Conspiracy theories aren't just an American problem.

[Renew Deal]

Some guy pointed a "gas pistol" at a Bulgarian politicians head. Thankfully it didn't fire and he was taken down. Now, the conspiracies have begun.

<snip>
Police said they thought Enimehmedov, an architecture student with a criminal record for drugs, theft and assault, had acted alone. But officials have been forced to address claims the party may have staged the "assassination attempt" itself in order to boost its image.

Boyko Borisov, the prime minister, said on Sunday that he believed the attack was "probably not staged". He said: "This is a worrying event that should not take place in modern Bulgaria."

The MRF has been dogged by accusations of political and economic corruption for years. Dogan, who has led the party for nearly 25 years, was acquitted of corruption charges at a high-profile trial two years ago.

"It seems like [the gun pointing was] a pretty artificial attempt to present their party as a victim, to rally their voters, to strengthen their line," said Ivan Dikov, editor of Sofia News Agency, Bulgaria's main English-language news resource. "They have a lot to recover from."
<snip>

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/20/bulgaria-turkey

[HiPointDem]

1. "conspiracy theory" is a stupid meme.

[Recursion]

2. It's like the -gate suffix

Historical accidents get locked into the language.

[jberryhill]

3. Unfortunately

The tendency toward "cocooning" by consumers of media and information on the Internet pretty much make it a build-your-own-reality kit.

[Fumesucker]

4. The US invaded Iraq based on a conspiracy theory that was itself based on a conspiracy theory

Aluminum tubes for centrifuges and yellow cake and anthrax labs and nerve gas and all that was evidence of a conspiracy by Saddam to acquire the means of secretly producing WMDs.

The second conspiracy was using that made up evidence of a conspiracy in order to conspire to swing American public opinion toward favoring the invasion of Iraq. The very author of the Powell Doctrine stood on stage in front of the entire world and lied his ass off in order to push America toward a war that violated every precept of that doctrine.

When provided with this open and shut case of high level conspiracy the most common answer I see is something like "Well, *I* knew they were lying at the time so it wasn't really a conspiracy".

[Special Agent Oso]

5. Have you ever believed in any conspiracy theory?

Or do you disbelieve all of them?

[green for victory]

6. "Conspiracy theory"- the US took out the democratically elected leader of Iran in 1953

well it was a conspiracy theory until it was confirmed
now it's conspiracy fact

how many others?