Here's some exciting video of Alex Jones basically not understanding how a bullhorn works, screaming a the top of his lungs into an amplification device until he has a coughing fit. He was in Dallas today to protest the exclusion of conspiracy theorists from the city's official commemoration of JFK's assassination, because America needs the truth about Lizard Harvey Oswald and the Cigarette-Smoking Man. Yr Doktor Zoom is among the sheeple who thinks Oswald acted alone, but even if we thought there was anything to a conspiracy scenario, knowing that Alex Jones found it likely would dissuade us from believing it.
So. Being an old pinko liberal, I must admit that there was a time in my life when JFK conspiracy theories made some sense to me. I invite you younger Wonkers to go read the Warren Report and contemplate the path of Superbullet, or the supposed rate of fire achieved by Mr. Oswald.
But, in the fullness of time, I have had to recognize some things:
(1) Any conspiracy that can maintain absolute information discipline for fifty years might as well be treated as reality;
(2) Fucking Alex Jones? Admittedly, this could be late-era conspiracy tactics, but see (1). If they are that good, there is no point in even thinking about it.
If I wasn&#039;t entirely clear, my current elderly position is that if it <i>was</i> a conspiracy, they got away with it (unlike many conspiracies). I have not forgotten the enemies, or the weirdness, but there really has been no convincing evidence emerging in the intervening years.
Maybe, all the current conspiracy fans are a clever ploy to make us devalue conspiracy theories. (That&#039;s a pretty good conspiracy theory, right there). If it&#039;s actually that intricate, fuck it, I&#039;ma have a drink.
Okay, now I have to go contrarian. Vince did not portray <i>all</i> the CT purveyors -- just the ones that were pretty obviously nuts. He just ignored the non-crazy ones.
The conspiracy industry - and its mass appeal - didn&#039;t really take off right away. It&#039;s a post-1960s artifact, and I think is a response less to the killing of JFK than to the sense that JFK&#039;s death marked the end of America-as-we-knew-it and the beginning of something unrecognizable and new. Before JFK, the only &quot;conspiracy&quot; was that vague thing, the &quot;military-industrial complex&quot; and paranoia was confined mainly to McCarthyite panic about Commies.
JFK&#039;s election included a panic about the Pope and the Insidious Catholic Church (Antichrist, etc etc), but it burned out fairly fast. In fact, it&#039;s surprising how fast it burned out, and I think JFK&#039;s martyrdom and subsequent elevation to sainthood was responsible for that.
In other words, JFK&#039;s assassination sparked anti-govt paranoia and a sense that we were being lied to at the <i>end</i> of the 1960s, when it became clear that we had in fact been lied to (Vietnam, Watergate, secret wars, etc.) and aspects of our govt were out of control. Remember that most Americans learned of the existence of the NSA (No Such Agency) only with the Church hearings, after Watergate. After 1968, after Nixon, after Watergate, JFK looked golden, and his murder looked like the death of all that was good and noble.
A conspiracy against the conspiracy theorists? That was sort of inevitable -- it explains all the evidence they can&#039;t find. Including the evidence of the conspiracy against the conspiracy theorists.
Just don&#039;t say you&#039;re &quot;intrigued.&quot; (Such comments are not permitted.)
So. Being an old pinko liberal, I must admit that there was a time in my life when JFK conspiracy theories made some sense to me. I invite you younger Wonkers to go read the Warren Report and contemplate the path of Superbullet, or the supposed rate of fire achieved by Mr. Oswald.
But, in the fullness of time, I have had to recognize some things:
(1) Any conspiracy that can maintain absolute information discipline for fifty years might as well be treated as reality;
(2) Fucking Alex Jones? Admittedly, this could be late-era conspiracy tactics, but see (1). If they are that good, there is no point in even thinking about it.
That one is glorious, indeed.
If I wasn&#039;t entirely clear, my current elderly position is that if it <i>was</i> a conspiracy, they got away with it (unlike many conspiracies). I have not forgotten the enemies, or the weirdness, but there really has been no convincing evidence emerging in the intervening years.
Maybe, all the current conspiracy fans are a clever ploy to make us devalue conspiracy theories. (That&#039;s a pretty good conspiracy theory, right there). If it&#039;s actually that intricate, fuck it, I&#039;ma have a drink.
I&#039;ve been to Dealy Plaza. It is tiny. In most places, it would be be Dealy Mowing-Strip.
If I were plotting the assassination of the LOTFW, the sixth floor of the Tx School Book Depository would be like a fifty-yard range target.
Okay, now I have to go contrarian. Vince did not portray <i>all</i> the CT purveyors -- just the ones that were pretty obviously nuts. He just ignored the non-crazy ones.
My $0.02. (I was 7 when he was killed.)
The conspiracy industry - and its mass appeal - didn&#039;t really take off right away. It&#039;s a post-1960s artifact, and I think is a response less to the killing of JFK than to the sense that JFK&#039;s death marked the end of America-as-we-knew-it and the beginning of something unrecognizable and new. Before JFK, the only &quot;conspiracy&quot; was that vague thing, the &quot;military-industrial complex&quot; and paranoia was confined mainly to McCarthyite panic about Commies.
JFK&#039;s election included a panic about the Pope and the Insidious Catholic Church (Antichrist, etc etc), but it burned out fairly fast. In fact, it&#039;s surprising how fast it burned out, and I think JFK&#039;s martyrdom and subsequent elevation to sainthood was responsible for that.
In other words, JFK&#039;s assassination sparked anti-govt paranoia and a sense that we were being lied to at the <i>end</i> of the 1960s, when it became clear that we had in fact been lied to (Vietnam, Watergate, secret wars, etc.) and aspects of our govt were out of control. Remember that most Americans learned of the existence of the NSA (No Such Agency) only with the Church hearings, after Watergate. After 1968, after Nixon, after Watergate, JFK looked golden, and his murder looked like the death of all that was good and noble.
Yes! I hadn&#039;t seen that in years.
You may not find truth, but your odds will improve considerably.
Only in the cancer virus vaccines. There&#039;s viruses in <i>most</i> virus vaccines.
Squeaky Fromme could not have acted alone -- wake up, sheeple!!!1!
50 seems like a lot . . . but then again, it&#039;s Texas.
To be fair, the rights of the mentally unhinged have been in need of attention for quite some time now.
A conspiracy against the conspiracy theorists? That was sort of inevitable -- it explains all the evidence they can&#039;t find. Including the evidence of the conspiracy against the conspiracy theorists.
Where&#039;s that damned pepper spray when you need it?
Conspiracies are so much more FUN!! Especially if they involve people you don&#039;t like already, such as Jews and Communists and The Government.