I really don’t know who assassinated JFK. But soon after Dallas I saw very persuasive accounts that it had really been

The CIA – Who were afraid he’d expose their crimes and incompetence
The Russians – In revenge for the Cuban Missile Crisis
The Mafia – for his betrayal after they fixed the Chicago elections
Communist extremists – Because he was fighting Communism
Right wing extremists- Because he wasn’t fighting Communism
LBJ – Because he wanted the Presidency
Fidel Castro – Vengeance for JFKs attempt to assasinate him
Anti-Castro Cubans – Payback for his abandoning them at the Bay of Pigs

I don’t know for a fact that all of these are wrong. But I do know for sure they can’t all be right. And they all sound more reasonable than accepting that we were all at the mercy of some nutjob with a mail-order rifle.

People cannot accept that evil sometimes just happens, either by the obvious agent, their own fault, or because they bet on the wrong horse, got sold a bill of goods, or even by pure bad luck. They can only accept it as the result of a conspiracy by sinister forces which can be traced to one bad guy, or class of bad men.

If you’ve lost the American Dream you simply can’t accept its something as simple as your boss outsourcing your job, or a techno-economic revolution in world manufacturing, communications and trade; or even that you no longer can contribute effectively to the economy as a skilled worker or small businessman. Its got to be the Mexicans or the foreigners or the blacks or the environmentalists or the Liberals or the media or the intellectuals or the Kollege Perfessers. And yes, if you’re a Liberal you have your own list of scapegoats.

Maybe some are responsible, or maybe all are responsible in some weird, collective, synergistic way. But the point is that we like our conspiracies to be as simple and straightforward as possible. The real world is just too complicated. Yes, I’m sure there are real conspiracies, but not everything going south can be traced to one.