Conspiracies

Conspiracy

            A conspiracy theory, by definition, is a belief that some covert but influential organization is responsible for a circumstance or event, and as of right now, conspiracy theories are probably more popular in the United States than they have ever been. In my research I set out to see what the popular American conspiracy theories were, why they are so popular, and to try to find a common link between them. Essentially, I wanted to know the reasoning behind them.

        

The wind doesn't blow on the moon.

    The moon landing was a hoax. At least, that’s what some conspirators believe, and believe it or not they have good reasoning. According to a recent Time Magazine column on the moon landing conspiracies, people believe that the United States was beginning to reach a desperate point in the Space Race, therefor they faked the moon landing to show dominance. As for the three astronauts that died while testing equipment: Virgil I. Grissom, Edward H. White, and Roger B. Chafee doubters believe that the government actually had the men assassinated in order to keep the secret from getting out. Also noteworthy is that Stanley Kubrick filmed a film prior to the moon landing that proved that the technology to fake something as major as a moon landing existed in Hollywood. This movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey, has led many conspirators to believe that Kubrick did in fact film the moon landing. I could never leave out the most definitive quote of the moon landing conspirators: The wind doesn’t blow on the moon. According to Time, about six percent of Americans currently claim that the landing was in fact a hoax.

President John F. Kennedy moments before his assassination

            Now it’s time for America’s favorite conspiracy theory, the JFK assassination. President John F. Kennedy was shot, in the head, during a motorcade and there is no question of the validity of that. The conspiracy theories go crazy however when it comes to why or who killed the president. Although there are many, many theories, the one that seems the most possible, at least in the eyes of CNN’s anti-conspirator Dave Perry, is that the CIA actually had the president of the United States murdered. Perry claims that this theory is the only one that he can’t debunk. The argument is that President Kennedy was fed up with the CIA because the agency was trying to kill Cuban Dictator Fidel Castro. Because of this, the CIA feared that the president would disband them. A strange fact that comes from this is that the former head of the CIA, Allen Dulles, was on the Warren

Allen Dulles

Commission. The Warren Commission was appointed to investigate the assassination and found that Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone to kill Kennedy, which went against what a lot of Americans believed. Another weird fact: Oswald was spotted at the Russian Embassy in Mexico City weeks before the assassination and the CIA knew who he talked to, but not what he said.

            Now, the most controversial conspiracy theory of all time, 9/11. Here are the “facts” as presented by Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones in his YouTube video “9/11: A Conspiracy Theory” in a very sarcastic tone, if I may add. On the morning of September 11^th, 2001, nineteen men armed with box cutters, directed by a man on dialysis in a cave fortress half-way around the world using a satellite phone and a lap top, directed the most sophisticated penetration of the most heavily defended airspace in the world. The hijackers managed to knock down three buildings with two planes in New York, while in Washington a pilot who couldn’t fly a single-engine plane was able to fly a 757 exactly level to the ground, hitting the Pentagon in the budget analyst office. Oddly enough, at the time of the crash into the Pentagon, staffers were working on a case that involved 2.3 trillion dollars that the defense secretary had reported missing. It was also reported that a hijacker’s passport was found blocks from the World Trade Center crash site. Alex Jones also reports another number of “coincidences” regarding the terrorist attacks, but I believe I have reported enough to state my case. On another note, NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth did his own research in a Huffington Post Article on the attacks. Stallworth states that people believe that individuals within the U.S.

A common phrase uttered by 9/11 conspirators is that
 jet fuel can not melt steel beams, which is a fact. 

government conspired with Bin Laden decades ago and it is even known that the CIA helped the Mujahdeen leading up to their repel of the 1977 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, as did Bin Laden. According to the 2006 Scripps Howard Poll, 36% of Americans believe it was “somewhat likely” or “very likely” that federal officials assisted in 9/11 attacks or took no action to stop, because they believed these officials wanted to go to war in the Middle East.

            The most interesting part of my research was finding out why people believed conspiracy theories. As someone who does find them interesting, I’ve wondered what makes some people get so caught up in them to the point that they believe all of history is in fact a conspiracy. According to Scientific American, belief in conspiracy theories now cuts across all genders, races and ages. The New York Times found that the best predictor of belief in a conspiracy theory is the belief in other conspiracy theories. The Times also published that psychologists found that people who believe in conspiracy theories or more cynical about the world and politics in general and tend to have lower self-esteem. They also found that conspiracies are a way of reacting to uncertainty and powerlessness. In my words, this basically means that they believe that people who believe in conspiracies feel as if they get some sort of power out of it. Also, the Times reported that looming threats such as recessions or terrorist attacks cause a part of the brain called the amygdala to jump start the rest of the brain into a state of analytical overdrive, which essentially makes someone start to think hard about anything and hang on to small details. The best quote I found in my research was from a Historian at the University of California – Davis, Kathryn Holmsted “Conspiracy theories wouldn’t exist in a world in which real conspiracy theories did not exist.” Now, with all this being said, it would still be hard to understand a conspiracy theory like 9/11, in which the government killed a lot of our own people. However, our government has hurt us before. From 1932 to 1972, the United States Public Health Service denied potential lifesaving treatment to African-American men with syphilis as part of a study, and in the 1970’s, the CIA tested LSD on psychiatric patients and even hired prostitutes to seduce employees of the agency and trick them into doing LSD.

            After figuring out why people believed in conspiracy theories, I began to wonder what made a good conspiracy theory. Robert Goldberg of the University of Utah states that the keys to conspiracy success are media expertise, passion and appearance as Paul Reveres, and according to Scientific American, a good conspiracy theory contains four parts: 1. A group 2. Acting in secret 3. To alter institutions, usurp power, hide truth or gain utility 4. At the expense of the common good. Goldberg also tells us that conspiracy theories have changed over the years. He states that before the second half of the 20^th century, conspiracy theories were focused on outsiders: Jews, Catholics and Communist. Now, conspiracy theories focus on insiders – government, Wall Street and the military. It is also important to understand that the internet has also played a significant role in the popularity of conspiracy theories. People can now google any possible conspiracy theory and may find it.

       

This just fits

     In closing, I have found this research project to be very fun and even humorous at points and have even made a couple of conclusions of my own. The first being that in order to have a good conspiracy theory in the United States you need to include the country that we are most hostile towards at that given time. This can be seen in the moon landing, JFK, and 9/11 conspiracies. The second is that people will try to stretch anything, and I mean anything into some sort of conspiracy theory. I watched a twenty minute YouTube video that tried to tell me that Back to the Future referenced the Kennedy assassination and even predicted 9/11.

Works Cited

Huffington Post -- found information on why people do still believe in 9/11 conspiracy theories. Also, this website gave information from Robert Goldberg, who explains the keys to a successful conspiracy theory. Written by a NFL player and Tennessee graduate, Donte Stallworth.

Time -- this website provided information on the moon landing. It also gave many theories and reasons as to how or why the the moon landings were a hoax. 

CNN -- gave Dave Perry, an anti-conspirator's point of view on the JFK assassination, provided good facts and evidence into why the only logical conspiracy theory behind the situation was that the CIA had actually assassinated JFK.

Salon -- provided information from previous instances in which the government had intentionally harmed civilians, such as the Tuskegee Experiment, the CIA testing of LSD, and the harassment of MLK by both the CIA and FBI.

Scientific American -- gave statistics on belief in conspiracy theories. Also provided examples of what makes a good conspiracy theory and things that may cause one to believe in conspiracy theories.

New York Times -- best source by far. Gave the most information on why someone would believe in conspiracy theories and what causes a person to believe in a conspiracy theory. The quote from Kathryn Holmsted came from the Times.

9/11: A Conspiracy Theory -- gained information from Alex Jones point of view. This source was the main topic of the paragraph about the 9/11 conspiracy theory. Found it to be very funny

Cinderella Man

                I firmly disagree with the statement “The movie, Cinderella Man, takes place during the Great Depression, but it ultimately does a much better job of telling us an emotional and inspirational “fairy tale” about one man than it does exposing audiences to the facts about the Great Depression as it was experienced by most Americans.” I disagree with this because although there was a story line within the film and there were some inaccuracies, they did not take away from the way in which the era was accurately depicted.

                At the beginning of the film, we see James J. Braddock, professional boxer. The year is 1928 and he is doing very well for himself, he is shown living in a nice, big house in a decent looking suburban neighborhood. Then, the movie flash-forwards to the 1930’s in a very symbolic way by showing a lot of possessions of his that are then removed, revealing that he now lives in a small, crowded, disgusting apartment. Braddock eventually gets his boxing license revoked which rids him of his primary source of income. However, with a broken hand and determined heart he wakes up before daylight every morning just for a chance to work a ridiculously low paying job on the docks, which he will only keep for that day. We see Braddock struggle to make ends meet: not having enough food for two servings, having electricity turned off, taking his children to relatives and even begging the boxing commission for money at one point. Eventually, he gets another chance to box and really seizes the opportunity. He defeats his opponent in his comeback fight as an underdog. The boxing commission then agrees to let him have his license back. He finally gets an attempt to fight for the championship against the ruthless killer Max Baer. Braddock wins in 15 rounds and the movie truly does have a happy ending. Yes, the movie does tell a good story about a man who had it all, then lost it, then gained it right back. It also does have a very sentimental vibe to it. The most symbolic moment of the movie to me is when a reporter asks James why he came back and he simply responds “Milk” because earlier in the movie the audience saw that he hadn’t paid his milk bill and his wife, Mae, had to mix water with old milk just so his children would have something to drink that morning. Overall, I thought the movie was great and as an American it should make any viewer feel good about their nationality, because this is the stuff we love to see. However, it also accurately described the Depression.

                The Great Depression occurred due to a stock market crash that happened on October 29, 1929. The effects of the crash were felt everywhere. The average family income fell from $2300 to $1500 a year. This was seen in the film from the very beginning when the family had to move. At this point in time, one quarter of the work force was unemployed, which we see on a big newspaper title in the film. In one scene, you get to see Braddock going to a Federal Emergency Relief Aid, which wouldn’t you know it, is actually a real thing. The FERA was created under President Franklin Roosevelt’s “New Deal.” The goal of the FERA was to be effective, provide work for employable people on relief rolls, and to have a diverse variety of relief programs. The Relief Aid was literally meant to keep people from getting so poor they starve to death. “Hoovervilles,” as seen when Braddock goes to find his friend who had been missing did exist as well. They were named after President Herbert Hoover, whom many felt was the cause of the Great Depression. I also believe the way Mae was depicted was another good example of the truth in the movie. Throughout the film, we see Mae watching things happen, like a husband leaving his wife, or kids being sent to their relatives, and a husband and wife almost fist fighting. In the reality of the 1930’s, this would have been a terrifying idea to a married woman. Sure, the people may not have had much back then, but as long as there was a man at the head of the household there was always going to be a way to have some sort of income whether it be relief aid or whatever. Without a husband, Mae would have to juggle being a mother and a worker. During the Depression, woman were almost not allowed to ask for relief money because they were “taking money from more deserving men.” Also, women tended to be more private in their struggles, not standing on street corners or in breadlines. This movie did a very good job of connecting the emotional and real world problems of the Great Depression. By using accurate facts and events, it really becomes a historical film.

                There was only few inaccuracies within the film. The most obvious and flagrant being that of Max Baer. In the film, Max Baer is a rich, good looking playboy boxer who is boasts about murdering other boxers. In reality, this was not Max Baer. Did Max Baer kill someone while boxing? Yes. Did he brag about it? No. In real life, Baer was actually very shook up over the things he had done in the ring, he even went as far as to provide financial support to one of the boxer’s children. He also lost four of his next six fights after he killed the first person. Also, the playboy status wasn’t who he truly was, Baer’s son, Max Jr, admits that his dad was rarely seen with women until after he killed someone and started drinking and partying. Another misconception in the film, is the Star of David on Baer’s shorts. It was seen as small in the movie, but in real life it was huge and easily visible. Baer was a very iconic Jewish athlete, and many Jewish people were proud to call him one of their own. He became very popular once he defeated Nazi Max Schmeling in a 1934 boxing match. So while Braddock’s church was praying for him before his fight, I’m sure there were some people praying for Max Baer. The other inaccuracies were very minor, such as the date of his children’s birth, the depiction of Mae as a stereotypical boxer’s wife, and that Braddock did not actually ask the boxing commission for money, but rather asked a friend who eventually did it for him. However, these inaccuracies do not take away from the facts and insight the film gives of the Great Depression. These merely just add to the story line. Yes, they may have hurt the Baer family’s feelings, but they stayed true to the times and showed just how hard the Great Depression was.

                In my opinion, the movie Cinderella Man can be used like the movie Glory. That is, to show students rather than make them read about something that happened in history. The movie is very accurate in the description and pictures of the Depression.

http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Judaism/2005/06/The-Real-Max-Baer-Is-Missing-From-Cinderella-Man.aspx?p=2

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/culturebox/2005/06/fight_snub.2.html

http://daflo05.umwblogs.org/cinderella-man-as-a-secondary-source/

http://dp.la/exhibitions/exhibits/show/new-deal/relief-programs/federal-emergency-relief-act

http://great-depression-facts.com/