the use of this frame argument has been remarkably consistent over the last ~60 years.

I'll make a few assertions:

goverments lie, conspiracies exist.

people look at an event, form a hypothesis of what happened, make statement to others.

government use agents to discredit hypothesis AND the persons making the statement.

this is a game of persuasion and deception to achieve an end. using considerable resources to create an illusion; "the means justify the end". the worst that can be said about conspiracy theories is that they are counter actions, operating on the same moral/ethical level. more often they are a guess at the truth, and therefore morally/ethically superior to the lie itself, an attempt to heal the damage done.

the real problem for a control system is that people don't believe everything they are told, and have valid reasons for doing so.

"conspiracy theory" is a definition coined in a cia memo concerning the kennedy assassination. it can be used as a shortcut to tar and defame anyone who has unpopular inconvenient opinions, views or data. it's so much easier than having a debate and treating a person as an equal. applying the label assumes superior or even perfect knowledge about an event, it is a mammalian dominance pose, bolstering itself with status to dismiss others. it is without a doubt the cheapest and most effective technique to apply to a gullible audience invested in preserving the status quo.