So recently, governments have been using 'conspiracy theorist' to attack basically anyone who does not accept government narratives. If you don't believe in their good will and morality, you are a conspiracy theorist. In fact, a local paper once claimed that people who believe that politicians are corrupt, or that the media is pushing an agenda, are conspiracy theorists. So much for that.
It doesn't matter if it actually involves a conspiracy or not. For example, if you believe that 9/11 was an inside job, then you are a conspiracy theorist. However, if you believe that the Nord Stream sabotage was NOT an inside job, you are a conspiracy theorist. The only thing those two have in common is that you are not a conspiracy theorist if you say the US government did nothing wrong.
Regardless of the double standards, the problem is the conspiracies do happen. Now, what actually is a conspiracy theorist? Because there are a good number of totally whacked people out there, who believe in wildly implausible conspiracies.
My best way to explain it is as follows: people who exclusively or preferentially explain things with 'conspiracies' are conspiracy theorists.
And in the modern globalized world with instance communication and fast travel for the well off, conspiracies and shared ideologies - like everything else - are naturally becoming unified and global. The idea of a world conspiracy of bankers, wealthy families, and other groups trying to push us towards dystopia may have sounded far-fetched in the 1800s but it shouldn't today.