Dennis Prager On The JFK and 9/11 Conspiracy Theories

Good article on one of my personal bugaboos.

Ticking down the reasons for conspiracy-theorizing, he mentions:

Many people want to blame those they loathe for as much of what they do not like as possible. Just about everyone who believes in hidden conspiracies attributes those conspiracies to those they hate. People who hate President George W. Bush blame him and his administration for 9/11. Egyptians who hate Israel have blamed AIDS on Israeli prostitutes. Indeed, attributing to Jews hidden conspiracies -- the "world Jewish conspiracy," the Protocols of the Elders of Zion -- is the oldest and most common belief in a hidden conspiracy.

Sorta obvious, but it does tend to cast doubt on conspiracy theories when the villains working the puppet strings are always conveeeeinently enough people the conspiracy theorists hate anyway. (As I hated the mob when I was younger (and still do, though now I have a bigger object of hatred), of course I believed the mob had killed Kennedy.)

No one ever seems to posit a conspiracy theory with someone he supports behind it all. Funny how that always works out for 'em.

Well, maybe not "no one." The infamous post-WWII conspiracy theory -- that FDR had advanced warning of the Pearl Harbor attack, but let it happen anyway in order to inflame public opinion (largely isolationist) to support a war he was determined to drag the country into (sound familiar?) -- had a lot of liberal or left-leaning believers, but they did seem to otherwise like FDR.

So there's that one. And no others.

A Lot of People... here still believe in the JFK assassination theory. Well, I don't mean to beat up on you too much -- hey, I'm a fellow-traveller, or at least I was -- but honestly, every central claim supporting the theory has been well-rubbished by now, multiple times.

Except for the Magic Bullet thing -- the improbability of one round causing so many wounds. But that's an improbability, not an impossibility. WWII veterans will tell you of bullets that hit inside their helmets and then orbitteed around their heads, skating on the inside of the helmet, before flying out without harming them (other than a bit of bullet-burn along the skin).

That's extraodinarily improbable -- and yet, it happens.

Another reason (I forgot about this one) I started to lose credence in the JFK conspiracy theory is when I began learning of the RFK conspiracy theory, based on mostly the same sort of crap. Minor conflicts in testimony, the suggestion that it was "too easy" to get RFK, claims Sirhan Sirhan was a patsy, a reluctance by the government to turn over all autopsy information, etc. Same crap, similar conspiracy.

Honestly, at that point you sort of have to check your internal compass and make sure it's giving you a good reading towards Sanity North.

Thanks to Andrew for that.

Besides... We've already been told the truth about this.

That clip took me 20 minutes to find and it doesn't even seem to be working. Great.

But trust me, if it were at all working, you would appreciate it.

posted by Ace at 04:38 PM

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