General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy believed President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy. [View all]Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)and ALL of them made these statements years, or decades, after the fact. Eyewitness testimony vs physical evidence of autopsy photos, X-rays, testimony of autopsists, etc. The former is unreliable. The latter is not. The biggest problem with the conspiracy arguments? They rely entirely on eyewitness testimony like this that conflicts with what was known of the actual physical evidence from the outset. The physical evidence has not changed. The Zapruder film shows the back of the head intact. The autopsy photos show the back of the head intact. The x-rays show the back of the head intact. The majority of Dealey Plaza witnesses who were in any position to have a good view of what happened agree largely that Kennedy's head exploded, that there was a massive blowout of the top or top right of the skull. Not to the back.
The other problem with the conspiracist mindset: when unreliable eyewitness testimony conflicts with the actual physical evidence...why, obviously the evidence has been tampered with, altered, forged! It can't possibly be that the witnesses are wrong (never mind that their descriptions of what they claim to've seen are not consistent with each other or with the recollections of the doctors who performed the autopsy, or with what was seen by the doctors at Parkland Hospital who all agreed that the autopsy photos and drawings and descriptions were consistent with what they remembered seeing). This is not evidence-based thinking. This is religious thinking; the rejection of evidence that challenges a cherished belief.