To be fair, the more lunatic type of conspiracy theories are the ones most people hear about. The X-Files might be more to blame for that perception than the government.
Assuming of course, the X-Files wasn't secretly a propaganda campaign intended to discredit conspiracy theorists by subconsciously associating certain theories with fiction. But then again, the government has used urban legends and conspiracy theory as a cover for its own operations before, i'm personally certain they planted the Roswell story (and retraction) in order to cover up a more mundane secret project and retrieval, but just never expected it to go as viral as it did.
But even so, conspiracy theorists are half to blame for their own reputation at least.
Assuming of course, the X-Files wasn't secretly a propaganda campaign intended to discredit conspiracy theorists by subconsciously associating certain theories with fiction. But then again, the government has used urban legends and conspiracy theory as a cover for its own operations before, i'm personally certain they planted the Roswell story (and retraction) in order to cover up a more mundane secret project and retrieval, but just never expected it to go as viral as it did.
But even so, conspiracy theorists are half to blame for their own reputation at least.