I think a lot of the desire to believe in conspiracy theories is a defense mechanism. In two of them, the JFK assassination and the 9/11 attack, we simply don’t want to believe that the actions of one or a few indidividuals can so dramatically impact our society. We don’t want to believe that Oswald acted alone, that he and he alone, was able to assassinate our President and possibly change the course of the country. We don’t want to believe that 19 hijackers of civilian airplanes could kill 3000 people and came very close to kill a whole bunch more (how many would have died if the towers had collapsed on impact?). We want to believe that the results stem from the actions of a very large, well funded, intimately connected cabal. Or, we have to realize that a few people in the right place, whether from luck or planning, can kill a lot of people. We have to realize that government is generally fairly ineffective before the fact but can respond effectively after the fact. We have to realize that our safety is our responsibility… and that’s a bit scary for a bunch of folks.
