Introduction~

Hi everyone, my name is Brooke Dunning, I am a freshman at the College of Coastal Georgia and today I will be speaking to you about conspiracy theories. While growing up I have heard many stories about different conspiracies like 9/11 and Area 51. I once read this article, that was written by Michael J. Wood. One part that caught my eye was when he wrote, "A "Conspiracy theory” is widely acknowledged to be a loaded term. Politicians use it to mock and dismiss allegations against them, while philosophers and political scientists warn that it could be used as a rhetorical weapon to pathologize dissent." This made me want to look into any conspiracies that seemed to have involved government coverups. While searching I found many articles about John F. Kennedy's assassination. The many different stories on this particular subject is what lead me to dive further into his death. With that said, I also found an article that made me what to discover what causes a person to believe or disbelieve in conspiracy theories. During this podcast, I want to focus on what a conspiracy theory is, why someone believes in conspiracy theories, and some key factors of JFK's assassination.

Body of Script~

First, I would like to go over, what is a conspiracy? While I was reading Scott Clark’s article “Conspiracy theories and Conspiracy Theorizing,” I discovered a quote from Brian Keeley; “A proposed explanation of some historical event (or events) in terms of the significant causal agency of a relatively small group of persons, aka the conspirators, are acting in secret.” This quote is meant to define what a conspiracy theory is. Over the years there have been thousands of conspiracy theories, some of which do not seem very likely and others which are very easy to believe. There are too many inconsistencies in certain stories which people then use to create a story they believe to be true. While there are several conspiracy theories in our world, there is a lingering question, what kind of people believe in conspiracy theories?

In the light of this question, my classmates and I were trying to discover what exactly drive a person’s belief on conspiracies. I read an article that discusses people are influenced by powerful figures (Why We Believe Conspiracy Theories). The same article discussed that people feel a sense of home when they believe in a conspiracy. How? False hope. “People can assume that if these bad guys weren't there, then everything would be fine, whereas if you don't believe in a conspiracy theory, then you just have to say terrible things happen randomly” (7). While it may seem like people either believe in a conspiracy or they do not, however it is much more complicated than that. People are influenced in many ways and those were just a few. Speaking of powerful figures being an influencer, there has been current talk from our President, Donald Trump, accusing Senator Ted Cruz’s father as a participant of JFK’s assassination (6). With all this said I am brought into my next topic, which happens to include an example of John F. Kennedy’s assassination conspiracy theory.

In several articles it is mentioned that Lee Harvey Oswald does not seem to be the only shooter involved in the assassination of our 35th President, John F. Kennedy. Many conspiracies circling his death surrounded the idea that Oswald did not act alone and some even say he was just a fall man. While reading an article by Gerald Horne I came upon this quote, "...which he suggests demonstrates that Kennedy's death came as the result of more than one gunman, with Lee Harvey Oswald an unlikely participant" (523).There seemed to have been more video evidence to give more insight into John F. Kennedy's death, yet the government did not try very hard to get it. The same article states, "Wrone argues that the federal government should have immediately seized the film and the copyright as a matter of evidence"(523). My question is, if the government truly cared what happened to our late president than why did they not do everything to find out the full truth?

Conclusion~

With all this said I believe it is important to share my views. With all the research I have done and all of the conspiracy theories I have read, I certainly do not believe the official story. I think there are too many inconsistencies in this case. I believe that the government wanted to hurry and close this high-profile case, so they only went for the Oswald and did not care about any other participants in our late President's death. However, as a whole, I believe people's view on conspiracy theories alter due to many different influences, the examples above are just a few of many.

I am Brooke Dunning and thank you for listening.