Secret-government theory renders any claim unfalsifiable by invoking hidden knowledge.

Evidence

MJ-12 immediately polarized the UFO community into believers and skeptics. Among the skeptics was Jacques Vallee, who compared the incident to the activities of “Deep Throat” during the Watergate scandal. He suggested that the documents’ sender was more likely interested in disinformation than in whistle-blowing, and implied that the documents were forged. … In the years since the MJ-12 papers became widely known, they have taken on a life of their own. Additional, related documents periodically appear, some as recently as 1998. Just as with the Kennedy assassination, MJ-12 has generated a cottage industry of commentators, authenticators, and critics. More broadly, MJ-12 laid the foundation for elaborate conspiracy theories by suggesting that UFOs were of extraterrestrial origin, that the federal government was aware of them as early as the late 1940s, and that a secret bureaucracy had been created to study and control the situation. … It mattered little whether publicly available evidence confi rmed a claim; its author could always respond, “The government knows it, but won’t tell you.” — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 442

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates concretely the mechanism of unfalsifiability in superconspiracies.
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Totalizing conspiracy theories claim all visible knowledge is deliberately false. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 477; Conspiracy theories become unfalsifiable by dismissing skeptic evidence as planted; Over-elaborating a conspiracy produces an undefeatable adversary — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 1070 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Totalizing conspiracy theories claim all visible knowledge is deliberately false. #expands (0.85) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 477
• Inclusive conspiracies become unfalsifiable since all outside sources are complicit #expands (0.85)
• Conspiracy theories become unfalsifiable by dismissing skeptic evidence as planted #corroborates (0.80)
• Over-elaborating a conspiracy produces an undefeatable adversary #expands (0.80) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 1070