Sent today to the New Yorker: In his essay about the JFK assassination, Adam Gopnik dismissively uses the terms “conspiracy buffs,” which he shortens to “the buffs,” as he goes along, then calls the people who he doesn’t agree with “assassination obsessives,” and “fantasists” (where did he get that word?) which he lumps together with “moon walkers,” “truthers,” and “birthers.” Then he adds “utterly delusional,” and “pseudoscience” to his string of insults as if the reader hasn’t already gathered that he prefers to believe the government’s explanation of various cataclysmic events in recent history. Others, who he also refers to by the more common term “conspiracy theorists,” believe that the JFK assassination and the 911 attacks and other events were designed and carried out by covert operatives of the US government who conspired with high officials and others to change the course of US history. I’ve found that writers and other commentators who set out, as he seems to have done, to discredit and sniff at this rather new category of citizens, or to harshly complain about them (in less genteel forums than the New Yorker) invariably leave out the “buffs” who have studied the life and death of Martin Luther King, Jr., from their ridicule. To my way of thinking the reason for this omission is quite clear. It was proved in federal court in Memphis, in 1999, that King’s tragic death was designed and carried out by covert operatives of the US government who conspired with high officials and others to change the course of US history. The jury deliberated for only 40 minutes after James Earl Ray’s attorney (posthumously, by the time the trial happened) presented a mountain of evidence which proved to them that the City of Memphis, its Fire Department and police, various state agencies of Tennessee, the FBI, the CIA, and others had conspired to kill Dr King, and that the “patsy” James Ray did not fire the kill shot. Gopnik also does not mention that among the folks he tries to tar with the “delusional” brush are many former intelligence professionals and nearly 2000 architects and engineers who have spent most or all of their professional careers designing and building steel high rise structures. It seems that many well-educated people believe it would be a likely form of career suicide for them to express any sympathy for the “truther” viewpoint. Believing the Warren Commission’s Report and the “Final Report” of the 911 Commission has become a new kind of orthodoxy which the upwardly mobile must adhere to rigidly in order to keep their jobs and their position in society. It took more than “pseudoscience” for those engineers and architects to build the worlds’ high rises, Mr. Gopnik – and it will take more than pseudoscience to convince 75% of the American people that Oswald acted alone, or to convince the “truthers” that the government has ever told us the truth about 911. Sincerely, Rudy Knoop Box 1105 Covelo, CA 95428
Posted on: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 22:34:26 +0000
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