Why do so many people overthink the JFKA?

[John Corbett]

Any straight forward examination of the available evidence in the JFKA yields only one plausible explanation and that is the one the WC reached almost 62 years ago. While we have discovered somethings that have cleared up questions the WC was unable to resolve, their basic conclusion remains sound with no revisions necessary. Oswald did it and there is no evidence he had even a single accomplice..

It was Oswald's rifle found on the sixth floor. It had his palmprint on the underside of the barrel which could only have been put there with the rifle disassembled which it would have to have been in order to fit inside the bag found next to the sniper's nest. Oswald's palmprint was also on the bottom of the bag. Fibers matching the blanket he used to store the rifle were found in the bag and fibers matching the shirt he was wearing that day were found on the butt plate of the rifle. The rifle was positively matched to the shells found by the window where several people saw a shooter. The rifle was also positively matched to the only two recovered bullets. Oswald's fingerprints were found on top of the boxes that had been stacked by the window in question oriented just as they would be if Oswald was kneeling at those boxes looking down Elm St. Every qualified medical examiner who has reviewed the autopsy materials has agreed with the findings of the original autopsy team that JFK was shot twice from above and behind him. There is no medical evidence or any other forensic evidence of another shooter firing from any other location in Dealey Plaza. These are facts.

On top of all the forensic evidence of Oswald's guilt, he flees the scene of the crime, fetches his revolver from his rooming house and a short time later guns down a cop who stopped to question him. About a dozen people either witnessed the shooting or identified Oswald fleeing the scene of that crime. A short time later, Oswald was arrested with the murder weapon in the cop killing in his possession after attempting to shoot one of the arresting with the same gun.

These facts tell us unambiguously that Oswald killed two men on 11/22/1963, yet for some people, that simply isn't good enough. For some strange reason, they feel compelled to look for conspiracies. They will invent any excuse imaginable to dismiss each and every piece of evidence that Oswald was a double murderer. Then they will turn around and dream up bizarre conspiracy theories from the flimsiest evidence or no evidence at all. Just factoids. They are chasing ghosts and have been for over 62 years. Their futility in finding no credible evidence of any other person's involvement in the assassination doesn't discourage them. They continue on their never-ending snipe hunts convinced the piece of evidence that will finally prove there was a conspiracy is right around the corner. Perhaps we should use a modern term for what drives these people. Oswald Derangement Syndrome.

Of course, CTs are not alone in dreaming up alternate realities. Perhaps the most famous was Jim Moore's book Conspiracy of One which put a different twist on the LN theory. Let's not forget our own Andrew Mason who has dreamed up a theory that requires about a dozen bizarre, improbable, and impossible things to have happened.

Dale Meyers has said it best. The JFKA happened one way and we now have an even clearer picture than what the WC was able to present. Oswald fired an early first shot that missed. There is some question as to exactly when that shot was fired because the Z-film doesn't give us definitive evidence as to when that shot was fired. It does show us JBC reacting to the first shot by rotating his shoulders to his right at Z164, just as he said he did. This tells us the first shot was fired some time before that. The second shot fired at or about Z220 struck JFK high on his back to the right of his spine, exited his throat, tumbled into JBC's back near his armpit, exited below his right nipple, struck and shattered his right wrist before making a shallow wound in his thigh. A third shot was fired at Z310-311 which struck JFK in the back of the head at Z313 causing a massive, unsurvivable brain injury causing his deata a short time later. This us the one way the JFKA happened. Anybody who believes otherwise is only fooling themselves.

[Charles Collins]

Any straight forward examination of the available evidence in the JFKA yields only one plausible explanation and that is the one the WC reached almost 62 years ago. While we have discovered somethings that have cleared up questions the WC was unable to resolve, their basic conclusion remains sound with no revisions necessary. Oswald did it and there is no evidence he had even a single accomplice..

It was Oswald's rifle found on the sixth floor. It had his palmprint on the underside of the barrel which could only have been put there with the rifle disassembled which it would have to have been in order to fit inside the bag found next to the sniper's nest. Oswald's palmprint was also on the bottom of the bag. Fibers matching the blanket he used to store the rifle were found in the bag and fibers matching the shirt he was wearing that day were found on the butt plate of the rifle. The rifle was positively matched to the shells found by the window where several people saw a shooter. The rifle was also positively matched to the only two recovered bullets. Oswald's fingerprints were found on top of the boxes that had been stacked by the window in question oriented just as they would be if Oswald was kneeling at those boxes looking down Elm St. Every qualified medical examiner who has reviewed the autopsy materials has agreed with the findings of the original autopsy team that JFK was shot twice from above and behind him. There is no medical evidence or any other forensic evidence of another shooter firing from any other location in Dealey Plaza. These are facts.

On top of all the forensic evidence of Oswald's guilt, he flees the scene of the crime, fetches his revolver from his rooming house and a short time later guns down a cop who stopped to question him. About a dozen people either witnessed the shooting or identified Oswald fleeing the scene of that crime. A short time later, Oswald was arrested with the murder weapon in the cop killing in his possession after attempting to shoot one of the arresting with the same gun.

These facts tell us unambiguously that Oswald killed two men on 11/22/1963, yet for some people, that simply isn't good enough. For some strange reason, they feel compelled to look for conspiracies. They will invent any excuse imaginable to dismiss each and every piece of evidence that Oswald was a double murderer. Then they will turn around and dream up bizarre conspiracy theories from the flimsiest evidence or no evidence at all. Just factoids. They are chasing ghosts and have been for over 62 years. Their futility in finding no credible evidence of any other person's involvement in the assassination doesn't discourage them. They continue on their never-ending snipe hunts convinced the piece of evidence that will finally prove there was a conspiracy is right around the corner. Perhaps we should use a modern term for what drives these people. Oswald Derangement Syndrome.

Of course, CTs are not alone in dreaming up alternate realities. Perhaps the most famous was Jim Moore's book Conspiracy of One which put a different twist on the LN theory. Let's not forget our own Andrew Mason who has dreamed up a theory that requires about a dozen bizarre, improbable, and impossible things to have happened.

Dale Meyers has said it best. The JFKA happened one way and we now have an even clearer picture than what the WC was able to present. Oswald fired an early first shot that missed. There is some question as to exactly when that shot was fired because the Z-film doesn't give us definitive evidence as to when that shot was fired. It does show us JBC reacting to the first shot by rotating his shoulders to his right at Z164, just as he said he did. This tells us the first shot was fired some time before that. The second shot fired at or about Z220 struck JFK high on his back to the right of his spine, exited his throat, tumbled into JBC's back near his armpit, exited below his right nipple, struck and shattered his right wrist before making a shallow wound in his thigh. A third shot was fired at Z310-311 which struck JFK in the back of the head at Z313 causing a massive, unsurvivable brain injury causing his deata a short time later. This us the one way the JFKA happened. Anybody who believes otherwise is only fooling themselves.

Why do so many People overthink the JFKA?

I believe that the most common reason is: Because so many people have a natural predisposition against trusting what the authorities tell them. If they would only recognize that they have this bias and that it is affecting their judgements regarding the JFKA, they might begin to see the evidence more realistically. That’s my two cents…

[John Corbett]

Why do so many People overthink the JFKA?

I believe that the most common reason is: Because so many people have a natural predisposition against trusting what the authorities tell them. If they would only recognize that they have this bias and that it is affecting their judgements regarding the JFKA, they might begin to see the evidence more realistically. That’s my two cents…

People have learned over the past 6 decade that our government will lie to us. What they fail to grasp is the government doesn't ALWAYS lie to us. Sometimes, they tell us the truth which keeps us guessing. The government will lie to us when it is in the interest of those in power to do so. When a little SOB like Oswald shot JFK all by himself, no one in the government had any reason to stage a cover up. It was known from day one who committed the act. Katzenbach knew that when he wrote his infamous memo which has been widely misinterpreted. He thought it was important that the public knew what he and everyone else in the Justice Department and the DPD already knew, that Oswald was the assassin. After Oswald was killed, there would be no trial so there was a need for a thorough investigation of the crime. His memo was internal and it was not intended to be the WC's marching orders. They were tasked with doing a thorough investigation and were not expected to cover up evidence of a conspiracy if they found it. Much of the actual investigation was done by the young staff lawyers. To a man they were anxious to find evidence of a conspiracy because it could jumpstart their careers. It was after they were unable to discover any credible evidence of a conspiracy that the conclusion was reached that Oswald had acted alone.

[Charles Collins]

People have learned over the past 6 decade that our government will lie to us. What they fail to grasp is the government doesn't ALWAYS lie to us. Sometimes, they tell us the truth which keeps us guessing. The government will lie to us when it is in the interest of those in power to do so. When a little SOB like Oswald shot JFK all by himself, no one in the government had any reason to stage a cover up. It was known from day one who committed the act. Katzenbach knew that when he wrote his infamous memo which has been widely misinterpreted. He thought it was important that the public knew what he and everyone else in the Justice Department and the DPD already knew, that Oswald was the assassin. After Oswald was killed, there would be no trial so there was a need for a thorough investigation of the crime. His memo was internal and it was not intended to be the WC's marching orders. They were tasked with doing a thorough investigation and were not expected to cover up evidence of a conspiracy if they found it. Much of the actual investigation was done by the young staff lawyers. To a man they were anxious to find evidence of a conspiracy because it could jumpstart their careers. It was after they were unable to discover any credible evidence of a conspiracy that the conclusion was reached that Oswald had acted alone.

Yes, well said, and the staff of young lawyers was almost totally drawn from outside the government.

[Lance Payette]

Fortunately, the forum is blessed with Dr. Payette, who not only has read reams of psychological and sociological literature about the conspiracy-prone mindset but also (1) shares a mild case of that mindset and (2) slept in a Holiday Inn Express as recently as last August.

It's called - really! - the "complexity bias." Studies have shown that many people, including many not otherwise prone to conspiracy thinking, choose incorrect complex solutions over correct simpler ones. Even animals do this! The brain has a propensity toward creativity. In those with a conspiracy-prone mindset, there is an exagerrated desire to find order in chaos and to connect dots until "everything fits," even if it doesn't really fit. There is also an exagerrated desire for control, to think events and the world in general are explainable. It's kind of ironic that these desires for order and control often lead to preposterous, fantastically complex "solutions," but there ya go.

The elephant in the room - or on forums such as this, anyway - is that those of us who are at least semi-rational are attempting to have rational discussions with people who are so far into the conspiracy-prone mindset lunatic fringe that rational discussion is literally impossible. Hence, we finally crack and scream "SHUT THE F UP AND TAKE YOUR MEDS, WILLYA!!!" (or at least I do). If the lunatic fringe had at least SOME awareness that "Yeah, I'm nuts, but this is kinda fun, isn't it?" I could play along - but they are inevitably the most grimly serious, self-important of all.

Mildly off-topic, but still one of the best commercials ever:

[John Corbett]

Fortunately, the forum is blessed with Dr. Payette, who not only has read reams of psychological and sociological literature about the conspiracy-prone mindset but also (1) shares a mild case of that mindset and (2) slept in a Holiday Inn Express as recently as last August.

It's called - really! - the "complexity bias." Studies have shown that many people, including many not otherwise prone to conspiracy thinking, choose incorrect complex solutions over correct simpler ones. Even animals do this!

I see this every day when I take my dogs for a walk. My female will sniff around and zigzag back and forth for 30 to 60 seconds looking for a place to pee while I'm thinking, "JUST PICK A SPOT ALREADY!!!". I have no idea why she is so particular or what makes her finally settle on a spot. My two males don't have that problem. They go in the same place every day, a short distance from the porch.

 The brain has a propensity toward creativity. In those with a conspiracy-prone mindset, there is an exagerrated desire to find order in chaos and to connect dots until "everything fits," even if it doesn't really fit.

The irony is that the WC already gave us a scenario where everything fits.[uqote]

There is also an exagerrated desire for control, to think events and the world in general are explainable. It's kind of ironic that these desires for order and control often lead to preposterous, fantastically complex "solutions," but there ya go.

The elephant in the room - or on forums such as this, anyway - is that those of us who are at least semi-rational are attempting to have rational discussions with people who are so far into the conspiracy-prone mindset lunatic fringe that rational discussion is literally impossible. Hence, we finally crack and scream "SHUT THE F UP AND TAKE YOUR MEDS, WILLYA!!!" (or at least I do). If the lunatic fringe had at least SOME awareness that "Yeah, I'm nuts, but this is kinda fun, isn't it?" I could play along - but they are inevitably the most grimly serious, self-important of all.[/quote]

I've noticed that. I don't have that problem. This is a hobby for me. I have no illusions that anything any of us say here is going to move the needle of public opinion. I do this for amusement only. 30 years from now no one is going to remember a thing I have written in the past 35 years in online forums.

Mildly off-topic, but still one of the best commercials ever:

I remember that series of commercials but I don't remember that particular one.

[Richard Smith]

In my experience, many JFK CTers view the evidence against Oswald in a vacuum.  Each individual piece of evidence is addressed without regard to other evidence and circumstances.  Oswald's bag is a great example.  Frazier confirms Oswald carried a long bag that morning.  He indicates that Oswald told him it contained curtain rods.  Frazier asked Oswald about his lunch and was told he didn't bring it that day.  A long bag was found in the TSBD that had Oswald's prints on it.   No other such bag matching Frazier's description was ever found or accounted for in any way.  Oswald denied that he carried any bag such as Frazier described when he claimed he took only his lunch.  He denied carrying any curtain rods.  Entirely contrary to what Frazier described including Oswald confirming to him that he did not have his lunch and instead having curtain rods.  But because Frazier's estimate of the length of the bag is off by several inches, they ignore the totality of these circumstances to conclude that the 6th floor bag is not the same one Oswald carried to work.  What happened to the bag they believe he carried as described by Frazier is never addressed.  Why Oswald lied to Frazier about his lunch and the curtain rods is not addressed.  And so forth.  Repeat endlessly.