Why are conspiracy theories so prevalent among the extreme right?

But a thorough consultation of a dictionary will confirm it, MAJ Carl Ballinger.

The secondary (but still quite valid) definition of "conspire" is "to act or work together toward the same result or goal," while a conspiracy is also defined as a group of conspirators -- i.e., a group of people working together toward the same goal -- just like a fan club trying to revive their favorite sci-fi show, or a political movement trying to preserve some aspect of their society.

The English language is nothing if not flexible, otherwise those of us who enjoy double entendres would have to find other ways of provoking that look.

MAJ Carl Ballinger, after spending a few years earning my living as a copy editor, yes, I tend to get stubborn whenever someone mistakenly asserts that the most common connotative meaning for a word or phrase can be the *only* denotative meaning allowed in a conversation.

For example, would you argue that, in the context of this topic, a "whack job" could only be some right-wing conspiracy theorist -- and then try to correct me if I suggested using a hammer, or perhaps see if you could hire Whitey Bulger to do the job?

I'm not at all intent on using words incorrectly, MAJ Carl Ballinger, nor at being misunderstood. Rather, I look at it as taking to task folks who do attempt to use words to skew a discussion, regardless of whether they do so intentionally or out of ignorance.

Bringing the discussion back to your point about the context of this discussion requiring that conspiracies must be secret to be conspiracies, MAJ Carl Ballinger, I happen to be living with someone who has on many, many occasions expressed frustration that I still refuse to believe that eugenicists are plotting the depopulation of the world even though they have openly discussed their goals in interviews, or that the neo-conservative criminals openly published their plan to invade Iraq in the 1990s while saying that they only needed an adequate provocation to implement it (so that they could make a fortune on the subsequent war), and I can't even recall all of the public "confessions" and "admissions" surrounding the Agenda 21 conspiracies.

So, even setting aside the linguistics, conspiracies do not have to be secret to be labelled conspiracies, *ESPECIALLY* in the context of this discussion, where many of the alleged conspirators are perceived as being elitists who can openly admit their "criminal" misconduct because different rules apply to them than to the "serfs" and "slaves".

LTC David Brown - Once upon a time, I worked at Sperry Univac. For many years they manufactured a computer used by the Navy (AN/UYK-7 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AN/UYK-7) That computer was used all over the place. I once got a tour of an attack submarine, and there were 3 of them in the control room alone. Anyway, an older guy there had been involved in their development. According to him, at the time of their development, the Navy had asked for 1000 of them. The company tried to convince them that they would need many more than that, and if they would just up the order, the unit cost could be considerably lower. No, the Navy didn't want to do that, so they sold them the 1000 requested. The Navy liked it and ended up ordering a bunch more. The company said you already paid for the R&D in the first batch, so we can sell them to you at a much reduced price for everything after the first 1000. Nope, they weren't allowed to reduce the price, so they sold I don't know how many more to the Navy for the original price and made a huge profit on every one. BTW - trivia - the wiki page mentions they were also used by the Army. Anyone know when/where? I know of 2 installations for the Army (Le Fox Green at Field Station Berlin and Le Fox Purple at Field Station Augsburg) Anyone know of any others?

Let's not forget the "Vast right wing conspiracy" to somehow "Get" Hillary Rodham Clinton.

SP5 David Cox - that somehow doesn't surprise me one little bit

Most Military brass, like Politian's have never had to work for a living. That why we work. So they can waste money and raise taxes.

PV2 Larry Sellnow I didn’t forget anything..
That was posted 5 years ago, before Trump was President. However, if you want to bring it up to date, how about the Obama Administration illegally spying on the Trump campaign using government agencies; the Clinton/Obama/DNC/media Russian Collusion Delusion; the Biden family corruption and suppression by the media and Big Tech; the two totally partisan and politically motivated sham impeachments; the stolen selection; the illegally constituted January 6 Committee;, etc., etc..?
The difference between what liberal idiots call a right-wing conspiracy theory and the truth is just a few months, as most have been proven to be true.

How many in the Trump Administration were actually charged and convicted of anything they did while in the Administration? You are just spouting bullshit Democrat talking points.

If the DOJ has done its job, the Obama Administration would have set the record for indictments and convictions. However, we all know that nothing was seriously investigated and there was never any intent to charge anybody with a crime,

PV2 Larry Sellnow - Of all the ones listed, only one (Flynn) was part of the Trump Administration, and his charges were proven to be bullshit. All of the others were politically-motivated attacks on Trump associates in an attempt to get them to turn on Trump during the sham Mueller investigation. Regardless, your comment said that 58 members of his Cabinet faced criminal charges, when the fact is that only one (Flynn) did.

By the way, it appears you need to study our government’s organization a little more. How many Cabinet members do you think there are, if you actually believed that 58 had been charged? Although it can vary, based on the desires of the President, typically there are 24-25 members (9 actual Cabinet members and 15 Department heads, plus the VP).
Maybe you got your number confused with the Clinton body count.

All the investigations and purported pending criminal charges against Trump are nothing more than a witch hunt. Democrats have attacked Trump since he announced he was running for President. All the BS hype has produced nothing, including the New York Attorney General investigation you mentioned. That investigation has concluded without charges.

The Trump Charity distributed $2 million more than it received in donations.
Compare that with the Clinton Foundation, which distributed less than 5% of the money it took in to charitable causes, with over 95% going to administrative costs, travel etc. (i.e., into the Clinton’s pockets).
Or compare it with the Beau Biden Foundation, which distributed less than 10% of its donations to what it was supposed to go to.

There is no doubt at all that the Clintons were crooks, just like there is no doubt that the Bidens are as well. Democrats, with the help of the liberal media, have covered-up and ignored the criminal actions of those corrupt families. That is coming to an end… When Republicans take over the House and/orSenate in the November elections, there will be real investigations into the criminality. In addition, (p)Resident Biden will be impeached for failure to enforce immigration laws at our Southern border, the debacle in Afghanistan, and for corruption tied to illegal influence peddling, as evidenced by the information in the Hunter Biden laptop.

“Comrade” Burleson? Really?
No, I am a conservative Republican, not a liberal Democrat/Socialist/Marxist.

I really do try to see things from the perspective of people like you, however, try as I might, I just can’t seem to get my head that far up my ass.
You need to grow up PVT Sellnow and quit drinking the Democrat Kool-Aid.

PV2 Larry Sellnow - It is a total waste of my time responding to your bullshit, however, I’ll respond once more.
The Trump Charity closed down because liberals were falsely accusing it of being a sham and it was not worth the effort to continue it. As I stated, financial records proved that it had disbursed $2 million more than it took in.
Trump University faced the same attacks, some of which might have been warranted. People got what they signed up for. The Democrat witch-hunters found people to make spurious comments about it (like they dredged up idiots to make bullshit allegations about Kavanaugh, etc).
Now, go let your unicorns…

PV2 Larry Sellnow - You really do not want to get into a Google war with me, to see who can find the most dirt on our respective candidates/parties. It would be a waste of both of our time and you would lose.
You appear to be the embodiment of how the military is going down hill due to the “woke” bullshit being pushed upon it by idiots. You would not have lasted 5 minutes in the Army I knew.
Although I do thank you for your service, it is people who “think” (and I use that term loosely) like you who are destroying the military.
It will be a great day when patriots who live our country are back in charge.
Now, Private, quit wasting our time and go to your safe space, pout, and suck your thumb, or whatever it is you suck.