From JFK to 9/11: Why People Believe in Conspiracies
From JFK to 9/11: Why People Believe in Conspiracies
By Dennis Prager
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Vincent Bugliosi's remarkable 20-year work on who killed John F. Kennedy has just been published. Containing about a million and a half words and thousands of footnotes, "Reclaiming History" is probably the most detailed examination of one moment in time ever written. It reconfirms that a man named Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing the American president.
As one who never doubted the original U.S. government report that Oswald acted alone, I am deeply grateful to Bugliosi for the service he has rendered our country. But I also regret that he had to.
Why did he have to? Because it was necessary to definitively refute all those who believe, despite bipartisan government reports and excellent books such as Gerald Posner's "Case Closed," that there was some conspiracy to kill President Kennedy and that Oswald was not the only shooter.
There is not a shred of evidence that there was a conspiracy to kill John F. Kennedy, but that is entirely irrelevant to those who choose to believe that there was one. The lack of evidence only reinforces their belief that a conspiracy has been hidden.
One would think that someone would have come forward in the last 44 years to tell the world about the conspiracy. He or she would become a major figure in history, not to mention the likelihood of becoming very wealthy. But somehow, despite the fact that the government can rarely hide for months even what it wishes to hide, both Democratic and Republican administrations acting in cooperation with each other have hidden these facts.
As Bugliosi pointed out to me, it would in fact have had to be a double conspiracy -- first, the plot to assassinate, and then the plot by a much larger group, including many honorable people involved in the investigation, to cover up the original conspiracy.
Likewise, given the vast amount of planning and implementation -- and the large number of people -- that would have been involved in arranging the 9/11 destruction of the World Trade Center towers and part of the Pentagon, not one person has come forward -- not one American or foreigner, not one leftist or rightist -- to reveal a U.S. government plot to murder thousands of Americans and bring down two of the tallest buildings in the world.
Why, then, do people believe in these and other conspiracies? (Of course, there are known conspiracies -- Osama bin Laden and others conspired in the 9/11 plot -- but there are no successful hidden conspiracies. I cannot think of one in my lifetime.) There are at least six major reasons:
1. Many people find it impossible to believe that a few utterly unimpressive individuals can do so much damage. Lee Harvey Oswald, a man who can best be described as simply a loser, could change history all by himself? It doesn't seem to make sense.
2. 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.
3. One should never underestimate the power of boredom -- and the subsequent yearning for excitement -- to affect people's thinking and behavior. Belief in a hidden conspiracy is far more exciting than accepting prosaic truths. Figuring out the "mystery" of who killed JFK is a much bigger thrill than accepting that one jerk was responsible. Deciphering who was "really" responsible for 9/11 is a lot more interesting than accepting that 19 Arabs with box cutters did it.
4. People who feel powerless over their own lives are far more likely to believe that some invisible force controls their fate than people who believe that they are the masters of their lives.
5. There is, apparently, a great yearning among many people to believe that there is hidden knowledge and that they have access to it. It makes them feel special, perhaps even superior to the rest of us who do not have access to this hidden knowledge.
6. In Western societies, it appears that secular people are more likely to believe in hidden conspiracies than the more religious. It may be that the religious already believe in an invisible power that governs the universe -- God -- and therefore seem to have much less of a psychological or emotional need to believe in invisible powers on earth.
Whichever reason or reasons apply, the bottom line about those who believe in hidden conspiracies is this: They choose to believe in them. Their psyche, their emotions, and/or their political agenda bring them to their belief in a hidden conspiracy. Never the facts.
Dennis Prager is a radio show host, contributing columnist for Townhall.com, and author of 4 books including Happiness Is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual.
- Mekt_Ranzz's blog
- Login to post comments
if it mentions Gerald Posner
if it mentions Gerald Posner you just KNOW its going to be bullshit. i dont know how that man lives with himself. oh yeah, nevermind........
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA
Ballet for a Patsy...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDAVkaFN1Zo
More excellent JFK related youtube vids from Gil Jesus here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=GJJdude&p=r
_______________
"If I had just paid $20 million for the NIST report, I'd be asking for a refund!" -Dr. Frank Greening
gosh
what could JFKs assassination and 9/11 have in common??
anyway, Bugliosi wrote a book aboutt he stealing of the 2000 election that was actually pretty good--but I guess that would be a conspiracy involving a bunch of honorable people...
and how about that whole Enron thing? I mean, it's just too boring to think that California's energy market was beset by huge demand and limited supply, so people invent this whole conspiracy by many honorable employees of Enron actually CREATING shortages on purpose. Like no one would have noticed and blown the whistle! Yeesh! And the idea that Bush conspired to lie us into war--when it was clearly just honest mistakes by honorable people--even the Democrats agree that it was incompetence, so you really have to be some kind of nut to think that Bush could have exaggerated the threat posed by Saddam. I mean, why hasn't anyone blown the whistle on THAT? Why is Bush still in power if it's true??
____
♠
Real Truther a.k.a. Verdadero Verdadero
WTCdemolition.com - Harvard Task Force
NEW---> check out our revamped site!
Funny how times change, huh?
"California's energy market was beset by huge demand and limited supply, so people invent this whole conspiracy by many honorable employees of Enron actually CREATING shortages on purpose."
How you liking those gas prices America?
Zapruder authentic like TV Fakery!
I am deeply sorry and humble to post this request but this video requires your esteemed perceptiveness.
It makes a strong case that aeroplanes did not hit the WTC towers on 9/11, that instead video bluescreen effects were used.
I know this is not a welcoming place for such a concept but pleeeaaase give this a chance. The video is 30-odd minutes and VERY VERY well made.
In fact, even if the argument is found to be weak .. the presentation is worth seeing.
It uses ONLY footage from that atrocious morning that you all have seen and that some of you have on their VCRs.
There are links to streaming video .. but do download the VCD, burn it and watch it with your compatriots on TV, it has a nice stereo-sound and that really enhances the examination.
Please discuss the veracity of the argument. I am sure you will make competent and objective interjections. My certainty of your competence gives me the confidence to submit this controversial blog entry.
http://tangibleinfo.blogspot.com/2007/06/september-clues-vcd-911-tv-fake...
godspeed
PS: I apologise for the childish illustration.
why am i even responding........
i sat through all 3 parts of it at Ningen's request. most of it hinges on "black outs" etc. you have been duped(or you are just trying to dupe us, i really dont care either way).
"The Central Intelligence Agency owns everyone of any significance in the major media." ~ William Colby, Former Director, CIA
node 9400 is banned for mentioning this video
and you got minuspoints.
think about this.
id like to say more, but ...
i thought til today i am well informed here, but here is desinformation at its best.
a german has told me today from this video.
what a shame for a member of 911blogger as me,, not knowing this video
google search showed, tha a node is blocked
Oregon's Ashland Daily Tidings Continues 9/11 Coverage ...
Questions surrounding the events of September 11, 2001 have persisted since that .... and Brasscheck TV has a new online video titled "September Clues" that ...
www.911blogger.com/node/9400 - Similar pages
bye
"... a somewhat unfamiliar conception for the average mind." (mp3)
Albert Einstein
Bugliosi is either dirty or taking the easy road.
Whichever reason or reasons apply, the bottom line about those who believe in the government's story is this: They choose to believe it. Their psyche, their emotions, and/or their political agenda bring them to believe their government's illogical tale. Never the facts.
And of course there's a lot of money and social pressure and lies to get them to believe what they are told, no matter how illogical.
Sorry to hear Bugliosi has contorted himself into a government shill - after his good work naming the Supreme Court Justices [5 of them] guilty, on the face of it, of treason.
Wonder how that thing was engineered. Maybe Bugliosi believes it himself, like Palast apparently does. Sad.
Reality is that which when you stop believing in it, it doesn't go away." - "Horselover Fat" Phillip K. Dick
Sheweth Picts