Dead on.  The 'conspiracy theory' label has become an astonishingly effective way to completely short circuit any critical thinking among people who otherwise have them mental capacity to do so.

The neat trick is that even when crazy conspiracy theories such as 'them' being able to turn on the mics of our cell phones become factual truths, the conditioning is still effective and keeps working without a hiccup.

---

On a different subject, I would have a bit more respect for Gavin if he just said "My presentation, the Q&A, and any conversations I have will be public record.  Period.  Else go piss up a rope."

Clearly this is not how Gavin rolls as evidenced by the structure and methods of the Bitcoin Foundation, and that is a major part of the reason that I do not support Gavin or the Bitcoin Foundation.

I suspect that the entire Bitcoin project is in danger of losing what support it has among the more radical of the 'open' group of thinkers.  If/when this happens it may happen in a landslide.  This would be a great loss because many of these people are highly skilled, and the concept of transparency is one which can resonate strongly with large swaths of humanity and that sentiment is likely to grow.  If the Bitcoin Foundation were smart, they'd at least try to pay some lip service if nothing else to the concept of transparency.