Real Conspiracies are Almost Never Uncovered by Conspiracy Theorists

In teaching methodology to undergraduates I get great milage from philosopher Bertrand Russell (1872–1970)’s analogy ‘Russell’s Teapot’:

“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the…