The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is often cited by conspiracy theorists (CTers) as a primary example of a “real conspiracy theory” that was proven to be true. While this medical “study” is undeniably a blight in the annals of American Medical History, and completely unethical, the facts of the case tell us a great deal about racism and the consequences of White Supremacy, but they do nothing to make conspiracy theories more plausible. In fact, they tell us the opposite. Unfortunately, like so many other topics that CTers pretend to have “researched” and care about, their fixation on conspiracy theories only serves to distort and distract us from the actual lessons this horrific event has to offer us.

It may be difficult to believe it now, even with the long history of slavery and White Supremacy in this land, that human beings could be treated as lab rats, with little opposition from any of the medical professionals or bureaucrats involved. But this is exactly what happened for four decades, from 1932 and 1972, in Macon County, Alabama. Six hundred African American men, 399 who had syphilis and 201 who did not, were unknowingly studied by the U.S. Public Health Service. Told only that they were being treated for, “bad blood,” a term that referred to various ailments at the time, they were left untreated to watch the progression of syphilis in those who had it, compared to the control group. The “Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment,” as many refer to it in hushed tones or cries of anger, would have gone on even longer if not for the efforts of one man.

The ethical violations in this study were severe, even under the less defined medical standards of the past. Participants were not informed of their diagnosis nor given the option to leave the study. Even after penicillin became the standard treatment for syphilis in 1947, the researchers withheld it, allowing the disease free rein over men’s bodies, until they died.

While the study was not widely known or publicly discussed, for obvious reasons, it was not a conspiracy, either. People went along with it because they thought the alleged scientific value was more important than the lives of a few poor negros and because they respected the Public Health Service, in general. Who were they to question what more knowable people, higher up in the bureaucracy, had decided?

Peter Buxtun, a venereal disease investigator for the Public Health Service persistently blew the whistle on what he immediately found to be immoral, when he first learned about it. Even Buxtun, however, was fairly constrained in his opposition, which went on for years behind the scenes. He repeatedly expressed his concerns to his superiors, but his warnings were ignored and dismissed. As they saw it, even if it was questionable to begin the study, now that it had been so long underway, they should see it through until the last autopsy of the last dead man was done. And who could say when that would be?

Finally, in 1972, frustrated and determined, Buxtun leaked the story to the press. The resulting public outcry led to the termination of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, and significant changes in medical ethics, research practices, and oversight.

“The men involved were betrayed. This was one of the worst betrayals ever perpetrated by the government against American citizens.”

Peter Buxtun, reflecting back on what happened in 1997, the same year the President Clinton publicly apologized for what had been done to these men.

CTers are quick to latch onto the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment as support for their claims of widespread, secretive, “Deep State,” government plots against American Citizens. But this indefensible ethical failure does not fit the pattern of a typical conspiracy theory on several points, because typical conspiracy theories do not take place in the real world. They are confined to the imagination. Consider the following:

1. Lack of Secrecy: The study was not a hidden, clandestine operation. Elements of it were secretive, particularly from the human beings who were left untreated, but it was conducted as a medical study, with vast amount of data and records. Equipment had to be purchased and people hired; all of which was documented. There may have been a prevailing agreement not to talk about this with the general public, because some people might not like it, but there was no real effort to implement a massive coverup or manufacture, “false flag operations,” as CTers assume government officials are constantly doing.
2. Whistleblower Impact: The efforts of Peter Buxtun illustrate that it was possible to challenge the system from within, without being subjected to secret assassins taking him out, or a needlessly complicated plan to destroy his credibility. What kept the study going was a general acceptance that “those people” didn’t really matter and that this was somehow justifiable for the greater good, for the advancement of medicine. There was no, all-knowing and unrealistically powerful group of puppet masters carefully orchestrating everything and forcing everyone to dance to the same tune.
3. Media and Public Involvement: Once Buxton finally reached his breaking point and expose the truth, news outlets were able to report the facts that he brought to them. “The System,” with its, “Corporate Overlords,” did not stop them. Nor did Buxton require people to believe him, simply based on his word alone. The same cannot be said of countless pretend whistleblowers — like the numerous men who have come forward to say, “I know who was,” or “I was the Grassy Knoll Gunman” — who CTers automatically believe, no matter the evidence against them. Additionally, once Buxton’s facts were seen and understood by the general public, it became impossible to maintain the syphilis study, or to do anything like it again. Whistleblowers are not always successful, but this case shows that they can be, in a functioning democracy, under the rule of law. If we lived in the kind of evil fairy tale  reality that CTers think we do, where the most horrible people imaginable are doing whatever they want to do, with no ability to stop them or even prove that they are doing it, the changes that followed from Buxton’s actions would not have been possible.
4. The Conspiracy Theorist Label: CTers love to imagine that they are important people, exposing the truth, and for this, they are “labeled” as “conspiracy theorists” to unfairly discredit them. Many go so far as to claim that the CIA made up, popularized, or weaponized the terms, “conspiracy theory” and “conspiracy theorist,” as part of an elaborate, extensive effort to stop the public from ever seeking, “the truth.” This is a lie, made up by CTers, to inflate their importance and the imagined power of the CIA, to control nearly everything. When CTers tell me that, “Tuskegee was just a conspiracy theory, until it was proved,” I ask them to name the person or people who were labeled as “conspiracy theorists” in this case. They can’t, because it didn’t happen and they don’t even know who the actual whistleblower was. Nevertheless, they will tell me, “Do your own research and you’ll find out.” Yes, if you consider “research” to be looking at CTer websites, watching CTer videos, and hanging out in CTer silos, where they make up anything they wish to believe and then echo it back to one another. This behavior is why the term “conspiracy theorists” has such a negative connotation. No one has artificially imposed an unfair judgement on them. CTers have earned their unfavorable reputation.

Not only do CTers misunderstand what actually happened in so-called, “proven” or “real conspiracy theories,” like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, they use these events to exaggerate and distort the rest of history. “If they could do syphilis experiments on people, imagine what else they are getting away with.” Every bad or immoral act they can find is like this in the mind of a CTer. It is automatically characterized as “proof’ that conspiracy theories are reasonable and further assumed to only be the tip of the iceberg that the global cabal is hiding from us. Again, this is the exact opposite of what a tragic event like the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment has to teach us. The worst things tend to be exposed, not the least worst things. But for CTers, everything is proof that can be used to justify anything they wish to believe.