People's Preference for Conspiracy Theories in Jfk Assassination

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Thirdly, different kinds of propagation by the media contributes to people’s attitude as well. Media, as the main method of spreading information, has not only helped the upper social class people to express their standings in the debate of JFK assassination but also endowed common people the chance to seek out the truth. The upper class people, in order to express their political standings and earn party interests, choose to express their understanding of the JFK assassination through the media. For example, Ezra Taft Benson, who was secretary of Agriculture under Eisenhower ,in order to defend the conservatives after finding out that extreme rightists are blamed on for the assassination, wrote “The Internal Threat Today” to clarify that conservatives had nothing to do with the assassination and the public was just misled by the communists. (Davis, 3)Such claims made by the authorities have great effects on the people as they have more expertise and experience in the political field, which appeals to ethos and make people trust their conspiracy theories easily. Also, the media allows the common people to have more access to the information and to be free to look for the truth. Movies such as “JFK” and “Killing Kennedy” and websites established by the conspiracy theories can be accessed by the common people at any time and any location. Thus the propagation of the conspiracy theories has infiltrated into people’s daily life. Also, the Freedom of Information Act also enables people to examine government’s previously classified files and construct their own conspiracy theories. The governments’ blacking out some of the evidence will also make people more suspicious of the official theories’ credibility and turn to believe that conspiracies do exist. In conclusion, the media both help propagated the conspiracy theories and gained people more access to information, thus making them prefer the conspiracy theories to the official explanations.

As some might propose, the official theories about the JFK assassination is in some ways of some trustworthiness and credibility, due to the sense of authority it provides and great amount of efforts put into the investigation. But it is not how people usually judge the explanations to a historical event. The Warren Commission was established by the President Lyndon Johnson himself. This convinces people with Lyndon Johnson’s highest authority and makes people feel more certain that the investigation was designed to find out the truth. Also, the Commission was named after and led by the person who stands for justice and law, the Chief Justice Earl Warren, ensuring people that the investigation would be conducted fairly. As it was conducted by the government, Warren Commission’s report involved great amount of work, which also makes it more believable. Groups of experts spent ten months digging into every clue about JFK’s death, such as examining the type, shape and even potential trajectory of the bullets and eventually came out with a detailed 888-page-report. The quantity of investigation and work provided will make people believe in this theory.

However, in our real life people would not privilege some theories merely because it is official. People look at the solid details and evidence more than assuming the theories endorsed by influential institutions are warranted. Just as the case in which American government naively trusted the Soviet Government’s claim about its cruel trials and killings for USSR citizens The authority background of the official theory conveys little information about its true intention unless we figure out “why we might trust the accrediting institution”. (Matthew R. X., Page120)

In general, the hostile and skeptic social atmosphere against foreign enemies, public’s distrust in the government and the different kinds of propagation by the media, combine to contribute to people’s preference for conspiracy theories to official theories. Some might argue that official theories can be authentic but people do not judge theories only by the official status. Understanding this phenomenon might help us learn how conspiracy theories convince people and to make wise choices when confronted with different explanations to one event.

Reference:

- Donald T. Critchlow, John Korasick, Matthew C. Sherman, “Political Conspiracies in America”, Indiana University Press, 2008

- David Brion Davis, “The Fear of Conspiracy: Images of UN-American Subversion From the Revolution to the Present”, Cornell University Press, 1971

- Kathryn S.Olmsted, “Real Enemies: Conspiracy Theories and American Democracy, World War I to 9/11”, Oxford University Press, 2009

- 1994-95, By Fred Litwin. "JFK Assassination -- A Conspiracy Too Big?" JFK Assassination -- A Conspiracy Too Big? N.p., 1994-95. Web. 24 Oct. 2016.

- Swift, Art., “Majority in U.S. Still Believe JFK Killed in a Conspiracy.” Gallup.com, 15 Nov. 2013.

- Dentith, Matthew R. X. , “Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories”, Palgrave Macmillan, Nov. 2014

Self Reflection:

I succeeded in figuring out the counter argument and I learned how to relate my argument to the thesis more closely.

I affirm that I have not given or received any unauthorized help on this assignment, and that this work is my own. Chenwei Wu