A lot of conspiracy theories spread by people who see themselves as on the political left start with the John Birch Society or the Liberty Lobby.
On the John Birch Society and conspiracism:
See: http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/jbs.html
I write about this stuff in "Right Woos Left," espcially how Prouty and Mark Lane started to work with the extreme right antisemitic Liberty Lobby and its (then) publishing arm Noontide Press and the Holocaust-denying Institute for Historical Review.
Here is an excerpt:
"The Oliver Stone film JFK stimulated nationwide interest in conspiracies. Some right-wing paranoid theories are woven into the film, not surprising since Fletcher Prouty was an advisor to Stone, and the film's character 'Mr. X' was primarily based on Prouty. Several of the film's themes echo conspiracist claims appearing in a John Birch Society magazine article on the JFK assassination by Medford Evans. The article was first published in September 1967 and was reprinted in April 1992 in the Birch magazine The New American to catch the wave of publicity around the Stone film. In the article, Evans discusses rumors that Lyndon Johnson may have engineered the Kennedy assassination, considers the assassination a coup d'etat. and suggest the American Establishment had JFK killed. The publisher complains, however, that if Oliver Stone is seriously trying to indict the CIA, defense contractors, Big Oil, Big Business, the news media, and a host of others, he errs in suggesting that the whole business was a right-wing plot. These are not individuals of the Right.' "
http://www.publiceye.org/rightwoo/rwooz9.html
September 1967 was a relatively early date for the circulation of a full-blown conspiracy theory about the Kennedy Assassination. Can you cite an earlier date for any written materials produced by the persons you named?
My point is that relying on material produced by the John Birch Society or the (now defunct) Liberty Lobby is in itself evidence of shoddy research techniques, even if you choose to set aside (I do not) the antisemitic obsession of the material from Liberty Lobby. This was why I stopped working with Daniel Brandt of Namebase--his refusal to even acknowledge that Liberty Lobby and the Spotlight newspaper spread antisemitic conspiracy theories. Brandt prefers to whine that he was a victim of "political correctness" because Holly Sklar and I resigned from his advisory board over this issue.
Brandt's version of reality: http://www.namebase.org/zipdir/ppost01.html
In which Brandt trashes "Right Woos Left" and notes:
"Berlet hand-delivered a letter to Stone dated January 16, 1992, in which he called on him to 'distance yourself publicly from attempts by racist, anti-Jewish and pro-fascist groups to use your film JFK as a vehicle to promote bigoted theories claiming Jewish control of U.S. foreign policy and the CIA.... You appear to have been misled by JFK film advisor Fletcher Prouty regarding the extent of his cooperation with the Liberty Lobby and other neo-fascist operations created by Willis Carto. Willis Carto is infamous around the world as a leading Nazi-apologist. Fletcher Prouty and two other critics of the CIA, Mark Lane and Victor Marchetti, have forged deep and longstanding ties to the Liberty Lobby and other Carto groups.'
And damn proud of it, too.
Chip Berlet Senior Analyst Political Research Associates http://www.publiceye.org
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joseph Wanzala [mailto:jwanzala at hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 5:36 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] "Left" Believers In Warren Report
>
>
> Neither the John Birch Society nor any right-wing group own,
> originated or
> have exclusivively propagated the idea that JFK was
> assasinated by a plot
> which involved elements of the state apparatus. There are any
> number of
> left-wing researchers and activists including Carl Oglesby, Bertrand
> Russell, Ralph Schoenmann, Peter Dale Scott, Josiah Thompson
> and John Judge
> who Stone consulted for his movie, along with people like L. Fletcher
> Prouty. Besides, just because a right wing reactionary
> scientist makes a
> claim does not mean you dismiss the data based on your ideological
> differences with him or her, the data is either sound or it is not.
>
> Joe W.
>
>
> >From: "Chip Berlet" <cberlet at igc.org>
> >Reply-To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> >To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
> >Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] "Left" Believers In Warren Report
> >Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 16:12:30 -0500
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >I'm sorry, Shane, I am confused. Are you supporting the John Birch
> >Society theory (picked up by Oliver Stone) that Kennedy was
> killed by a
> >conspiracy of the military industrial complex and that Jack Ruby was
> >part of the vast plot when he killed Oswald?
> >
> >Or
> >
> >Are you supporting the even further to the right theory that Kennedy
> >was killed by the secret global Jewish elites and that their
> agent Jake
> >Rubinstein was part of the vast plot when he killed Oswald?
> >
> >It is so hard to keep up....
> >
> >Chip Berlet
> >Senior Analyst
> >Political Research Associates
> >http://www.publiceye.org
> >
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Shane Mage [mailto:shmage at pipeline.com]
> > > Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 1:26 AM
> > > To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> > > Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] "Left" Believers In Warren Report
> > >
> > >
> > > Doug wrote:
> > > >...Pretty much everything you need to know about how
> things work is
> > > >right in the open.
> > >
> > > Many of us have long known "pretty much everything you
> need to know
> > > about how things work." But the devils hide in the
> details, don't
> > > they? The *fact* that Kennedy was overthrown conspiratorially has
> > > been "right in the open" since day three (the smoking gun was
> > > literally seen worldwide in the hands of Jake Rubinstein
> > > alias Jack Ruby). But the details of who conspired, how, and
> > > why, remain secret. Do I "need to know" them? Until I do
> > > know, no-one has the right to tell me that I don't need to
> > > know. Likewise with the events around "9/11." But the need
> > > to know seems to me to be clearer and much more urgent.
> > >
> > > Shane Mage
> > >
> > > "Thunderbolt steers all
> > > things."
> > >
> > > Herakleitos of Ephesos, fr. 64
> > >
> > >
> > > ___________________________________
> > > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> > >
> >
> >___________________________________
> >http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
>
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