Quiz One

Question 1

Three aspects of conspiracy thinking that make it persuasive to those that believe in it.

Answer 1

1. Big events MUST have big causes. 2. No big event is EVER random or accidental, it is the directly willed outcome of deliberate intentions and actions by a GROUP of individuals 3. The most complex explanation for any major historical event must be the right one.

Question 2

The Principle of Commensurate Scale

Answer 2

Big events = big causes. ex) The assassination of JFK, who was such a significant individual, that it can’t have possibly been a single nobody like Oswald.

Question 3

Military Industrial Complex

Answer 3

Warmongering arms manufacturers, rogue elements with in intelligence establishments and corrupt politicians that subvert democracy to distort and deflect important national aspirations.

Question 4

The ineradicable human need to believe in an orderly and controlled world

Answer 4

Everything is under control, and there must be some ultimate control being exerted over events ‘behind the scenes.’ It is more comfortable to think that bad people are in charge, as long as someone is in charge.

Question 5

3 Core Events in the late 20th c. that led to the collapse of Trust in the Government (The State)

Answer 5

Vietnam War, OPEC Crisis & Stagflation, Watergate

Question 6

Vietnam War

Answer 6

Even the most powerful cannot win every war they fight, and left unease in the American populace that their country might not be ‘good’ or ‘just.’

Question 7

OPEC Crisis & Stagflation

Answer 7

Government could not ensure that postwar prosperity would last forever.

Question 8

Watergate

Answer 8

President Richard Nixon had broken the law in his campaign, providing proof that the nation’s most trusted and admired leaders might be villains, or
crooks.

Question 9

Why were the 1970s the golden age of conspiracy thinking?

Answer 9

Conspiracy thinking arose during a wave of events that led to the collapse of wide-spread public confidence in the power of the State to do good for the lives of the people it served.

Question 10

How is conspiracy thinking a mode of historical thinking?

Answer 10

Conspiracy thinking blends early history that has mostly fallen out of use of academics with a new, favored history.

Question 11

Conspiracists vs Historians

Answer 11

Historians admit things can change, conspiracists doubt that things can change.

Question 12

Early History

Answer 12

History is the directly willed outcome of powerful individuals seeking to turn events to their purposes

Question 13

Recent History

Answer 13

History is the working out of large, impersonal forces that shape events behind the scenes - timing is everything.

Question 14

The irresistible intellectual appeal of baroque obscurantism (complexity)

Answer 14

The more complex facts and linked causes seemed to be, the more persuasive they seem to conspiracy thinkers. (Complexity is the attraction)

Question 15

Why does complexity appeals to conspiracy thinkers?

Answer 15

It affirms their intelligence. Using ‘theorist’ makes them seem smart. They use bogus, pseudo - intellectual terminology to disguise or distract from the dubiousness of the assertions or underlying presumptions of their conspiracy.

Question 16

Professional vs Amateur Knowledge

Answer 16

The desire not to be taken in by conventional thinking and challenge and reject passive thinking, rebelling against the standard acceptance of authority and academics.

Question 17

3 paradoxical facts that conspiracy thinkers embrace

Answer 17

1. “Facts” 2. Abstruse and frail connections “arguments” 3. Who is more gullible?

Question 18

Absence of Evidence is the Evidence

Answer 18

Evidence to support theory is usually wrongly assessed, hard to follow, hard to get access to, has been destroyed or stolen.

Question 19

Renegade

Answer 19

Figure in pop culture, a repetend conspirator who could deliver secret information to the outside world ‘just in time.’ Figure has some applications IRL - have existed in history.

Question 20

The definite proof is almost here

Answer 20

“If only enough people of good will (renegade) would join the hunt for more evidence.” Biblical revelation - wish for the end of times b/c that’s when the “truth” will be revealed.

Question 21

Great spirits have always encounter violent opposition from mediocre minds

Answer 21

Theorists accuse people who doubt conspiracies of lacking enough moral and intellectual courage.

Question 22

Can you prove that it did not happen?

Answer 22

Believing something because that is what suits them best. Also absence of proof = proof of conspiracy. “Prove I’m wrong.”

Question 23

The Rhetoric of Just Asking Questions

Answer 23

Lack of evidence makes conspirators throw blame elsewhere. Used to undermine competing accounts and open space for conspiracy thinking to fill, giving an alternate account as a more ‘complete’ explanation.

Question 24

Where are YOU getting your ‘facts’ from?

Answer 24

Conspiracy thinking forces people of conventional knowledge to reflect seriously on facts. People accept the word of trusted authority, especially academic ones.

Question 25

Use of social media and conspiracy

Answer 25

Counter-facts to knowledge have massively increased due to social media. More likes & followers = reputable source.

Question 26

Occam's Razor

Answer 26

The line between conventional analysis and conspiracy thinking. Not believed by conspiracist. "The simplest explanation is probably the right one."

Question 27

Unfounded or inaccurate "statistical" claims of "scientific" authority

Answer 27

Scientific authority and statistics are made up and falsified with peer-reviewed articles from other conspiracists and references from bogus sources with no actual proof. "The odds are a billion to one"

Question 28

Abstruse and Frail Casual Connections (Arguments)

Answer 28

Trying to draw connections between facts which are usually increasingly complex. Facts get altered to suit new arguments.

Question 29

Improbable vs Impossible

Answer 29

Theorists try to eliminate the improbable to embrace the impossible, vs. "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

Question 30

Associational Shift

Answer 30

Someone who is believed to be involved with the conspiracy is given attributes associated with the conspiratorial body.

Question 31

Three elements of a conspiracy theory

Answer 31

Conspirators, the plan, and the endeavor to maintain secrecy.

Question 32

Conspiratorial group

Answer 32

Must be clearly identifiable and somewhat obscured from public view, usually as a list of names, graphs or complex schemas linked in a way that defies conventional logic.

Question 33

Why is the New World Order (Bush Speech) appealing to conspiracy theorists?

Answer 33

It alludes to global dominion as an ultimate aim.

Question 34

Conspiratorial Plan

Answer 34

Must consider the grand scheme of things.

Question 35

Character of the Conspirator

Answer 35

Usually in a position of privilege that gives them control over education, press, technology and financial resources.

Question 36

Manichaean view of politics

Answer 36

Conspiracy mentality divides people, things, and actions into two classes - pure and the impure, theorists can see history as a continuing struggle between 'good and evil'.

Question 37

What did Karl Popper argue?

Answer 37

Conspiracy theory can be characteristic of belief systems/political ideology concerned with the implementation of fundamental truth.

Question 38

Importance of foreknowledge

Answer 38

Evidence of an important event prior to the time the event occured

Question 39

Scientific Inquiry

Answer 39

Conspiracists use professional terms and titles to mimic academia.

Question 40

Conspiracy starting point

Answer 40

Any widely accepted belief must necessarily be false.

Question 41

Manipulation of many by few

Answer 41

Use the absence of proof as the evidence for existence of the conspiracy theory, uses many ways of propaganda.

Question 42

Naive optimism

Answer 42

Enforces the belief that success is the result of good intentions and values, and that dedication to truth and justice is enough to foil evil plans of a superior enemy.

Question 43

Premise of most conspiracy theories?

Answer 43

Evidence in a well-crafted argument and communicated by 'good' people will convince the public.

Question 44

Why was the Kennedy Assassination the definitive subject of conspiracy?

Answer 44

Numerous mistakes made at the time of the assassination made the entire scenario full of uncertainties, and official efforts to prove Oswald acted alone have never been fully successful.

Question 45

What do Conspiracy Theories provide to tragic events?

Answer 45

They provide a sense of closure, certainty and closure to make sense of an otherwise tragically pointless act.

Question 46

How many Americans believed there was a conspiracy behind the assassination?

Answer 46

90% of Americans believed there was a conspiracy behind JFK's death during the 1990s, elevated by the release of Stone's film titled 'JFK.'

Question 47

Cuba and JFK background

Answer 47

Cuba fell to communist leader Fidel Castro leading to the failure of the invasion of the Bay of Pigs, but JFK was successful is stopping the Cuban Missile Crisis

Question 48

The Election

Answer 48

The election in which JFK was elected was by one of the closet margins in American history (0.2%), and tensions were high for upcoming 1964 election

Question 49

How many shots were fired?

Answer 49

3 shots were fired, the first missed and hit the pavement further down the road from the limo.

Question 50

Disprove the 'Magic Bullet' theory.

Answer 50

The bullet did not swerve mid air. The Warren Commission published false information on the interior of the limo, Connally was sitting slightly down and to the left of JFK. This makes a perfectly straight line. The second shot fired entered right below JFK's right shoulder, exiting through his neck (which slightly altered its course, sending it tumbling) through John Conally's back, hitting his ribs, exiting through his chest, through his wrist and grazing his thigh.

Question 51

Describe the three shots.

Answer 51

First shot missed, hitting the pavement. 2nd shot hit JFK's back, neck, and Conally's back, chest, wrist and thigh. 3rd shot hit JFK's head.

Question 52

Why is human memory not a perfect recording?

Answer 52

Human memory is plastic and social. It can change over time as new information is learned and replayed in ways that make the most sense to the person.

Question 53

The problem with waiting for witnesses

Answer 53

The longer one goes without interviewing a witness, the greater the risk that memories have been corrupted by other information that gives them ideas of what they might have seen or what they 'ought' to have seen.

Question 54

What was the problem with not blocking off Dealey Plaza?

Answer 54

Many witnesses went home without making statements to police.

Question 55

Who performed the autopsy?

Answer 55

Naval Surgeons who had never performed an autopsy.

Question 56

What was wrong with the autopsy?

Answer 56

Not only was it performed by people who had never done an autopsy, but X-Rays were taken by secret service and some of the original reports were burned.

Question 57

Why was Oswald originally arrested?

Answer 57

For his murder of Officer J.P Tippet - they did not know he had killed JFK yet

Question 58

Where was Oswald's rifle found?

Answer 58

His wife found the rifle missing from the garage, and the rifle found on the sixth floor had his prints.

Question 59

Who killed Oswald?

Answer 59

Jack Ruby shot Oswald impulsively, becoming the first murder on life television.

Question 60

Why was the Zapruder film called a 'Rosetta stone?'

Answer 60

By providing an exact record of what happened in fairly high detail for the time, the film became a Rosetta Stone of Kennedy conspiracy thinking.

Question 61

Breaking the Chain of Evidence - what were the mistakes made during the crime/aftermath? (6)

Answer 61

1. Limo was cleaned of blood stains before analysis 2. Tracheotomy ruined neck wound, making it hard to tell if it was a entry/exit wound 3. Autopsy not performed at Parkland and not by people with proper autopsy training 4. Dealey plaza was not closed off for witnesses 5. Oswald's treatment was quite frankly barbaric - paraded around in public, interrogated for long hours w/ no sleep 6. Rifle was passed around, only had one print and was put in corrupted storage

Question 62

What did the Warren Commission state?

Answer 62

It stated that Jack and Oswald acted alone, 3 shots fired and 1 missed. It was a messy account of what happened and was hastily written. It was a contradicting report that did not sit well with the American populace.

Question 63

Popular Conspiracies of JFK assassination

Answer 63

Involvement of a 2nd shooter, a 4th shot, Dictabelt and Grassy Knoll

Question 64

Why was is easy for Oswald to make the shot?

Answer 64

The road was sloping gently down, away from Oswald's position. The car was also moving slowly, and Oswald had some prior training as a Marine.

Question 65

Reasons for the movement of JFK's head during the fatal head shot

Answer 65

1. Mass that explodes from JFK's head shoots forwards and up (every action has an equal and opposite reaction) so his head jerked back despite being shot from the back 2. Neuromuscular spasm - surgeons suggest that the shot instantly broke his nervous system 3. JFK had a back brace and couldn't duck down to avoid further bullets

Question 66

Arguments against David S. Lifton's conspiracy that JFK's skull had been altered in autopsy

Answer 66

1. JFK skull had beveling 2. Facing up vs Facing down 3. Only trusted people were next to his corpse throughout the entire journey (Jackie)

Question 67

Disprove the Dictabelt Recording

Answer 67

The recording seemed to prove 4 shots, but the motorbike wasn't in the motorcade and it was 10-15 min after shooting.

Question 68

Why was FBI director J. Edgar Hoover a suspect?

Answer 68

He hated the Kennedy brothers and kept files on high ranking individuals to hold power over them, including the Kennedy's.

Question 69

Why was the director of the CIA a suspect?

Answer 69

The director appointed to the Warren Commission to filter CIA information that could compromise other missions

Question 70

Operation Mongoose

Answer 70

Leaked during CIA involvement with Warren Commission, showing the CIA's goal to humiliate/assassinate Fidel Castro - even after the president backed out of Cuba.

Question 71

Files the CIA kept hidden on Oswald

Answer 71

1. Defection to Soviet Union 2. Might have had advanced technological knowledge on US spy planes 3. His involvement in New Orleans with his 'Fair Play for Cuba' leaflets - CIA not supposed to meddle with internal US affairs. 4. High ranking Russian George De Mohrenschildt hung out with Oswald, who could have been working for CIA 5. CIA avoided explaining what Oswald was doing in Mexico City

Question 72

Suspicion on the FBI and CIA

Answer 72

FBI & CIA had detailed knowledge on Oswald before the assassination but acted on their own self-interest to hide information. They also had 100s, if not 1000s of information on other similarly acting people. Oswald was just the only one to act on it.

Question 73

Motives for the Mob's assassination of JFK

Answer 73

1. Ruined financial interests in Cuba by not dealing with Fidel Castro 2. Robert Kennedy's investigation on the mob - but why not kill him instead? (Cut the head not the tail) 3. Nixon believed mob stuffed ballots to let JFK win 4. JFK shared a mistress with the mob that was sharing information between each them

Question 74

Why didn't the mob order the assassination?

Answer 74

They had motives, but no obvious relations to Oswald.

Question 75

Did Oswald act alone?

Answer 75

After careful analysis of his past and behavior, there is no reason to doubt that he could have acted alone. Oswald was unable to form meaningful reactions with his environment and individuals he met and expected everything be handed to him. Liked to lash out at authority from a young age.