As Clear-cut As JFK

Are you among the 90% of Americans (and nearly 95% of non-Americans) who don't believe the US Government's lone gunman theory in the JFK murder case? Or perhaps you're among the 55% of Americans (nearly 70% worldwide) who belive that the US Government has actively covered up the evidence?

This either shows that the majority of the population is delusional, conspiratorial, illogical and just plain nuts... or it shows that there is a critical confidence crisis in the government (and the lingering JFK conspiracy is just the tip of the iceberg).

So what's gone wrong here? And if it's really such a majority who demand "justice", how come they're not just being ignored by the government-supported minority, but also attacked, insulted and (occasionally) punished?

Watch "JFK - Case For Conspiracy" here.

Perhaps we're looking at something other than a mere cover-up. Maybe it's a mind-set?

You might know this from your own experience. Sometimes, you just don't want to engage in a dialog with some people. If you're particularly knowledgeable on a certain subject and if you're being challenged by someone whose knowledge you don't respect, you might find yourself dismissing them even without hearing them out. It takes a patient and mature mind to engage in a dialog with someone whose opinions "offend" ours.

It might be your religion or your views on a particular science - or your views on the music market. Anything.

So, if this were the case in the above example, one might understand the official position a little better. Except for one minor problem. They are not "better" or "smarter" and there are no legal or ethical grounds for expecting that it should be so.

One can therefore easily agree that both views are "equal." Why then the a priori dismissal?

The Government's (and media's) position (dismissing, belittling and not listening to the alternative views of the majority) is clearly not justifiable, nor even logical - and probably also not even legal! And yet... if you publicly declare your disbelief in the official story, you WILL be declared a "conspiracy nut!" And the weirdest thing of all is that it's not just "them" who'll call you that. Many among the masses who otherwise (statistically) support you... will also start looking at you suspiciously!

It's a mind-set thing all right. Theirs: "we're right, because we are." Ours: slavish bowing to "power" and irrationally wanting to conform.

It's a case of the "expert" who can't stand dissent or even the slightest challenge to his authority. It's as if being wrong ain't human after all. We see this everywhere, at all times. Once you start representing the "established view" any challenge becomes intollerable to you. It's because you agreed that it is "established," solid and unassailable. And that's dogma. Dogma is by its very nature irrational, because it pretends to be a natural law, where it clearly isn't. Hence, the only way to defend it is by force and with blunt psuedo-intellectual tools. Thus, in totalitarian systems, the opposition is physically squashed while in "democratic" societies, the opposition is offended, laughed at, aggressively argued with and... blackballed.

• (In fact, a whole set of arguing techniques is being employed by virtually all who hold a dogmatic view of anything. It's a system of "arguing to win" no matter what. It's called "Eristic" and it's been disparaged by intellectuals and philosophers going as far back as Socrates or Plato. But no philosopher surpassed Arthur Schopenhauer in their analysis of Eristic. Have a look at this link and learn all you need to know about attacks ad hominem, exaggeration, homonymy and much much more. Fox News will make a whole lot more sense to you now!)

But is the Government (or for that matter ANY powers that be) to blame? Or are they simply acting as we would, if we were in their position?

Would we too become dogmatic and aggressively defensive if we believed in something so fervently? If we would, then blaming "them" for our own weaknesses will lead nowhere. But if we wouldn't - then the only way to fight them is by increasing our own and everyone else's awareness, until this new enlightened mind-set becomes so prevalent that the new generation of people who come to power will chose intellectual honesty over dogma.

Now write a song about that!