Comments on: Forty-four years ago: the mother of conspiracy theories

By: Jake Was Here

Jake Was Here — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 01:15:20 +0000

What you forget is that this young and virile idol of the American people was gunned down by a self-admitted Communist. The Left couldn’t imagine how one of their own could hate Camelot enough to put an end to it – they weren’t opposed to Kennedy, not very fiercely, so why would another fellow traveler kill him?

By: Brainster

Brainster — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 05:45:45 +0000

We’ve been taking on the 9-11 conspiracy theories at Screw Loose Change for the last year. My thoughts are that there multiple reasons for CTs to arise:

1. As stated, that it makes the theorist feel special. They have knowledge that the rest of us don’t. This especially appeals to the young and the undereducated.

2. Huge, earth-shattering events must have huge causes. It is unsatisfactory that Oswald turned out to be a schnook, and that 19 Arabs with box-cutters could cause so much havoc.

3. Wishful thinking about consequences of the event. I think the Kennedy conspiracy theories partially arose because people wanted to wish away LBJ and the Vietnam War. Similarly, there are those in the 9-11 “Truth” movement who want to wish away Iraq and the Patriot Acts I & II.

4. Entertainment value. Not to be ignored, in an era when Coast to Coast AM is one of the top shows on the radio.

5. Anti-government paranoia.

By: Teri Pittman

Teri Pittman — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 01:11:32 +0000

You might also mention the book by Marina Oswald. I believe the title is Marina and Lee. She clearly identifies him as the assassin. And he is so pathetic, you truly start to feel a little sorry for him. The woman that helped her write the book had actually met both Lee and JFK. That book, plus the Posner book, were what changed my mind about the conspiracy theories.

By: kreiz

kreiz — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 15:10:33 +0000

I read Posner’s “Case Closed” years ago. Bugliosi’s new tome looks exhaustive but unnecessary- Posner’s the man. (He’s also a very good writer).

By: Tatterdemalian

Tatterdemalian — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 20:10:19 +0000

“But what puzzles me about the Kennedy assassination isn’t the pathological cases, it’s the mainstream. I guess growing up with the Iran hostage crisis, John Hinckley, the Challenger explosion, and then 9/11 itself means my generation expects more random evil in the world.”

Parents inevitably pass their beliefs to their children, though these beliefs become more divorced from reality in every generation. The belief that reality can be changed through laws and/or wishes is a particularly durable one, and if not the source of the evils in the world, at least one of the primary vectors by which it infects people.

By: Trimegistus

Trimegistus — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:58:06 +0000

Dr. Steve: You're definitely on to something with the idea that being a conspiracy theorist gives one unearned "specialness." I can remember late in the afternoon on 9/11/01 a poster on one of the newsgroups I read insisting that Flight 93 was really shot down by the Air Force and the stories about the passengers were just propaganda. He was so damned smug about how he knew the real truth and the rest of us sheeple were swallowing the official line. This while the rubble was still burning. But what puzzles me about the Kennedy assassination isn't the pathological cases, it's the mainstream. I guess growing up with the Iran hostage crisis, John Hinckley, the Challenger explosion, and then 9/11 itself means my generation expects more random evil in the world.

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:39:31 +0000

Call it “the Fredo effect.”

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:37:28 +0000

Another good point from DrSteve. I believe #2 predominates. The cognitively disenfranchised like to convince themselves that they are in fact quite clever (everyone else’s opinion of them notwithstanding), so clever they see through some cabal’s attempts to fool them. But they were too clever to be fooled. Yessir!

The Kevin Trudeau infomercials hammer on this theme of wrong end of the bell curve populism (things “they” don’t want you to know about).

By: DrSteve

DrSteve — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:44:42 +0000

It must be nice to be a consipracy theorist – you know what I mean, the conspiracy scholar or ‘scholar’. The person to whom there is no such thing as contradictory evidence – it all gets denied or accommodated into the thought-system.
Ron Rosenbaum calls them ‘edgy enthusiasms’ and probably gets at why of it:
1. To be enthusiastic is to feel touched by God – which must feel better than being lost, depressed, cynical…
2. To be edgy is to be outside the mainstream, special, a non-dupe – better than seeing oneself as insignificant or one of the herd.
(Probably we each have systems of views which looked at by someone who doesn’t share those views looks rather dodgy.)

By: Occam's Beard

Occam's Beard — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:39:19 +0000

Tatterdemalian, good point. It also dovetails nicely with the “Camelot” fantasy.