simplistic
Reader comment on item: Lee Harvey Oswald's Malign Legacy

Submitted by John W. McGinley (United States), Nov 21, 2007 at 21:10

...Getting involved in Vietnam was the quintessential expression of the classical Liberal attutude towards Communism. The Kennedy/Johnson (more Johnson than Kennedy precisely by virtue of the untimely assasination) stubbornness on this engendered a very thoughtful opposition to the War in the first (and intelligent) stage of the Vietnam Protest Movement. But certainly that first wave of protest was smothered out by the narcissistic fanatics who thought they had died and gone to heaven when the media took their adolescent rebelliousness seriously. By 1968 what had started out as an intellegent and thoughtful re-thinking relative to the classical Liberal attidude twoards "containing" Communism marinated into a tragic farce the consequneces of which are still with us today.

You and the book in whose name you speak have it wrong in so many factual and analytical ways about Oswald and the assassination that they cannot be recounted in this kind of forum. Suffice it to say that the best which can be said about this article of yours (and, apparently, of the book in wholse name you speak) is its simple-mindedness.

Finally, let me point out that I generally admire your long-standing way of presenting and analyzing the "conspiicy-theory" mindset. This is Daniel Pipes at his best. And you have validly pointed out that the most salient and stubborn instantiation of this mindset is what animates the lion's share of Antisemitism. Even so, Professor Pipes, you can learn something -- BY WAY OF ANALOGY -- from that old saw: "Just because you're paranoid it doesn't mean that 'they'-re not out to get you." Just because the vast preponderance of conspiricy theories are merely the products of fear hatred and low self-esteem, it doesn't mean that once in a while a particular conspiracy theory is not true. The Kennedy assassination is a case in point. ...

John W. McGinley

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.