“Going into a retreat is really about breaking down the constructs of ‘you,’ †he said. “The whole idea is for you to take a very close look at the you you have become in your mind. The you you are in your real mind isn’t necessarily the real you.â€
– Getting Far, Far Away From It All [NY Times]
Today is the 48th anniversary of the assassination of JFK, which means it’s the day when all the conspiracy theorists come out of their holes.
I don’t think there was a conspiracy at all. It seems pretty clear from the preponderance of the evidence that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.
And also, here’s a logical exercise:
There are tons of JFK assassination conspiracy theories out there. But if any one of the conspiracy theories is true, that means the rest of the conspiracy theories must be false. All but one of these conspiracy theories — all seemingly backed up by reams of circumstantial evidence and sinister occurrences — must be false. Because they can’t ALL be true.
Think about that. Most of the JFK conspiracy theories, by virtue of logic, MUST be false.
Once you realize that most of the theories must be false, you realize how silly this whole endeavor is. Because if we can conclude that all but one of these seemingly carefully argued conspiracy theories must be false, then there’s no reason to believe any of them at all.
If you examine any historical event through skeptical eyes, you will find seemingly strange occurrences, weird coincidences, and things that don’t appear to add up. If you examine anything down to the fractal level at which the JFK assassination has been examined, you will find something unexplainable.
I think the reason so many people under 50 believe the JFK assassination was a conspiracy is because the idea that it was a conspiracy is part of our cultural zeitgeist. They’ve been told it must be a conspiracy, and therefore they believe it is, because, “Hey, doesn’t everybody think so?”
No. Everybody doesn’t.
I don’t read much fiction, but when I saw that Stephen’s King newest novel was about a man who travels back in time to try and stop the assassination of JFK, I knew I had to read it. I’m a sucker for a good time-travel story, and I’ve long been interested in the JFK assassination, so this was right up my alley.
Well, it didn’t disappoint. Not only is it a thrilling read — it turns out to be a great love story, and very moving. It’s a long book — 850 pages — but I read it in a week, which is very fast for me. Whenever I had a free moment I just wanted to dive back into it. I started it last Saturday and finished it last night.
Time travel is my favorite sci-fi genre, because I love the theoretical implications. You really wouldn’t be able to go back in time without changing history. If you live in the past for any extended period of time, you’re going to have to eat and drink things, and buy stuff, and live somewhere. What if you buy something and that means, somewhere down the line, that the store runs out of stuff that some other person was originally supposed to buy? What if you rent a motel room and it turns out that someone else was originally supposed to rent it? What if your mere presence on a street has some micro-effect on the steps a man takes as he walks down that same street — either because he has to walk around you or merely notices you — and those micro-contortions cause the sperm inside him to jostle around slightly differently than they originally would have, so that when he impregnates his wife, a different sperm inseminates the egg, and an entirely different person is born?
You just never know.
11/22/63 doesn’t go quite that far. But at any rate, it’s terrific.
The only other Stephen King book I’d read before this was The Stand, a long time ago, and I only got about 1/3 of the way through it because it was too long. I’ve tended to dismiss him as a pop-fiction horror writer, but I really enjoyed this book, and I may have to read more of them now. Maybe I’ll work my way backward and read Under the Dome soon. (But right now I have a backlog of books to read. I still want to read the Steve Jobs biography.)
Also, it was refreshing to read a brand-new book. My reading interests are quirky, so most books I read are a few years old. It was nice to read a book that just came out.
Oh, and incidentally: the 50th anniversary of the JFK assassination is November 22, 2013. JFK was assassinated on a Friday, and the 50th anniversary will also, somewhat creepily, be a Friday. And Friday is the day when movies are normally released. So maybe 11/22/13 would be a good release date for a movie adaption of this book. Just saying…