Prejudice, science, etc.

[Tenet Nosce]

I'd go with the legal definition, which basically involves proving beyond a reasonable doubt that people were knowingly involved in criminal activity. For better or worse here, we legally allow people to behave in a manner which opposes certain ideals or standards yet which are unrestricted by law.

Aha! Well that is certainly a perfectly valid definition. Though I don't think that we all would include the criminality aspect as necessarily to establishment of a conspiracy. Maybe that's why so many debates here keep going round and round.

See, when I am talking about "conspiracy" I am generally referring to people colluding to screw others over for their own personal gain. Whether or not it is legal. And also- I don't mean to imply that "everybody is in on it". Three people is enough to constitute a conspiracy in my book.

You do realize that this is quite rare?

Oh sure. I think we discussed this earlier. Something like 0.01%? But the point isn't the prevalence, it is the context and the reporting. 99.99% of studies might be legit... but somehow, someway, that BS study about the "dangers of vitamin C" is the one that leads on the nightly news. That's what I'm griping about.