Cracking Conspiracy Theorys Psycholinguistic CodeJames F. Tracy As its discourse suggests, this propaganda campaign is using the now familiar conspiracy theory label, as outlined in Central Intelligence Agency Document 1035-960, the 1967 memo laying out a strategy for CIA media assets to counter criticism of the Warren Commission and attack independent investigators of President John F. Kennedys assassination. At that time the targets included attorney Mark Lane and New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison, who were routinely defamed and lampooned in major US news outlets. Declassified government documents have proven Lane and Garrisons allegations of CIA-involvement in the assassination largely accurate. Nevertheless, the prospect of being subject to the conspiracy theorist smear remains a potent weapon for intimidating authors, journalists, and scholars from interrogating complex events, policies, and other potentially controversial subject matter. As the title of Newsweeks feature story indicates, a primary element of contemporary propaganda campaigns using the conspiracy theory/ist label is to suggest that citizens distrust of government imperatives and activities tends toward violent action. The conspiracy theorist term is intentionally conflated with conspiracist, thus linking the two in the mass mind. Images of Lee Harvey Oswald, Timothy McVeigh, and Osama bin Laden are subtly invoked when the magic terms are referenced. In reality, it is typically Western governments using their police or military who prove the foremost purveyors of violence and the threat of violenceboth domestically and abroad. In a functioning public, honest academics and journalists would uninhibitedly delve into these and similar problemsGMOs, state-sponsored terrorism, the dangers of non-ionizing radiation particularly since such phenomena pose grave threats to both popular sovereignty and self determination. Such intellectuals would then provide important findings to foster vigorous public debate. Absent this, segments of the populace still capable of critical thought are inclined to access and probe information that leads them to question bureaucratic edicts and, in some cases, suggest a potentially broader political agenda. In todays world, however, such research projectscarried out by the hoi polloi that are expressly reserved for government or foundation-funded technocrats distort the debate that is crucial to democracy, says Dartmouth political scientist Brendan Nyhan. With the above in mind, a simple yet instructive exercise in illustrating the psycholinguistic feature of the conspiracy theory propaganda technique is to replace conspiracy theories/ists with the phrase, independent research and analysis, or independent researchers. Let us apply this to some passages fromEichenwalds recent Newsweek piece. For example, Psychological research has shown that the only trait that consistently indicates the probability someone will believe in conspiracy theories independent research and analysis is if that person believes in other conspiracy theories independent research and analysis, Eichenwald sagely concludes. While the growth in the number of news outlets has helped spread independent research and analysis, it doesnt compare to the impact of social media and the Internet, experts say. 9/11 conspiracy theorists independent researchers protest outside the World Trade Center in 2011 [Photo caption] According to a just-released report from the Southern Poverty Law Center, theindependent research and analysis flowed in April at a hearing before Alabamas Senate Education Committee about legislation to allow school districts to reject Common Core. Its true. Since September 11, 2001 the Internet has increasingly allowed for everyday people to retrieve, study, and share information on important events and phenomena as never before. And as a recent study published in the prominent journal Frontiers of Psychology suggests, tendering alternative conspiracy theories to the government-endorsed explanations of September 11, 2001 is a sign of individuation, or psychological well being and contentment. Such a condition is a clear danger to those who wish to wield uncontested political authority. Indeed, the capacity to freely disseminate and discuss knowledge of government malfeasance is the foremost counterbalance to tyranny. Since this ability cannot be readily confiscated or suppressed, it must be ridiculed, marginalized, even diagnosed as a psychiatric condition. The recent abandonment of network neutrality may eventually further subdue the nuisance of independent research, thought, and analysis. Until then, the corporate medias attempts to bamboozle and terrify the American public with the well-worn conspiracy theory meme will be a prevalent feature of what passes for news and commentary today. This article first appeared at MemoryHoleBlog.com, the official blog of Dr. James Tracy. 