Denialism

Old Timey Conspiracy Theories

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by

MarkH
in

WaPo shows us how a good conspiracy theory can never die. It’s depressing. We’re probably going to be hearing from 9/11 troofers for the rest of our lives.

The new evidence that Kennedy was killed by someone on a grassy-knoll or the Cubans or whatever is that the metallurgical analysis that was used to prove that the bullets could only have come from the batch that Oswald used was flawed.

So is it time to re-open the Kennedy assassination?

No. It’s not.

All this new analysis proves is that the analysis to tie the bullets to Oswald’s batch was flawed. It doesn’t mean that the bullet fragments couldn’t have come from his gun. It’s an interesting side note, but not proof of anything.

I’m sure that won’t stop the last generation of conspiracy theorists from breaking out the tinfoil hats.
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Comments

5 responses to “Old Timey Conspiracy Theories”

  1. Orac

    9/11 conspiracy theories will not die until the generation old enough to have either seen it or seen the news coverage of it first hand dies. I recently read a rather interesting article (whose link I cannot find) about how Kennedy assassination theories are fading because, after 44 years, people who were old enough to have been traumatically affected by it are rapidly getting old. I’m sure that in 2045 (if still happen to be alive), every so often I’ll be seeing stories like this one, except about 9/11.

    I’d look for renewed Kennedy conspiracy crankery in 2013 around the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination. It always seems to pop up around anniversaries.

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  2. ironpoptart

    When I was a junior in high school (I’m a sophomore in college now) I had an AP American History teacher who spent an entire class day trying to convince us that the Mafia shot JFK. As far as I know, she’s still having Zapruder film day in her classes each year, and will until she retires. She was an absolutely outstanding teacher otherwise (well, she also had some odd theories about Lincoln, but you know what I mean), so I’m sure she convinces some people each year. It doesn’t look like Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories wil be dying anytime soon.

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  3. Kapitano

    Sometimes the government does lie to us, and occasionally conspiracies do happen.

    The Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were frauds. That the vast majority of “fringe” ideas are bunk doesn’t mean every allegation is a priori the work of a nutcase.

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  4. SLC

    As one who, up to now, was convinced that Oswald fired all the shots, although I rejected the 1 bullet hypothesis in favor of the Houts/Helpern 2 bullet hypothesis, I consider this finding somewhat troubling. I agree with Mr. Hoofnagles’ statement that this development, in and of itself, doesn’t negate the Oswald fired all shots theory. However, I disagree with Mr. Hoofnagle that no further analysis is warranted, particularly since the authors of the report, who do not seem to be off the wall whackjobs, call for further analysis. It would appear that this is something that can be cleared up by using the latest technology to analyze the bullet fragments. If, in fact, the latest technology confirms that the fragments are chemically similar to the batch of bullets the FBI confiscated from Oswald, that settles the matter. On the other hand, if the converse is true, at the least, it opens up the possibility of a second gunman, although to be fair, the possibility that the bullet came from another batch accessible to Oswald cannot be ruled out.

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  5. thomas

    i have seen the jfk assination on pbs,discovery, etc when they show it i dont believe in the magic bullet therory but if you take a moment to look. it seems as if he was shot twice. the first shot looks like it went through is throat he was trying to breath but if you wait a second why did he recive a head injury seconds after the first shot. any expert look agian i noticed that and i dont have any forencic knowledge.

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