Question of the Day!

Yes, I've often felt that the desire to be "special" plays into it. Glad to see some confirmation of that. Also, it is important to, as you did, make a distinction between a "theory" in the colloquial sense and the same word used in a scientific sense, which often leads to things like "evolution is only a theory," which is misleading. I normally do make such a distinction, but "conspiracy theory" is the phrase etched into peoples' minds for this phenomenon.

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the pun is mightier than the sword