Brooks on Books: RIchard Belzer on Conspiracies

Lest you think I'm leaving out the fill title of the book as part of a CIA-driven conspiracy to discredit it, let me give you the actual name: "UFOs, JFK, and Elvis: Conspiracies You Don't Have to Be Crazy to Believe." Richard Belzer's 2000 book is a funny, fast-moving look at conspiracies, with a heavy emphasis in the UFOs and JFK (Elvis fans will be disappointed). It's neither scholarly nor encyclopedic in its approach, but the Belz himself admits he's not trying to produce a comprehensive survey of conspiracy theories, but rather open some eyes and get people interested in pursuing some of these ideas.

Belzer goes pretty much from JFK to UFOs and alien abductions in a series of short chapters with tidbits and sidebars galore. It's not laid out as a coherent narrative, but certain threads do run through the entire text. The approach creates a fun read, but hardcore or even semi-hardcore buffs will find little new info here. For those buffs, though, Belzer's style and presentation of the material might make it worthwhile for entertainment value. The biggest drawback for all readers is a disappointing lack of pictures (it's frustrating to read so many references to photographic evidence that isn't reproduced here) and a lack of "helpful websites" in the endnotes, though Belzer promises it several times (or was it just removed from the edition I read? Hmm...).

I'll tell you what Belzer does do to me, and I'm kind of ticked off at him for it: He almost wants me to get back "into" the JFK assassination mess. Oh, I'm still resisting, but damned if he makes it all interesting enough to tempt me into edging closer to that rabbit hole. I remember when Oliver Stone's "JFK" stimulated interest in me and some friends. We were excited enough to get into some of the reading, and I gobbled up some of the big conspiracy books. Eventually I became just too exasperated by it all. This is a field in which conspiracy theorists often "call out" other conspiracy theorists for being part of the conspiracy, and it gets too difficult to sort out who's a CIA plant and who's not, so I don't want to get back into that, even on that same casual basis, and find my head spinning again.

That said, Belzer provides an entertaining summary of the big issues, and he succeeds in getting you going. Oh, I guess I should mention: He is 100% convinced that there was all kinds of shady stuff going on with JFK, and he's on the "pro" side of UFOs, too. Me, I think something HAD to have gone on besides just Lee Harvey Oswald shooting the prez, and I find it hard to believe we're the only intelligent beings in the universe (I find it hard to believe we're intelligent beings), but I'm not so sure about a lot of the ideas thrown out in this book.

But of course, that's just what the Parallelogram Commission that secretly funds Cultureshark would WANT me to say...or would it? Or is this post just a way to throw you off the trail? Or put you on it, only to be lulled away from the real truth by a dupe/plant/actor? Or is it possible that I'm not even on it, but I'm writing this while under mind control? Or maybe I AM in on it, but I'm only writing about the book because...