Whose Target was General Edwin Walker?

[Steve M. Galbraith]

I think quite a few CTs are on the right.

Remember Cyril Wecht and the Alien Autopsy? Jim Garrison? Some well-known CTs are 911-Truthers.

Sure, the CTers transcend the left/right divide but it seems to me the main conspiracy advocates - the most famous or noted - have been people on the left: Oliver Stone, Mark Lane, David Lifton, Sylvia Meagher. We can add lesser figures like: Peter Dale Scott, Bill Simpich, Jefferson Morley, Jim DiEugenio. It's these people who have been the driving force behind the cause.

Yes, the big exception is Garrison who described himself as a conservative/libertarian. But if you listen to him on American foreign policy he sounded no different than any garden variety anti-American leftist.

There's this odd synthesis between the hard left and hard right where they support one another on this issue: Stone used Prouty and Garrison, Garrison used an anti-American Marxist Italian newspaper, Lane was published in the Liberty Lobby publication (a leftwing Jew and an anti-semitic far right organization). There's some very weird political bed mates, people and groups who would normally be calling each other fascists and communists and other names.

[Walt Cakebread]

Sure, the CTers transcend the left/right divide but it seems to me the main conspiracy advocates have been people on the left: Oliver Stone, Mark Lane, David Lifton, Sylvia Meagher. We can add lesser figures like: Peter Dale Scott, Bill Simpich, Jefferson Morley, Jim DiEugenio.

There's this odd synthesis between the hard left and hard right where they support one another on this issue: Stone used Prouty, Garrison used an anti-American Marxist Italian newspaper, Lane was published in the Liberty Lobby publications.

There's this odd synthesis between the hard left and hard right where they support one another on this issue:

Have you considered the possibility that these folks may be intellectually honest?     They are intelligent enough to leave political bias aside in their quest for truth......

[Jon Banks]

Sure, the CTers transcend the left/right divide but it seems to me the main conspiracy advocates have been people on the left: Oliver Stone, Mark Lane, David Lifton, Sylvia Meagher. We can add lesser figures like: Peter Dale Scott, Bill Simpich, Jefferson Morley, Jim DiEugenio.

There's this odd synthesis between the hard left and hard right where they support one another on this issue: Stone used Prouty, Garrison used an anti-American Marxist Italian newspaper, Lane was published in the Liberty Lobby publications.

Unscientific observation but most of the first generation JFK skeptics were Liberals. Since the 1990s, the Rightwing seems to have more Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists. The biggest rightwing CT?er is now Donald Trump.

Mainstream/Establishment Liberals who work for CBS, the NY Times and other traditional Media have always supported and defended the Lone Assassin narrative.

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Unscientific observation but most of the first generation JFK skeptics were Liberals. Since the 1990s, the Rightwing seems to have more Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists. The biggest rightwing CT?er is now Donald Trump.

Mainstream/Establishment Liberals who work for CBS, the NY Times and other traditional Media have always supported and defended the Lone Assassin narrative.

I said left not liberal. And also the most noted figures not ordinary people.

The main figures - the most vocal or noted people - have been people on the left: Lane, Oliver Stone, David Lifton. Garrison is the odd one here since he called himself a conservative/libertarian. Lane and Stone are leftwingers not liberals.

What conservative/right JFK conspiracy is there today? Ventura? I'm not sure you can place him on the political spectrum. He's neither right or left.

Your point about the news media is spot on; I think the criticism from the CTer side that they were too believing of the WC report is pretty accurate. The 1960s coverage by the media was too pro-government; Vietnam and Watergate changed that.

With the risk of sounding like I'm defending the man, Donald Trump has stated that he believes Oswald alone killed JFK. Sure, he smeared Cruz's father but that's how he operates. He'll say anything to attack his opponents; most of which I don't think he believes. The man has no ethical standards whatsoever.

As to conspiracy belief today: the rise of conspiracy belief, it seems to me, comes out of the extreme partisanship of the time. Bot the left and right embrace all kinds of conspiracy thinking if they can use it to attack the other side. It's all mud slinging now; no sense of decency at all.

The best example of this is the collusion theory: the left believes Trump conspired to Putin to affect the election; the right believes Trump is a victim of a "deep state" conspiracy that is out to destroy him. Both side don't care at all about promoting the theories without much evidence.

[Jon Banks]

I said left not liberal. And also the most noted figures not ordinary people.

The main figures - the most vocal or noted people - have been people on the left: Lane, Oliver Stone, David Lifton. Garrison is the odd one here since he called himself a conservative/libertarian. Lane and Stone are leftwingers not liberals.

What conservative/right JFK conspiracy is there today? Ventura? I'm not sure you can place him on the political spectrum. He's neither right or left.

With the risk of sounding like I'm defending the man, Donald Trump has stated that he believes Oswald alone killed JFK. Sure, he smeared Cruz's father but that's how he operates. He'll say anything to attack his opponents; most of which I don't think he believes. The man has no ethical standards whatsoever.

As to conspiracy belief today: the rise of conspiracy belief, it seems to me, comes out of the extreme partisanship of the time. Bot the left and right embrace all kinds of conspiracy thinking if they can use it to attack the other side. It's all mud slinging now; no sense of decency at all.

The best example of this is the collusion theory: the left believes Trump conspired to Putin to affect the election; the right believes Trump is a victim of a "deep state" conspiracy that is out to destroy him. Both side don't care at all about promoting the theories without much evidence.

I don?t see any distinction between ?Leftist? and ?Liberal?. Sometimes I use the qualification ?Establishment? or ?Mainstream? when referring to people who aren?t Far-Left leaning.

Jim Marrs, Roger Stone, Jerome Corsi, and Ron Paul are a few of the well known Rightwing JFK assassination skeptics. I?m sure there are more and broadly speaking, Rightwingers in general are dabbling more in Conspiracy Theories today than the Left.

Trump used the Obama Birth Certificate conspiracy to transition from his Entertainment career to political commentary. Lots of Trump supporters believe the QAnon Conspiracy Theory. Alex Jones has a huge rightwing following. Fox News promotes any Conspiracy Theory involving the Clintons.

The Trump-Russia Conspiracy Theory is accepted by Mainstream Liberals and the Intelligence Community because both have agendas.

Liberals want to Impeach Trump.

The Intelligence Community doesn?t want Trump to end Sanctions against Russia or withdraw from NATO. The Deep State isn?t anti-Trump, they?re anti- ?Change?. They don?t want the post-WWII global order to end...

[Steve M. Galbraith]

Much of the early critical work that received a wide following was from the left. But at the same time--the mid-1960s--there were theories published in right-wing journals, as well.

I would argue that the "SaPersonay Evening Post" and "Argosy" were fairly right-wing, and they published many conspiracy articles over time. The "Post" published Josiah Thompson's article (based on exempts from his book) in late-1967. Epstein was considered a responsible critic. Which side of the left/right spectrum does Thompson and Epstein fall?

What about Sylvan Fox, whose book "The Unanswered Questions about the Kennedy Assassination", was widely-distributed?

True, but Lane - to me - stands alone. The man spent decades going on college campuses where he poisoned the minds of an entire generation of young people with his nonsense. Just an awful, awful man.

I would distinguish between a person who thinks there was a conspiracy versus those who promote a specific one. Epstein and Thompson are in this category; both were unknowns at the time, right? That is, young men with no discernible political background (Epstein was a graduate student at Cornell). And as you know, Epstein went from being a conspiracy believer to a lone assassin advocate.

As I said, the CTer crowd crosses the left/right divide. There are people on both sides who think there was a conspiracy. It's funny, I've never seen a poll that breaks down this question along the left/right category. That would be interesting.

[Jon Banks]

True, but Lane - to me - stands alone. The man spent decades going on college campuses where he poisoned the minds of an entire generation of young people with his nonsense. Just an awful, awful man.

I would distinguish between a person who thinks there was a conspiracy versus those who promote a specific one. Epstein and Thompson are in this category; both were unknowns at the time, right? That is, young men with no discernible political background (Epstein was a graduate student at Cornell). And as you know, Epstein went from being a conspiracy believer to a lone assassin advocate.

As I said, the CTer crowd crosses the left/right divide. There are people on both sides who think there was a conspiracy. It's funny, I've never seen a poll that breaks down this question along the left/right category. That would be interesting.

The Kennedy Assassination is arguably the only major Conspiracy Theory today that unites Left and Right.

Most modern conspiracy theories are endorsed by one Political side or another. Very few today are non-partisan.

Speaking for myself, I?m a Left-leaning guy who rejects most Conspiracy Theories. I keep an open mind about the Kennedy Assassination because there are just too many unanswered questions and coincidences. Plus humans throughout history have conspired secretly in groups to do bad things.

I think where politics plays a role is each individual?s views of the government and the traditional news media.

If you?re a person who believes the government and news media are dishonest about certain events, then you?re probably more likely to believe in some Conspiracy Theories.

If you for the most part don?t think the government and the news media lie about certain events then you?re probably less likely to believe in Conspiracy Theories.

[Jon Banks]

Regarding the last sentence, where would Lane fall?

Lane's follow-up to "Rush to Judgment" was the better-written and more-detailed "Citizen's Dissent" which indicted much of the mass-media and peer-reviewed journals. Shame Lane's 1968 book didn't get the attention that RtJ got, but there was a lot going on during that god-awful year 50 years ago, and a WCR critic's complain-list didn't merit much concern.

Even when the mass-media, as Dell did with Weisberg, gets onboard, it soon falls apart because of the critic's paranoia. Lifton had his "Best Evidence" wound-alteration theory completed and wouldn't pass it on to the HSCA to investigate when he had the chance. Whether he did it because he didn't trust them (his claim) or he wanted to increase his book sales or whatever, we'll never know for sure. But this is an example of a critic himself manipulating events and later claiming the "officials" had no interest.

I personally prefer to read books of the ?Skeptics? rather than ?Conspiracy Theorists?. It?s better to say ?I don?t know who did it? than to promote theories that easily fall apart.

I think there are lots of valid criticisms of the Warren Report which were overlooked by the MSM which for the most part has always endorsed the same narrative...