspiracy theory; but attributing such divide and rule tactics to rival powers was perfectly acceptable.
Similarly, the view that intelligence agencies had inappropriate links to prominent US corporations, including establishment media outlets, was a ‘conspiracy theory.’ Yet, it was not at all conspiratorial to denounce the Chinese Communist Party, the United Russia Party, and various other foreign establishments, for meddling in the media, and systematically and brutally undermining the free marketplace of ideas; just like ‘good countries did.’
Or again, it was a ‘conspiracy theory’ to claim tedious humanitarian boilerplate like ‘war crimes,’ ‘genocide,’ ‘crimes against humanity,’ ‘humanitarian crisis’ or ‘international community’ were fundamentally self-serving terms; but the same could not, of course, be said of the terms used by apologists for Communism, or for political Islam.
Perhaps it is fair to conclude by saying that everyone in the world has their ‘conspiracy theories.’ But a great deal depends on whose ox is getting gored.