Conspiracy Theories: Why we love them and why we need them

Let’s face it, everyone loves a conspiracy theory. Whether you imagine yourself back on a grassy knoll in Dallas in 1963 (the only grassy knoll in the world by the way); in a film studio in California in 1969 as Neil Armstrong rehearses his ‘one giant leap’ line written for him by a young George Lucas; back in 15th Century London as a hunchbacked King Richard plots the murder of his two young nephews at the Tower of London; or transported to 1950’s South America where all the leading figures of the Nazi Party are residing in a residential enclave. All tantalisingly within reach of our consciousness and yet just far enough away from our understanding to drive our curiosity wild. Why we engage so avidly with theories we cannot possibly confirm speaks to our love of history and also the workings of the mind.

The President and First Lady, 22nd November 1963

We love conspiracy theories because, at heart, most of us love History. Not necessarily in an academic, head in a book, stuck in library sort of way but a basic enjoyment of the stories of the past and trying to understand them. Humans like to know; we want to understand what happened and this desire for knowledge and inherent curiosity drives conspiracy theorists as much as their desire for the truth. Take the Kennedy assassination. It has to be the most analysed ‘conspiracy theory event’ in History. Everything we could know about it, we do – except of course, who definitely did it. And that is the bit that drives us crazy. Thanks to the Zapruder film, we can follow the motorcade as it travels through downtown Dallas, makes the looping right, then left turn and heads towards the freeway. Our knowledge is complete right up until the point when the first bullet hits Kennedy in the throat – then everything is up for grabs. How many shots? Where from? How many gunmen? The problem we have as humans is that SOMEONE KNOWS. Whoever did it, and any accomplices, know exactly what happened that day. And the fact we still don’t know annoys us, irritates us and makes us want to know all the more. This is a seminal moment in World history and we feel we have a right to understand it fully. Yet we feel as if we don’t. But why are we so reluctant to accept what the facts seem to point to – one gunman, one assassin, case closed. The problem is that although we love conspiracy theories, that love is outweighed by our need for them. And it is this necessity that keeps the Kennedy assassination, and many other mysteries, going long after they have seemingly been solved.

This need, it seems to me, comes from the limitations of the mind to comprehend certain things. Conspiracy theories are a reaction the facts not fitting within the boundaries of what we find believable. The human brain has a need to have historic events explained by something tangible. The Kennedy assassination is a perfect example of that ‘comfort conspiracy theory’ rationalisation that helps our brain understand the inexplicable. A brief overview of the two central characters outlines the problem. John Fitzgerald Kennedy – youngest ever president, handsome, a brilliant orator, a beautiful family, instantly recognisable across the globe, inspiration to millions, seemingly loved by all. Lee Harvey Oswald – army dropout, loner, rather dishevelled, unimportant in the grand scheme of things, a nobody. We are simply unable to accept that someone as insignificant as Oswald could cut short a life as significant as Kennedy’s. It exposes the fragility of life too clearly. It makes us scared because of the randomness of it. It makes us feel powerless if the most powerful man on earth can be killed just because someone with no real power wants to do it. The randomness of Oswald getting hold of a rifle, firing three shots and changing the world is simply not acceptable as an understanding of that day. It implies that no-one is fully in control – the conspiracy theories put someone back in control of History and that makes us feel, by implication, in control of the past ourselves. Somewhat bizarrely, conspiracy theories make us feel safer. If we think about it rationally, a group of criminal masterminds manipulating the world for their own gain is about as scary as it gets and yet in some ways we prefer that thought to the utter randomness and chance that life throws our way – we need it.

Lee Harvey Oswald in custody

In closing, it appears we love and need conspiracies in equal measure. You might infer from the tone of this piece that I have no time for any conspiracy theories and I am certain Oswald acted alone. In part, this is true. Then I pick up a magazine, or listen to a podcast or watch a TV show purporting to have new evidence and I find myself thinking about grassy knolls, puffs of smoke, changed motorcade routes and the improbability of the ‘magic bullet theory’ and I indulge my need to question the accepted wisdom. For me, the desire to know the truth and solve the mystery is the driving force but as long as that is twinned with a need to explain the past with something more enlightening than the randomness of life, conspiracy theories will continue to play a role in everyday historical study.

An interesting overview of the various conspiracy theories on the Kennedy assassination and recommending reading from journalist David Talbot can be found here

S Shergold