If it wasn’t for you meddling kids…!
-XT
It may be impossible to prove what happened now, because the parties who might know for sure are dead, or have resisted talking for nearly 50 years, and would be doubted if they came forward now. If a film, or audio recording showed up, or possibly a verifiable document, that might change the argument. Without that, the great volume of evidence points to Oswald operating alone, shooting from the book depository. The ‘magic bullet’ concept was based on a lack of ability to reconstruct the exact path of a bullet, and showing the least discernable photograph of the bullet. This bullet photo is an important illustration of the problem. There were numerous photographs taken of that bullet. The one used by the conspiracy theorists, is usually a reproduction of a black and white photo, taken in high contrast, from an odd angle, and then cropped to remove the measuring rules that would show the angle of the photo. The actual bullet was bent like a banana, and had large chunks broken off of it. But the bullet was turned so that the curve was not apparent. The high contrast made the bullet look like it was all black, and the pits and missing chunks made it look did not show up either. Without the measuring rules, it appears as if the photo were taken from directly over the bullet, instead of the odd angle. Once this photo was reproduced in books and magazines and shown on TV many times, along with the false claims of its nature, people began to accept the deceptive image as the actual one. Numerous bits of evidence manipulation like this were used to justify conspiracy theories. Never the less, any reasonable person who looks at all of the undistorted evidence would see that there is a great deal of it that supports the official conclusion. There are evidentiary gaps, as there almost always are. There are singular conflicting bits of evidence, but when investigated, the conclusions drawn about them are in conflict with large amounts of other, clearer, evidence. There are unresolved questions, and there are numerous lies people told, or were represented as having been told. I believe the official story is close to the truth because of the abundance of evidence, but something which can be accurately characterized as the whole truth may never be known.
I spent some investigating some of the conspiracy theories in order counter one theorist who had collected all of the conspiracy evidence to make it sound like the conspiracy happened. In order to argue with I had to go over all the available evidence I could find recorded (at a lot tougher to do before the internet tubes were installed :)). But I’m glad I did it because I could challenge the conspiracy theories, that were always presented as being indisputable and conclusive. Some of those theories even involved UFOs! So I would say that the official story is probably true, not totally conclusive, but good enough until some new, credible evidence is provided.
Although off the topic a little, the same kind of conspiracy theories abounded for the assinations of RFK and MLK. I drew the same conclusion in those cases. I wish the missing and unresolved details were known.
Finally, the point of this is always the word ‘conspiracy’. If Oswald had told anyone of his plans, the evidence shows that he would not have been believed by rational people. But someone may have helped him some small way. Anyone who did, would have been wise not to say anything about it then, or now. So I can’t conclude that there was no conspiracy of any kind at all, but not one that would have changed the course of events had it not existed.
Lincoln, Caesar, Archduke Ferdinand were killed by proven conspiracies. They do, in fact happen.
And expecting “someone on the internet” to have some form of conclusive “evidence”, unless they were a whistleblower, is completely ridiculous.
All that modern “internet detectives” are doing, is asking the questions that should have been considered by those involved in solving these crimes completely to the satisfaction of the public.
I was obviously using the term CT in the colloquial sense referring to such people as those who belive the Moon landing was faked or the US government carried out the attacks on September 11, 2001. The conspiracies you refer to had actual evidence first and then conspiracy declared based on the evidence. Not the same thing at all.
Yes, well that is how anyone with secrets to hide would like their subjects to think. The term Conspiracy Theory has become a catch-all phrase to dismiss and ridicule any opinion that casts serious doubts on the machinations of govts and their shady allies.
See related term: the “Martha Mitchell effect”
Exactly. “They” wouldn’t need to kill off all their detractors; that in itself would attract suspicion. All “they” need is a plausibly deniable source to insinuate the person isn’t worthy of attention.
But of course. I’m sorry. The conspiracies actually gathered evidence first, and then declared that they were conspiracies. Got it. Like how the Nixon administration was accused of being a slimy crooked criminal conspiracy for years before John Dean went before Congress with his perfect memory and declared it to be true. Until then, it was just nutty liberals complaining that Nixon and company were crooks. Until then, it had no basis in reality even though it was going on. Cuz that sort of thing doesn’t happen.
You mean a discredited little patsy like Oswald or Ruby? Ohh, that would be clever.
Please provide “proof” of a conspiracy to kill Lincoln. Proof, in my opinion, would be to provide more than crackpot theories. By scholars with verifiable information.
Well, actually, this one is pretty clear. Booth had confederates who also planned to take out Vice-President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward the same night. The would-be Johnson killer chickened out but Lewis Powell lied his way into Seward’s home and injured several people (Frederick, Seward’s son, most seriously) before stabbing Seward several times. Nobody died, and Powell was later hanged on July 7, 1865, alongside conspirators David Herold, George Atzerodt, and Mary Surratt.
Gah, we did this dance once with mswas while he was arguing that you shouldn’t call things Conspiracy Theories because there are actual conspiracies sometimes. Of course there are. If it helps you, think of CT as synonymous with “bullshit”. Your objections sound pretty sill then, don’t they? “That claim you are making is bullshit.” “You can’t say that! People have said lots of things were bullshit, but they turned out to be some real serious shit after all.”
CT is shorthand.
Now, CT’s do, however, often have some general properties that are repeated.
-They rely on the actions of Genius Fools, conspirators who are simultaneously so brilliant as to be able to coordinate massive numbers of variables, act with precision and certainty that is near superhuman, and display power and strength beyond anything even remotely plausible. At the same time, they are prone to mistakes that a third grader could point out which, invariably, expose the entire conspiracy.
-Along the same lines, CT’s often posit a web of connections which call for total and complete silence, often for decades. There are no whistleblowers, nobody gets an attack of conscience, nobody makes a deathbed confession. Often CT’s require hundreds if not thousands of people to be in on the CT.
-They work like Creationism argument: if there are any minor points that can be disputed with our understanding in a situation, then the CT must be accepted in toto. Sometimes even very, very minor points. Do we not know the exact weight of every cubic meter of the flooring in the World Trade Center? Then it was a controlled demolition.
-They rely on baroque and overly complex, Rube Goldbergian mechanisms to accomplish simple tasks. And/or attempt to complicate situations far beyond a reasonable doubt in order to Just Ask Questions which are invariably leading and loaded but are offered as some purely-intellectual exercise.
-And, often, they fulfill a desire on the part of the CT’ist to explain away trouble or disturbing events, to give them a sense of power and knowledge in a chaotic world and to elevate the status of the CT’ist, even if it’s only in his or her own mind. If you’re the only person on your street who realizes that little grey aliens are controlling Rupert Murdoch, then you may be underemployed and unhappy, but goddamn it you’re a hell of a lot more clued in than those schmucks with their BBQ/pool party down the street.
Good post, FinnAgain.