By "conspiracy people", I assume you mean conspiracy theorists. And no, they do not. Sweeping generalizations ("100% of everything is a conspiracy") serve no one.
Much conspiracy is exposed by insiders, but not all. Again, one cannot generalize. This was more true earlier in our history, but have you noticed how much more is covered up, questions unanswered and answers stonewalled by the authorities since 9/11? Do you not wonder why we have all surrendered our freedoms so eagerly in the wake of that tragedy? That in itself has become an even greater and truer tragedy, in my opinion. People have completely surrendered their critical thinking over to knee-jerk responses. Whistle-blowers are now traitors. If Watergate were to happen now, we would have none of Woodward's and Bernstein's brand of journalism on the horizon. The NSA would shut them down fast. Look how they're still dogging Julian Assange and Edward Snowden for their "crimes". Look at poor Chelsea Manning! But look at the fallout from the information they set free. Look how the s**t is still exploding all over the place. They can't stop it as long as there's anyone willing to stick their necks out and tell what's really going on. Look how quickly they're made to be traitors too. Wow. And we sit by and let them get away with it.
What you're saying is to see it where our "betters" permit us to learn of it. We need to be able to ask questions and get answers. We need to be able to trust our "betters". Who here trusts them? Any of them? The good ones are few and far between.
On now to the paranoia aspect: Well that's obviously not a desirable result, but we all have our own threshold and what pushes one person over the edge may be a lot less than for another. Where is your trigger? Do you know? At what point do you call it vigilance and at what point is it paranoia? Likewise, when is it apathy or does this stuff simply not bother you? You might have read about the Russian performance artist who recently stripped down to his skin at Red Square and sat down on the cobblestones. He allowed himself to get pretty chilly before proceeding to drive a nail through his scrotum into the cobblestone ground below. This was in protest to the apathy around him.
I think we all need to be free to be who and what we are. But first, we need to have support from our civilization, our society, our community, our family, ourselves. We are entitled to know. This requires that we ask. When we ask, we require truthful answers. I don't think paranoia is entirely without justification in a lot of cases. At least those people are aware. Are the apathetic? Not to my mind. They are truly zombies.