Conspiracy Theories and the Assassination of JFK

October 21, 2017 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Will the secret archives on the JFK assassination reveal anything new?

When it comes to the mania surrounding conspiracy theories, the JFK killing is near the top of the list.

Having lived in England for many years I have observed since moving back to the USA that Americans seem to have a particular fondness for conspiracy theories. When I lived in England people were not so scared all the time.

When Obama was president you heard stuff like: Obama was a Muslim Manchurian candidate. He was a foreigner and a secret communist. He was gay. He was atheist. He was anti American. He wanted to take your guns. He despised you. He wanted to close down your churches. He was secretly working for the Saudis and the Iranians. He hated God’s people. He was going to declare martial law and lock up conservatives in FEMA camps.

Now Trump is president the other side are engaging in the fear mongering. Trump is the new Hitler. Trump is going to bash gays, ban Muslims and bring about martial law. Trump is the dictator and his staff are Goering, Goebbels and Himmler. Trump is the demagogue, the pawn of the big internationalist oil, industrial military complex. Trump is going to bring about the end of our freedoms.

Really?

No doubt with the release of more JFK material the conspiracy theory mills will start grinding again.

Why is this? Why are Americans so wild about conspiracy theories?

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time because they are internally self contradictory.

They are internally self contradictory because they are based on an underlying assumption that things are not what they seem, and that there is a conspiracy to cover the truth and project a lie. However, if things are not what they seem, then the conspiracy theory is also not what it seems. Once you enter the twilight zone of the conspiracy theorist everyone is a probably liar and every theory is just as credible as the next one. That has to include the conspiracy theorist as well, for isn’t the conspiracy theorist actually cooking up a conspiracy of sorts himself?

Then we get into the tail-chasing madness in which the conspiracy theorists are all conspiring to dish out a false version of the truth. In other words, conspiracy theorists become conspirators.

They chase their tails in a kind of nail biting, wild eyed introspection which follows the irrational logic of insanity: You start with the conspiracy theory. If there is no evidence for the official line it proves that ‘they’ are lying. If there is evidence, then it must be a fake. If there is incontrovertible scientific evidence it proves how very good ‘they’ are at covering up. If there are eyewitnesses it shows how easily people can be bought.

Conspiracy theorists tiptoe through quicksand. All evidence is suspect. All witnesses gullible dupes. All authority is involved in the massive cover up.

Let me illustrate how the fault of being internally self contradictory is revealed: Let’s take an interesting and historical conspiracy–that Queen Elizabeth I was a man. This is the old story of the Bisley Boy. To be brief, the conspiracy is that the infant Elizabeth was in the country town of Bisley during the plague. She died and the villagers–terrified of the king’s wrath–substituted the only other red haired child of that age, and it was a boy. Chances were that he would die young as well, and no one would know. But he survived, and the older he got and the more it looked like he would inherit the throne the more it was in his, and everyone else’s (who was in the know) interest to maintain the fiction. For the conspiracy theorist this explains Elizabeth never marrying, never allowing herself to be seen unclothed even by her handmaids, it explains her being bald, having a deep voice, enjoying masculine sports like hunting, wearing wigs and heavy make up, and it explains why she forbade an autopsy after her death.

Now for those who like conspiracy theories, this is a humdinger. The problem is, as with all conspiracy theories, it is internally self contradictory, for if the received truth that Elizabeth was female is overturned, why then most anything, with a little bit of ‘evidence’ might be promoted as the ‘truth’. We might say (as some do) that Elizabeth was actually William Shakespeare. We might cook up some other conspiracies and say she was a witch, or that she was cursed by the ghost of Ann Boleyn or that Mary Queen of Scots was not beheaded, and instead Elizabeth was beheaded and Mary Queen of Scots took the throne, but to avoid rebellion she pretended to be Elizabeth and all her courtiers (for fear of losing their own heads) helped to maintain the fiction.

The number of conspiracy theories is only matched by the amount of imagination people have along with the need to find some greater hidden meaning to it all. It’s a form of illness and the final slam for conspiracy theorists is to ask, ‘So what?’ So what if JFK was actually murdered by LBJ, George Bush and the Cuban Cigar manufacturers? Can you do anything about that? So what if you discover incontrovertible proof that George W Bush murdered JFK Jr in a rigged plane crash or Elvis ate a poisoned peanut butter sandwich or Bill Clinton is a secret Rockefeller love child? Or Princess Diana was murdered by an international secret group of reptilian aliens. What are you going to do about it? Nothing. So at worst it’s a waste of time and at best its an amusing hobby.

Why do Americans have such a passion for conspiracy theories? Continue Reading

Conspiracy Theories and the Assassination of JFK

October 21, 2017 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Why do Americans go crazy for a conspiracy?

I have a theory. I think it is because of who we are as a people. Look at our history. Most of the immigrants who came here were fleeing some kind of persecution. Protestant settlers came for religious freedom from oppressive state religion regimes. Jews came here to escape pogroms. Irish came here to escape the English oppression. Others came to escape crushing poverty caused by greedy capitalists, aristocrats or politicians or all three. The Native Americans and Blacks were oppressed and enslaved.

I think that fear and distrust of the establishment runs deep in our bloodstream.

Is it healthy? I think up to a point it is. We should be suspicious of those who hold power.

But if we’re Christians we should also have a bit more trust and confidence in God’s providence. What he is doing is always and everywhere above and beyond the little power plays of people here on earth. Will we be persecuted from time to time? That is what the master promised. Will we be misunderstood, maligned and even martyred? It seems that is part of the deal. Will government powers hate us, wealthy people scorn our values and the diabolically controlled despise us? Of course. It they did that to our Master why do we think it will be different for us?

Conspiracy theories are based in fear. We should grow up and stop being so afraid of the dark.

We should remember the words of Pope St John Paul II who lived through the Nazis AND the Communists, who stepped out on the balcony and said,

“Do not be afraid!”

Top Ten Conspiracy Theories

May 18, 2011 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Guest blogger, Duane Mandible is a contributing editor to The Truth Hurts, a bi-monthly journal of politics, economics and opinion. He also contributes regularly to Freedom Monthly; Illuminations and The Sojourner. Duane is the author of Guns and Knives will Save Your Children’s Lives. He is Vice President of the Sacred Society of St Philibustre, and enjoys hunting rattlesnakes, square dancing and watching re runs of comedy classics. He is unmarried.

I try not to spend too much time reading the websites of ‘major’ newspapers, relying instead on my own choice of reading from which to gather the news. However a friend drew my attention recently to an article in the Daily Telegraph which is published in London, England.

In this recent article one of their journalists has compiled a list of ‘top ten conspiracy theories’. I am very disappointed, but not surprised by the list. Here’s their list: I am sure you will be disappointed by it as well.

1. 9-11
2. Kennedy Assassination
3. Roswell
4. Fake Moon Landings
5. The Illuminati
6. Elvis Faked His Death
7. Shakespeare Wasn’t Shakespeare
8. Paul McCartney is Dead
9. Harold Wilson was a Soviet Spy
10. The AIDS virus was created in a lab to control world population

This list is typical of a British journalist who is trying to be anti-American and shore up the disintegrating British establishment at the same time. For instance, who even knows who Harold Wilson was? I can tell you he was a Labor Party British Prime Minister in the 1970s. They weren’t Soviet Spies. They didn’t need to be. They were all communists to start with, as were most of the writers and actors in Hollywood at the time.

What is disappointing about the list are the much more serious conspiracy theories that the poor ignorant English journalist either ignored or knew nothing about. What about:

1. Elizabeth I of England was really a man
2. Bill Clinton is a Rockefeller love child
3. Jimmy Carter is a Kennedy love child
4. The Reagan would be assassin John Hinckley was a family friend of George HW Bush (who was Reagan’s VP at the time)
5. That the two women who tried to assassinate President Gerald Ford were CIA brainwashed dupes set up by Rockefeller and Bush. (Bush was then head of CIA and Nelson Rockefeller was VP)
6. That Adolph Hitler is alive on the dark side of the moon
7. The British Royal family are reptilian shape shifters who drink the blood of young children
8. Man Made Global Warming
9. ‘Pope’ John Paul I was poisoned by Archbishop Paul Marcinkus
10. ‘Pope’ John XXIII was a Freemason
11. Lady Di was executed at the orders of HRH Prince Philip and the SAS
12. The conspiracy by the buttoned maniplists in the fourteenth century against the be-ribboned.
13. That ‘Pope’ John XXIII’s body was not incorrupt when it was exhumed.
14. That the munchkins in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ were not really midgets, but grown actors walking about on their knees.

Clearly the reason these other very important theories were not mentioned by this ‘journalist’ is that he is part of the vast media cover up which is in place to support the New World Order which will be composed of the world’s great banking families, the European Union, the liberal intelligentsia and the owners of Ben and Gerry’s Ice Cream Manufacturing Company.

Conspiracy Theories are Self contradictory

May 6, 2011 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Conspiracy theories are a waste of time because they are internally self contradictory.

Then we get into the tail-chasing madness in which the conspiracy theorists are all conspiring to dish out a false version of the truth. In other words, conspiracy theorists become conspirators.

They chase their tails in a kind of nail biting, wild eyed introspection which follows the irrational logic of insanity: You start with the conspiracy theory. If there is no evidence for the official line it proves that ‘they’
are lying. If there is evidence, then it must be a fake. If there is incontrovertible scientific evidence it proves how very good ‘they’ are at covering up. If there are eyewitnesses it shows how easily people can be bought.

Conspiracy theorists tiptoe through quicksand. All evidence is suspect. All witnesses gullible dupes. All authority is involved in the massive cover up.

If you want to wonder at the hidden meaning of all things I recommend meditating on the mystery of Divine Providence.

Todd on Conspiracy Theories

September 27, 2009 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

MSM journalist Todd Unctuous is this week’s guest blogger.

I am, essentially, a man of common sense. I believe things are usually just the way they appear to be. Therefore I always find it amusing when people write long articles or publish websites about conspiracy theories. One of the conspiracy theories people enjoy discussing endlessly is the question of ‘who really killed John F. Kennedy’ or endlessly discussing the death of Marilyn Monroe or other famous people who died like Kurt Cobain or Lady Di. These conspiracy theories are usually ideas that there was a secret group of people who are behind the scenes operating in secret to work together to make things happen to their advantage.

These theories of conspiracies are nothing but the sad imagination of inadequate people who are unable to deal with life adequately. John F Kennedy was killed by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is as simple as that. Marilyn Monroe died from an overdose of sleeping tablets. It was tragic. She was the world’s greatest actress, but that is all there is to it. Lady Di was tragically killed in an automobile accident by a drunk driver. There were no conspiracies behind it all. Likewise with 9/11. This was not a conspiracy by the American government, and people who keep claiming that these things were conspiracies are usually slightly mentally ill, or if not mentally ill, they have a biased and unhealthy way of looking at the world.

It is all the more important to realize this when we consider the forces that have rallied together secretly behind the attacks on our first Afro American President, Mr Barack Obama. Some have called it a ‘vast right wing conspiracy’. It would be nice to think that there was no such thing, but sometimes the evidence mounts up and is irresistible. The right wing of this country make no secret of their hatred of Mr Obama, and it makes perfect sense to me not to be surprised that they should be working together to bring the President down.

They work covertly behind the scenes to spread rumors and lies about the President. They control important media outlets, so called Washington ‘think tanks’, lobbying organizations and financial institutions. These men have been in power for a long time and they know how to pull the strings and make things happen. Nothing goes on without their knowledge. They control vast multi national corporations and control the ‘military industrial complex’ that Democratic presidents from Eisenhower onward have warned us about. Their network is like a spider’s web of sticky and venomous contacts. It is almost invisible, but many flies have been caught in it. Many people will say that there is no evidence of these forces working together, but you have to remember that these networks are secret and that is why there is no clear evidence: their whole network is based on the need for secrecy. The fact that there is no ‘evidence’ is in itself evidence. It proves how very skilled and expert they are at covering their tracks.

This vast network of international right wing power brokers have their most important contacts within the shadowy world of the Vatican City–the tiny, but powerful walled kingdom of the Pope of Rome. From within those walls edicts are issued out to every corner of the world. Many people underestimate the power of the medieval style Pope. Politicians may have the minds and votes of people in their own country for a few short years, but the Pope (who some people call the ‘anti Christ’) rules for life and he controls the hearts of over a billion people worldwide. His network of totally obedient servants is the real multinational power and they work hand in hand with right wing devotees worldwide like the notorious ‘Opus Dei’ secret organization which was so skillfully exposed by the brilliant literary genius Dan Brown.

It is true: conspiracy theories are the stuff of disturbed minds and troubled souls. What we need is common sense and transparency. Only when we have common sense and transparency will we be able to get to the bottom of the murky world of the international right wing lobbyists and their shadowy sister the Roman Catholic Church. Only when we have full disclosure will we be able to enjoy the freedoms we have fought and died for in this country, and I, for one, demand an open accounting and an answer of all our questions. Once the secret right wing power brokers are exposed they must be weeded out and destroyed so that our freedoms will be preserved.

Todd Unctuous is forty two. For more information on Todd Unctuous go here.

Why There is No Conspiracy

May 5, 2011 By Fr. Dwight Longenecker

I’m already hearing of the conspiracy theories around Bin Laden’s death: “he’s not really dead. They only killed his double.” or “He was dead long ago. This is all a publicity stunt to get Obama re-elected.” or whatever…

The thing which makes the story true is the inconsistency in the account. First he was killed in a firefight, then there wasn’t really much resistance. He shot back and used his young wife as a shield, then he didn’t after all. He was shot because he resisted arrest, then he was executed after being captured. The Pakistanis knew about him being there. No they didn’t. They helped and gave support for the attack. No, they knew nothing about it.

If there was a genuine conspiracy of some sort the stories would be more watertight. It’s the inconsistencies and contradictions that make it seem genuine. That’s what really happens in tense, traumatic events–different stories emerge, different perspectives are given. Details are perceived differently by different people. Complicated reasons arise for different versions to be given. Different agendas come up which drive the narrative.

It’s the same with the gospel accounts of the resurrection. There are seemingly contradictory details. Memories are skewed, perspectives are biased, accounts vary.

That’s what makes it authentic. A conspiracy would have all the details tied up neatly and everybody would be on board.