This is a practice extremely prevalent on conspiracy theory blogs and social media (a.k.a., conspiracy theory blogs), but where did the concept of discrediting opponents with quotation marks come from?
The quotation marks are often put around the nouns referring to one's opponent, or sometimes to parts of their view.
For example:
According to "scientists", vaccinations are the number one way to prevent disease, however...
or
This guy I hate "knows" that that thing I hate is such and such...
I've now learned that this tactic is referred to as "scare-quotes". My question isn't about the origin of the phrase "scare-quotes" (this question), but rather, when did the tactic of using scare-quotes become a common practice?