Why Are You Still Around?
Have you ever wondered to yourself, “why is this community still alive and thriving?”. Well, I asked myself that same question about the JFK conspiracy theorist group. I mean, that tragic event happened well over fifty years ago, so why are people still active and communicate within their forums? The answer to that question is best explained by Gretchen McCulloch, in her book, Because Internet, “people join internet communities around a particular interest and end up becoming invested in each other’s lives as well”. (63) In short, communities live on because of the friendships made within that certain community due to a familiar topic. Friendship is a state of mutual trust and support and that’s why people keep coming back.
JFK Lovers
This community still grows because of the fascination and love for JFK. His death was an unprecedented death for a president, although Abraham Lincoln was also assassinated, but his was cut and dry. Point blank shot to the head with hundreds of witnesses. JFK’s was not so simple. JFK was shot from long range and no one actually saw Oswald pull the trigger. So for those who are skeptics, and are learning about JFK, they find a group that will help them through the journey to what they believe will be the truth.
Safe Haven
People find comfort in places of familiarity, that’s why we have the term home sick. We like these places because we feel safe and have a little bit of control in what’s happening. Same is true for those who join one of the JFK conspiracy theorist communities. It’s a safe place for them. They are allowed to talk about their conspiracy theories without having to be judged by the outside world. Without being called a crazy paranoid weirdo or delusional. A place where your thought about how JFK was murdered is allowed and is a norm. In fact, the rule in every chat about JFK is respect. For example in the about section in the JFK Assassination Discussion group on facebook, it says “be respectful of others even if you don’t agree with them”. With respect comes a sense of safety.
Keep Coming Back
What are they getting out of this that makes them want to keep coming back? Well… to that, from what I found and believe to be true is that people love having someone they can communicate with about a topic that is not widely accepted. They can bounce off theories of what they think happened and they can get an open and honest dialogue. Also, with the constant articles that get sent out by John Duncan, that are all about JFK and his assassination, it never gets dry. He is in all the JFK groups on Facebook and will post everyday, which leads to a comment section consisting of about five people but its rarely ever the same people commenting everyday. The community is a strong community based around respect and the love for JFK. So as long as JFK lives on, so will conspiracies about his death which will lead to the use of these communities.
