And once again: CT explanations only make sense to someone who is not in possession of the basic, well-established, verifiable facts. And the nonstop ranting of the CTers has displaced those facts in the collective memory.
If I convince you through scientific mumbo-jumbo that it’s impossible for objects to reach Earth orbit, any nonsense I care to construct about lunar landings being a hoax will seem sensible. Only by making Oswald an inept dimwit, the rifle Eye-talian junk and the circumstances of the shooting complex and impossible can things like the various second-shooter theories hold their shape.
The tide does seem to be turning, slowly. But as long as there are “science and discovery” channels… sigh.
For the Toronto dopers out there following the thread: I worked out with a mapping tool that if the tower of Old City Hall was the depository, JFK would have been at about the second arch on the pool in Nathan Philips Square. Actually standing there, it’s clear it was a very easy shot.
I think I have mentioned here before that spent years being swayed by the most recent CT book I had read. I don’t think I ever fully embraced any of the theories, but the barrage of confidently stated BS left me believing that the official story was wrong, and that we would never know the truth. Gerald Posner’s Case Closed changed that, convincing me that the official story was the truth. From 1993, when I read the Posner book, until 2000, when I visted Dealey Plaza, I assumed that the purveyors of the many alternative theories were just deluded and wrong. Once I walked around the plaza and looked out the window of the sixth floor, I realized that they were all simply liars, depending on the inadequacy of photos to adequately convey the scale of the place to make their thoeries plausible to some. The place is simply too small for a second shooter to be plausibly undetected, and the shots were too easy for anyone to believe that an experienced rifle shooter would have had difficulty making them.
I blame Oliver Stone. Conspiracy theories were a fringe element until he made JFK. After that, a lot of people believed the conspiracies because they had “seen” it with their own eyes. Our brains evolved in an era without movies; we still instinctively believe something we see happening is real.
Another way that’s more universal is that the whole assassination scene (sixth floor, first bullet impact, grassy knoll, Zapruder) would fit on an American football field or a soccer field.
Yes. But I find the perceived scale of a football field feels very different from an equivalent distance in an urban setting.
To put it another way: when you’re standing behind home plate, trying to throw out a runner stealing second, the square root of 16,200 feet seems very much farther than it does on the street!
Well, there was also “Executive Action” around 1974. I am not sure what effect Lil’ Willie’s film had on the overall perception; you can take it out of the mix and still find many people and groups convinced of one or more of the common CTs. It probably made the notion more widespread, displaced faint real knowledge (even of people old enough to have their own clear memories) and, as you say, made it “real.”
Sorry, Rivkale, but I disagree with you. I think the clock starts with the report of the first round. So there’s two bolt cycles and 2 trigger pulls. There might be a bit of speed of sound delay to serve to lesson some of the time of the first bolt cycle, but not all of it.
Oh, and I don’t know if the bubble top could have stopped the bullet, but I think depending on the angle, it might have deflected it. And keep in mind, when they say something is X thick, they’re generally measuring at 90 degrees from the surface. If you turn the material to an angle, the thickness at that angle will be X plus something.
I dont know if its worth pointing out but Oswald nearly did miss with his final shot. Obviously the shot was fit for purpose but it was hardly a bullseye.
I think he should have had it in one but I would imagine that when your first clear thought of the day is " Today is the day I shoot the President", that might twingle the nerves a bit.
If he had aced it, there might have been a lot less CT woo.
I was going to ask about this. I’m not a gun expert, but my understanding of ‘bolt action’ was it’s like those .22’s I shot at summer camp. One shot and then you have to open the bolt and insert another cartridge[sup]1[/sup]. So three shots requires two opens/reloads. Does anybody disagree with that? Are there ‘bolt actions’ that hold two rounds somehow?
[sup]1[/sup]which I, personally, would be incapable of after firing a shot at someone. I’m not a CT’er, I’m just imagining my nerves trying to put a chamber in a little trough after shooting at the prez.
Yup, the rifle in question had a six round magazine. You do need to work the bolt in-between each shot, but you do not have to insert a new cartridge by hand.
Ah…thank you! That explains a lot. Two cycles of the bolt without having to put a new cartridge in works out about perfectly! So the bolt ratcheting is just to eject the empty shell…
I’m not sure I understand. The clock would start at the report of the first round, but we don’t have that. The video recording we have doesn’t include sound.
Right, everyone agrees that there were three shots, and that two of them hit Kennedy, and that it was the third shot that dramatically blew off his scalp. People disagree over whether the first shot to hit Kennedy was the first shot fired, or not. If it was the first shot, then it’s load, aim, and fire twice in 6 seconds, which is doable. But many people think the first shot seen in the film, the first to hit, was actually the second shot fired, in which case it’s really only one load-aim-fire in 6 seconds, which is even easier.
