The world of JFK "research"
Welcome to the world of JFK "research"! As you
study the JFK assassination this semester, you will come into contact with the
thoughts of various people who are active in the field. You will find that this
field is, to put it mildly, not academia. I write JFK "research"
because the great majority of the products being produced these days, and most
of those from the past, are not true research in the classical sense. They are
created by people who are sincere and well-intentioned but who have not been
trained in research and do not possess the tools necessary to study the subject
properly. Their methods are flawed enough to make nearly all of their
conclusions unsupportable or wrong. I know it is hard to believe such a strong
statement about an entire field, but you will see that it is true.
Most JFK people are ordinary folk. They have been referred to
accurately as "citizen researchers." Some have college degrees; some
don't. Some have advanced degrees, but extremely few are active researchers with
formal academic training in its techniques, and
it shows. Many are attracted to the JFK field because they believe that hidden
conspiracies run the world, and they see the JFK assassination as representing
another of those conspiracies. Many believe in the occult, some to great a great
extent. Quite a few also believe in UFOs, but are reluctant to admit the
connection between that and their belief that a conspiracy was behind the JFK
assassination.
The common thread that unites all these people is their
dedication to finding out who killed JFK. They proclaim their willingness to
find the answer wherever it lies. But—and this is
hugely important—once the evidence starts to turn them away from the idea of
hidden conspiracy, their mind goes blank and refuses to process the information.
They simply cannot accept that the assassination may have been the work of a
single deranged person acting on the spur of the moment and without a real plan
other than to kill and become very important. This blind spot on the part of the
"researchers" disqualifies them from being considered true
researchers, or what the philosopher Susan Haack calls "genuine
inquirers." These researchers are not interested in the answer wherever it
lies. They are interested in the answer as long as it fits their world view.
They are therefore intellectually dishonest, nothing more or less. I realize
that these words are very strong, but again you will find them to be true.
Of course, broad and general statements like those above
cannot hold for every JFK "researcher." Without taking a formal
survey, I would say that roughly 95% of them fit the criteria described above.
The other 5% are either better trained or more concerned with real truth. As we
deal with the different "researchers" and their ideas, it is therefore
very important to judge them on their individual merits and give them the
benefit of every doubt.