Crime or Conspiracy: When Heinous Things Happen

     I finished watching Malcolm X, a striking biopic about the man and the events leading to his death.  It reminded me about all the conspiracy hype in the 90s, as its predecessor JFK exposed flaws in the Warren Commission that decided Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating the former president.  The lyrics of bands like Rage Against the Machine suggested the U.S. government was behind the assassinations of other peacemakers, notably black ones like Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King.  As the Vietnam War and Watergate had disillusioned the American public from trusting the government, it led to a hyper-conspiracy culture in which every government action came into question, even ones where there wasn't any evidence of their involvement, including the fake moon landing, that 9/11 was an inside job; and yes, the assassinations of those mentioned above, Bobby Kennedy notwithstanding.

    To date there is no evidence of government involvement, not from the FBI, CIA, or any of a large number of potential witnesses.  Remember the all important maxim of justice: "innocent until proven guilty".  It's certainly possible the government was involved in any of these supposed fabrications, yet the fact remains that nobody credible has come out and stated it.  Be careful when you watch someone's artistic interpretation of an event: often it does not include the whole picture.  Such as the background behind what would have motivated Oswald to shoot Kennedy, or the Nation of Islam to shoot Malcolm X.  Why do any of the horrible mass shootings happen in our recent history?  These are men who yearn to be recognized; outcasts who feel they can't do anything meaningful otherwise.  They are full of hate.  They are not paid by someone to commit atrocities; what drives them to murder innocent people is the desire to be noticed.  The one common element in all their character traits is that they have gone unrecognized.  And they are usually making a statement that all blame for it is on the person(s) they are shooting rather than themselves.