Americans are so predisposed to conspiracy theories because they believe there are social, cultural, or psychological factors that cause the brain to come up with these rumors that people's brains make them seem real based on the facts. “Olmsted, Real Enemies” by Kathryn Olmsted, is a book that dives deeply into the origins and consequences of conspiracy theories in the United States. It goes into the history of these beliefs, their evolution, their implications for our democracy, and the discourse surrounding significant topics. During President Roosevelt's tenure, his press conference had many thoughts about the Pearl Harbor attacks that many Americans feared for looking at the foreseeable future for the United States. As Roosevelt was on …show more content…
One example of foreign aggression is a coalition of countries, China, Russia, or any other foreign foe, that may plan a massive military takeover of the United States. It states that Roosevelt in the press conference felt it was needed that the military needed to upgrade its equipment/ staff so the war did not get out of hand due to all the foreign alliances. Olmsted states, “U.S. cryptographers never decoded a Japanese message saying we will attack Pearl Harbor.” (58) This shows that the conspiracy Americans thought was happening because they figured due to the alliances they would try to come back and attack us, and be worried that our military couldn't take it again. On November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas, John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was shot and killed while driving through Dealey Plaza in a presidential motorcade. Many Americans thought they had many different reasons for why JFK was assassinated, and all thought it was a setup. The American people's most conspiracy ideas about the assassination were government involvement, and multiple shooters on top of buildings. Americans thought the government was …show more content…
The government was involved in some American conspiracies because many officials didn't view JFK’s policies to help America. They were better off with the new administration, so many people believe some officials set up the gunman and paid Oswald to take the shot from the buildings. Olmsted states, “While the FBI was trying to cover up its importance, the CIA worked to protect far more significant secrets.” (122) This shows the FBI was covering up information about the murder and they did not want it to be leaked by the government officials because that's a bad look on the government the day the president dies. A cloud of mistrust surrounded the American mentality following the terrible assassination of John F. Kennedy, leading many to entertain hypotheses about possible government participation and the existence of other shooters. June 17, 1972, break-in at the DNC headquarters located in the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. Some conspiracies about the Watergate expanded by Nixon's cover-up, investigating
This paper will discuss similarities between 9/11 and Pearl Harbor that describe the Presidential responses to the attacks, as well as investigate the roles that class, culture, religion, and nations of superiority played in these attacks on the United States.
President Kennedy had said before “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” The 35th president, JFK, was assassinated. The murder took the United States by surprise and opened opportunity for theorists. The mystery behind JFK’s assassination can be summed up in two theories: Oswald was the lone assassin or the CIA planned the murder.
Conspiracy theories are entertaining for many to speculate and demand a great deal of thought to constitute. A conspiracy theory is defined as the idea that many important political, economic, and social trends are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public (“The Definition of Conspiracy Theory”). Many conspiracy theories are thought up around children’s shows, which offers a feeling of nostalgia and pleasure. A few children’s show conspiracies that need a deeper light shone on them are from Max & Ruby (2002-2013), Winnie the Pooh (1977), Rugrats (1990-2004), and All Grown Up (2003-2008).
JFK Assassination: Conspiracy or Single Gunman? Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany during World War II, once said, "The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it." Although this may sound ludicrous, we can see many examples of this in the world's history. One example would have to be the John Fitzgerald Kennedy assassination. For over thirty years, the people of the United States were led to believe that a single gunman shot and killed Kennedy in Dallas on November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m.
The day that President Kennedy was assassinated, people started to view the world differently. His death was the first time that a conspiracy theory transformed into a conceivable form of knowledge among the general public. "It was because of Kennedy's death in Dallas that the conspiracy theory was born" (Wensley). It started with an article written ...
The famous Infamy Speech was spoken December 8th, 1941 by Franklin D. Roosevelt, the President of the United States at the time of Pearl Harbor. FDR was a moving speaker for the American people. The speech was very patriotic by calling congress to vote for a Declaration of War against the Empire of Japan. By proclaiming the “attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago,” Roosevelt suggests the attack was conducted with the intent not to negotiate with the ambassador. This guides the American people towards hate against the Japanese. The disliking of the Japanese is strengthened when Roosevelt reports that “very many American lives have been lost.” By saying ‘American’ lives, it draws the American people into
Most people believe that the assassination of JFK was committed by Lee Harvey Oswald however there are many other conspiracies also. Even though his death happened a little over 50 years ago it is one of the most recognized deaths in America. A lot of theories do not make sense however other theories appear to have a valid conclusion. The different conspiracies I will look at in this paper are: New Orleans Conspiracy; CIA Conspiracy; Shadow Government Conspiracy; Military Industrial Complex; Secret Service and LBJ
The investigation was ordered directly after the assassinations of two other major political figures; the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King and the Presidents brother Robert Kennedy, in 1968. Naturally these incidents aroused immense suspicion and the American public started questioning why so many key US figures had been assassinated in the space of just four years, when previously this type of incident had been rare. The HCSA was interested in looking into the possibility that the assassinations were related. At the time there was also an increasing awareness of corruption and scandal within the government. The Watergate Scandal in 1974 involving President Nixon had clearly shown that American government was not entirely free of foul play. As a result of this, people started questioning the behavior of the government, and how much it was holding back from its people. This is most likely why Americans became more receptive and attracted to the idea of a conspiracy behind Kennedy's death.
This section was given in order to show why conspiracy theories are appealing to the average person and how anybody can create one. Next, research data on the general personality and mental state of conspiracy theorists was introduced with believers being more likely to be cynical and have low self-worth (Koerth-Baker 343). Afterward a brief explanation is given on the amygdala, a part of the brain which activates after fear is felt, and how it is crucial to the creation of the various theories we have today. There has also been research showing a correlation between theorizing and strong support of democratic principles due to the fact that conspiracy theories wouldn’t exist without real conspiracies coming to light (Koerth-Baker 344). Then, Koerth begins to talk about how an abundance of available knowledge on the internet has made destroying conspiracy theories even more difficult due to the constant use of confirmation bias. In 2006 scientists discovered an event called the “backfire effect” where any attempts to debunk a theory makes it more popular to the people, but the effect seems more noticeable when it supports a worldview or ideology (Koerth-Baker
Stinnett, Robert B.. Day of deceit: the truth about FDR and Pearl Harbor. New York, NY: Free Press, 2000. Print.
It is human nature to try and find the unseen hand in a crime. When calamity struck on November 22, 1963, the country began to search for the unseen hand in the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The United States was completely taken under shock when news came to them that Kennedy had been shot in Dealey Plaza. 70% of Americans believe Kennedy was assassinated under some type of conspiracy. Few know the facts to what they believe, but most just believe, but most just believe as an escape route to the reality that a small man such as Lee Harvey Oswald can kill a man as big as John F. Kennedy. While people feel Lee Harvey was accompanied in the killing, the fact of the matter is that there is no evidence to prove Lee Harvey Oswald was part of a conspiracy.
As Oswald’s motives remain unknown, many scholars and investigators yearned to find the key to this mysterious crime, and came up with plausible theories searching for motives behind the assassination. While some straightforwardly blamed Oswald for the murder, claiming Oswald’s personal motives as the cause and supported the theory of the Lone Gunman, many developed more critical theories concerning conspiracies connecting the involvement of Cuba, Russia, the Central Intelligence Agency and the 36th President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson. The Warren Commission was established by President Johnson to exclusively investigate the assassination. The Commission published a detailed report and concluded that Oswald acted alone. The deficiency of the Warren Commission’s evidence to support its theory, along with the cordial relationship between JFK and the CIA, refutes both the Lone Gunman theory and conspiracies involving the CIA in the assassination....
In researching this and many other conspiracy theories, one can see many uses of sensationalism, mainly by the media. This media- the news (local and national), magazines, tabloids, television shows, movies, and so on- has a huge e...
The theory of the CIA killing Kennedy is the one theory that many people can’t debunk. Kennedy was fed up with what the CIA was pulling. He found out they were trying to kill Castro, and he didn’t like that. Some people believe that the CIA thought he was going to disband them, which would make him a target (Patterson). Another very hot topic around that time was Kennedy’s failure to support the men of the Bay of Pigs. The CIA was strongly against Kennedy because of these two incidences, which would have given them a motive for the assassination (“The CIA and the FJK Assassination”). There have also been confessions of CIA involvement. In 2007, E. Howard Hunt left behind a confession that he taped. He said that he knew of the plot but
Since the beginning of settled civilizations, people have had more mutual sharings than ever before. By the same token, there have been some conspiracy theories that are usually against the culturally accepted beliefs of religions, science and society. A conspiracy theory can be described so differently. However, as in his text, Marshall Brain explicates, a conspiracy is generally defined as a theory seeking to explain a disputed case or matter as a plot by a secret group or alliance rather than an individual or isolated act (Brain). Especially, after the new media has become quite popular, more and more conspiracies are theorized every single day, which aim to catch society’s attention via such media tools as the internet, journals and newspapers. Thus, people who theorize those conspiracies tend to use such objects as spiritual and mysterious ones in order to interest people. To illustrate, many examples can be given. For instance, many people have claimed that they were abducted by aliens, although they could show no evidences. Here, a citation from Blackmore could facilitate to understand the circumstance better. She states that people occasionally claim that they have been abducted from public places by aliens, in this case that may provide them with witnesses and affirmations but no evidence could be shown so far (Blackmore). As it is well known, only a small number of people believe such alien abductions, however, rating of this kind of news is quite high on media, because humankind has been wondering if there are extraterrestrial creatures out of the earth. Another example can be conspiracy theories which are about the origins of religions such as the rejection of Jesus Christ. There are some people who pay attention to...