Used in allusion to the belief that wearing a hat made from tinfoil will protect one against government surveillance or mind control by extraterrestrial beings.
‘you don't need to be wearing a tinfoil hat to understand that your privacy might not be as private as you would think’
‘Standard precautions apply - vigilance about unsolicited messages, updating AV protection, use of stronger passwords, tin-foil hats hats etc.’
‘Wearing a tinfoil hat to deflect government mind-control radio waves is even more foolish than most people think.’
‘This report will start the propellers spinning on every tinfoil hat in America.’
‘This is not hysterical nonsense nor is it tin-foil hat conspiracy mongering.’
‘This isn't tinfoil hat stuff - you only have to read the papers to see it all happening.’
‘But I'm sure there's a good explanation that doesn't involve tinfoil hats.’
‘You've heard of war driving and phishing but now there's yet another reason to wear a tin-foil hat every time you surf the net.’
‘They would not care if they were thought of as tin-foil hat weirdos because all that matters is getting the word repeated and talked about.’
‘More reasons why people should wear appropriate protection (tin foil hats) when surfin the interweb emerged this week.’
‘I hate to put on my tinfoil hat here, but the Air Force controls nuclear weapons.’
‘I'll take my tinfoil hat off and go back to talking about less politically-charged matters.’
‘I know this is tinfoil hat territory, but hear me out.’
‘Some writers are members of the tin-foil hat brigade, but others provide sober analysis of the election results that raise disturbing questions.’
‘The tinfoil hat theory, of course, would be that somehow an electronic recording device was smuggled in, so they have a transcript.’
‘This delusional thinking wasted huge amounts of time because one of the nation's top foreign policy intellectuals turns out to be in thrall of a tin foil hat conspiracy theory.’
‘It's a little too conspiracy minded for my tastes, but this guy is no member of the tin foil hat brigade, but a former member of Blair's government.’
‘This "theory" is so cockamamie that it belongs with the tin foil hat brigade.’
‘Not to put my tinfoil hat or, or anything, but does anyone know if the prohibition against domestic covert operations applies only to the CIA, and not to the Pentagon?’
‘The tinfoil hat brigade always maintained that "it was all about oil."’
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