Thursday, August 07, 2014

JFK Assassination: A Window Into The Leftist Mind (and the Kooky Right)

I have always wondered why some people believe so passionately in a massive conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy.  The documented facts prove, indisputably, to the fact that Communist Lee Harvey Oswald did it, and that he acted alone.  A pathetic loser and loner, separated from his wife and living alone in a rented room, Oswald craved the attention his evil deed would bring.

Many people, mostly on the left but some on the wacky side of the right, could not accept the results of a thorough and massive investigation by the Warren Commission, which concluded that Oswald did it alone.  Benny Huang sheds some light on why the conspiracy advocates believe what they do.  In his article The JFK Assassination As A Window Into The Leftist Mind, he writes:
For a number of reasons, Oswald’s political orientation has always been very difficult for people on the Left to accept. They have convinced themselves that the so-called communist threat was largely imaginary, that actual communists were mostly do-gooders if only a little zealous, and that anti-communism was a far greater threat to all that is good and right. Consequently, people on the Left engage in a form of group therapy in which they jointly exercise their preferred coping mechanism—denial—by seeking out alternative explanations for what happened that day. The result is the cottage industry of conspiracist books and movies that surround the assassination.
Huang's analysis is spot on. However, reading through the comments to the article, it is obvious that there are many on the Wacky Right (think Alex Jones) that believe in the conspiracy too, but with a variety of named culprits: LBJ, George Bush the elder, the bankers, etc etc. Read it all at the link above.

With thanks to No Pasaran! for first bringing this article to light.

5 comments:

  1. Wizard of the Saddle8/07/2014 11:10 AM

    JFK was getting ready to disband the Federal Reserve (Executive Order 11110) and reportedly wanted to "smash the CIA into a thousand pieces" (his experience with the CIA was very negative since they had talked him into ordering the Bay of Pigs invasion and indirectly caused the Cuban Missile Crisis). That's why so many people believe his assassination was a conspiracy. I won't say whether it was or it wasn't, but I understand why people would think his assassination was not the act of a lone Communist-washout.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those who believe in the conspiracy should read something responsible about it. I have read both Vincent Bugliosi's book, Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy (2007), as well as Gerald Posnter's book, Case Closed (see it here http://www.amazon.com/Case-Closed-Gerald-Posner/dp/1400034620). There is also the excellent JFK Assassination Page (Google it) that thoroughly refutes the many and varied conspiracy theories.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Actually there's no evidence that that executive order actually existed much less signed by JFK. Nor is there any evidence that he wanted to disband the CIA.

    I think those things to explain JFK's assassination are painting the dartboard around wherever the dart lands on the wall.

    ReplyDelete
  4. My take on JFK assassination:

    I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the official story, but the alternate explanations are even less possible. Which means I think the official explanation is the least bad of all the other possibilities. If you stuck a gun to my head and say "Occam's Razor," then I'd tell you that the truth is probably very close to the official story.

    I've read Bugliosi's book, but my big hurdle with it is that Bugliosi is a left wing lunatic, loves Islam, and therefore hated George W. Bush.

    BTW I had to change my Disqus name from Question Diversity to my blog name of Countenance because on most Disqus based blogs, except for AR, all my comments got thrown into the black hole.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're right about Bugliosi's politics. I don't like them either. But he did nail the Manson Family to the wall. I think Jack Ruby acted out of rage and on impulse.

    ReplyDelete