When people say "that's a conspiracy" they often mean "that's a conspiracy theory." It isn't because they are stupid, it is an idiom that is used when the meaning is obvious from the context. You're just being autistic. Actually going further they mean "that's an untrue conspiracy theory" because being a theory doesn't imply correctness, so if you're going to be pedantic at least go all the way.
Conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact when it’s proven correct. I genuinely believe that there are people who believe that the label of “conspiracy” means crazy untrue idea and I think this enforces that misunderstanding. When you’re talking about conspiracies and conspiracy theories there is a wide degree of perspective, opinions and knowledge that I don’t think context is always enough. With your “informal” or loose definition of the word on this board alone there would be many different interpretations of the statement: “COVID-19 is a conspiracy.”
Or maybe it's just in informal situations when the context is obvious people often use "conspiracy" for "conspiracy theory."
They aren’t interchangeable, they mean different things things.
When people say "that's a conspiracy" they often mean "that's a conspiracy theory." It isn't because they are stupid, it is an idiom that is used when the meaning is obvious from the context. You're just being autistic. Actually going further they mean "that's an untrue conspiracy theory" because being a theory doesn't imply correctness, so if you're going to be pedantic at least go all the way.
Conspiracy theory becomes conspiracy fact when it’s proven correct. I genuinely believe that there are people who believe that the label of “conspiracy” means crazy untrue idea and I think this enforces that misunderstanding. When you’re talking about conspiracies and conspiracy theories there is a wide degree of perspective, opinions and knowledge that I don’t think context is always enough. With your “informal” or loose definition of the word on this board alone there would be many different interpretations of the statement: “COVID-19 is a conspiracy.”