It is interesting we now call this stuff “conspiracy theories.” We used to talk of “snake oil” or people would make jokes about yoga and health food in the 70s. Currently it’s taken on a newspeaky sort of political flavor with the phrase “conspiracy theory.” In the 90s it was “alternative health” or “eastern medicine.” Interesting how views changed on ways of knowing/cultural relativism in such a short period of time.
The way loosely-defined "we" call(ed) things in different periods of time isn't a good basis for conclusions, especially in topics in which there was basically no good science 50 years ago.
We agree it’s not a constant “we.” And also a lot of the current usage is secondary to pandemic politics where certain demographics and career slots benefitted or alternatively were hurt by covid related policies. My conclusion is only that language and culture change and influence one another.
