Lionel Nation - You're Using 'Conspiracy Theory' Wrong - Here's Why
Aired: 2026-03-09
Duration: 03:16


=== Conspiracy vs. Crazy Theories (03:15) ===

[00:00:00]  So, conspiracy theory.
[00:00:02]  What does that mean?
[00:00:03]  You'll hear it all the time.
[00:00:04]  You'll hear somebody say, you know, I don't want to be a conspiracy theorist.
[00:00:07]  You know, I know this sounds like a conspiracy.
[00:00:10]  I know this is a conspiracy, and they call it a conspiracy or conspiracy theorist.
[00:00:14]  Wrong, It's the wrong term.
[00:00:18]  What they mean to say is, I know this sounds crazy.
[00:00:20]  I know I have a theory about some alternative version of something.
[00:00:24]  I know I'm providing to you a kind of a theory about something that may or may not be based in fact.
[00:00:30]  I know something that you might think is either superstition or crazy.
[00:00:34]  That's what people are saying.
[00:00:37]  That's what people are saying.
[00:00:38]  People are saying, you're saying something that's crazy, that's baseless, that doesn't have any foundation.
[00:00:45]  That's a wivest tale.
[00:00:46]  That's mythical, that's mythology.
[00:00:49]  You got it?
[00:00:50]  Good.
[00:00:50]  That's what they mean.
[00:00:52]  First, a conspiracy.
[00:00:56]  The word is interesting.
[00:00:57]  It means to do something with somebody else.
[00:01:00]  The word conspiracy from the Latin or versions of it is conspirare, to breathe with, no, respiration, suspiration.
[00:01:08]  By the way, suspiration is, these people who do it out there, these sires, they drive me crazy.
[00:01:15]  That's suspiration.
[00:01:16]  Respiration, you know.
[00:01:18]  But a conspiracy means to breathe with, meaning an organization, an agreement, a confederation, a kind of a plan between two or more guilty people,
[00:01:35]  meaning people who are planning to do something, not some cop thrown in there, pretending to be a conspirator, but because the old days, some jurisdictions say you can't be charged with conspiracy if you're conspiring with a cop, because they're not going to do it.
[00:01:50]  You need two guilty people.
[00:01:51]  Anyway, two or more guilty people conspiring.
[00:01:54]  That's all it means.
[00:01:55]  Working together, planning something.
[00:01:58]  If Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, if Tyler Robinson acted alone, that's one thing.
[00:02:03]  He's the sole agent.
[00:02:04]  If he worked with, if he planned, if somebody aided, abetted, counseled, procured, hired, encouraged.
[00:02:14]  Now we get into this kind of this accomplice thing.
[00:02:18]  And then sometimes when the accomplice gets a little bit more involved, you have a conspiracy where I'm planning.
[00:02:25]  I call you up.
[00:02:26]  Hey, listen, I can get a load of, you know, whatever this drug is, or listen, we can do something.
[00:02:32]  You know, listen, let's do this.
[00:02:34]  And the moment I hang up or finish the offer, the conspiracy has been committed.
[00:02:41]  Because in federal court, in particular, you're charged with the crime and the conspiracy.
[00:02:45]  Which is going to be dundant.
[00:02:46]  You're charged with you killing somebody and planning to kill somebody with somebody else.
[00:02:52]  It's the planning.
[00:02:53]  That's what they, that's a separate and distinct thing.
[00:02:56]  That's the conspiracy.
[00:02:57]  Conspiracy to commit, conspiracy.
[00:02:59]  So when you say, is this a conspiracy theory?
[00:03:02]  That to me means is this a theory or a hypothesis or some kind of argument that says that more than one person was involved in this.
[00:03:10]  That's not what people mean.
[00:03:11]  You don't care about how many people were involved in something.
[00:03:14]  Conspiracy means more than one people.