The earth must have tilted on its axis, because I must agree with Michael here. I have certainly seen the "psychological explanation" that CTers require an assassination worthy of JFK, but I haven’t seen it often and not much recently. While there may be some grain of truth, it surely can’t be a prime motivating factor.
I really think there are a handful of primary motivations common to both CTers and LNers:
1. Some tiny percentage of folks are simply interested in historical truth, let the chips fall where they may. These folks are rare birds on either side of the JFKA research community. They may have reached a CT or LN conviction, but they will at least listen to and consider the countervailing evidence and arguments. Naturally, almost everyone thinks he or she is within this category, when in fact close to no one actually is.
2. Every area of weirdness, be it the JFKA or Bigfoot, attracts a fair number of ego-driven characters who want to be big fish in these tiny ponds – which is far easier than being a big fish in a big pond. Start a website, write a book, host a podcast, etc., etc., and soon you’re a big deal to the tiny segment of the populace that really cares anything about the JFKA or Bigfoot. I believe this pretty well explains virtually all of the “names” on both the CT and LN sides. It’s mostly about “Look at me!” It’s kind of comical because these are truly tiny ponds. I know several of the big names in the UFO field and, believe me, they aren't buying mansions with the earnings from those efforts.
3. Every area of weirdness, and especially the JFKA, has a significant segment for whom the subject matter is secondary to promoting an ideological agenda. It’s not really about the JFKA per se, but about what these folks think the JFKA tells us (or should tell us) about our country, our government, the world in which we live. Their theory of the JFKA is derived heavily from what they think about these other things. Here as well, I think, we see this very obviously on both the CT and LN sides.
4. Then we have the vast hordes, including myself, for whom puzzling areas of weirdness, from the JFKA to Bigfoot to UFOs to the Shroud of Turin, are mostly just hobbies and amusements and even quasi-religions. Wrestling with the issues and arguments and all the evidential minutiae and bonding and debating with others is just kind of entertaining and fun.
On the CT side of this horde, there are well-known psychological factors, which I share, that contribute to a conspiracy-prone mindset and thus are likely to attract someone to the CT perspective. Ditto for the LN perspective. I don’t think these are controlling factors – I’m a conspiracist in some areas and not in others, and I have waffled between a CT and LN position in my JFKA journey – but they do have an influence. The key is to know yourself and recognize these propensities and biases before they do take control.
For most people in the vast horde, however, I think the JFKA is mostly just a puzzle-solving hobby or game with little in the way of a psychological “need” for a particular theory to be true. Once someone’s convictions harden and he or she becomes heavily invested in a particular theory and bonds with others who share that theory, however, then it can become more like a religion and critical thinking tends to fly out the window.
For myself, I recognize a lifelong strong attraction to many areas of weirdness – the JFKA, UFOs, NDEs, the Shroud of Turin, many anomalous phenomena, etc., etc. I would love for the JFKA to have a weird, multi-faceted, jaw-dropping solution just for the sheer “Wow!” factor. I admit that I really cared nothing about JFK and don’t really care how he died apart from this aspect of vaguely hoping it was something fascinating. I don’t think the JFKA tells me much or has the potential to tell me much of anything at all about our country, our government or the world in which we live. I have actively resisted trying to become a big fish in the JFKA pond (or cesspool, as the case may be); my ego simply doesn’t require it. I admit that my interest is simply that of a puzzle-playing hobbyist who thinks the entire exercise is entertaining and intellectually stimulating at some level but fundamentally absurd because there will simply never be any clear answer or even consensus. The JFKA has never become, and never will become, a quasi-religion for me, nor do I think I have lost my rationality or ability to think critically insofar as the JFK or UFOs or anything else is concerned.
Oops, I did omit a fifth category:
5. In the above categories, there is a fair amount of genuine mental illness. Simply having a conspiracy-prone mindset or strong confirmation bias one way or the other is not a mental illness. In categories 2, 3 and 4, however, I do believe there is a very significant percentage of folks whose cognitive faculties are not operating properly (to put it politely). This seems screamingly obvious to me and perhaps to you. Alas, internet forums in particular attract a disproportionate number of these folks.
If you recognize and accept this, however, it can be part of the fun. This is why I have always said that the psychology and dynamics of internet forums are more interesting to me than whatever subject is being discussed. I actually participated for a long time on a theological forum where seemingly intelligent people were adamant that the earth is flat and the moon landings were faked. The discussions were absurd, but the people and group dynamics were fascinating. Ditto for much of the JFKA stuff, mostly CT but not entirely. Some foaming-at-the-mouth LNers are as curious to me as any CTer – almost, to get back to Michael’s original post, as though there is some deep need for the LN narrative to be correct.
Actually, I guess, a foaming-at-the-mouth LNer is more puzzling to me than a CTer. If you really think the LN narrative is correct - well, that's the verdict of history, so let it go. These LNers create the same puzzlement for me as the atheists on religion forums. If you really think there is no god and religion is foolishness, why do you spend so incredibly much time ranting against the Bible and all the various doctrines? It almost has to be, it seems to me, some level of insecurity about the truth of what you proclaim. Eek, did I just agree with Michael again? WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH ME?
Oh, well, on it goes.
