OG: Original Gatekeeper

[proldic]

Marty Jezer & "Conspiracy-Itis"<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>NB:</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>OK, I looked back into this guy and it turns out he died recently. I read the guy regularly before this exchange, and agreed with many of his stances. I'm not choosing this time just to speak against someone who can't defend themselves, and I wish he was alive to answer this. But he was most definitely a public figure who actively promoted his opinions on public affairs, and was a relatively well-published liberal-left opinion writer....</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><br><br><br>Among the first crop of nationally-distributed anti-9/11 conspiracy articles was "Conspiracy-Itis", written by a liberal writer called Marty Jezer who lived in Brattleboro, VT.<br>Jezer led an interesting life, and was present at many of the formative moments of the '60's and '70's. In fact you might call him a seminal figure. He was also closely associated with Abbie Hoffman, and wrote a book about him.<br><br>In the article, he re-states the now-old hat arguments against conspiracy, gives props to David Corn's work, and states: <br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>For example, take the Kennedy assassination. Though<br>Oliver Stone in his film 'JFK' got the conspiracy angle<br>wrong (he blamed it, using flimsy evidence, on Lyndon<br>Johnson), there is overwhelming documentation linking<br>Lee Harvey Oswald to an eccentric New Orleans-based<br>airplane pilot named David Ferrie. Ferrie worked for<br>Mafia boss Carlos Marcello and ran guns to anti-Castro<br>Cubans. The Mafia, which ran the gambling, prostitution<br>and drug concessions in Havana before Castro sent them<br>packing, like the right-wing Cubans, had a motive to<br>get rid of Kennedy. JFK, after the failure of the Bay<br>of Pigs, had no taste for another Cuban invasion.<br><br>The Mafia/anti-Castro 'who-shot-Kennedy' theory is<br>backed by documented facts and transparent motives.<br><br>Most conspiracy theories consist of isolated, and often<br>unverifiable, facts, mixed indiscriminately with<br>gossip, innuendo, half-truths, and found-documents that<br>exist outside of any meaningful context. Most<br>conspiracy theories are based on the hatred of one<br>political group for another. When an atrocity happens,<br>conspiracists construct a case in order to pin the<br>blame on their rivals.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>and<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>If I didn’t know any better, I would say that the emergence of the 9-11 conspiracy theory is a FBI plot to discredit the left.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>and<br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>I myself don’t have the investigative passion to get into the arcane trivia of conspiracy nonsense.<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>So I called the guy up one day.<br><br>We go through the usual pro/anti conspiracy back-and-forth, (this is before cd was widespread). I'm pressing him on some points, but totally diplomatic. <br><br>However, we don't get very far into it when I notice he's getting a little flustered [although he wasn't stuttering, later I learned he had overcome a stuttering disorder and wrote a book about it, so I have wondered how/if that figures in this story]. <br><br>Then I mention the CIA's role in the Kennedy assasination, and the parallels to the left's response to that to 9/11. <br><br>Suddenly, without warning -- SNAP -- his voice changed from a kind of pleading, whiny, "liberal intellectual", "<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>yeah, but what you gotta see is..."</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> type of tone to a completely different one -- Jeckyl & Hyde was the first thought through my head -- it was a gutteral growl, octaves lower. He rips into the phone like he was spitting up a loogie:<br><br>"<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>You have no fucking idea what you're talking about</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->!" <br><br>"<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>I was on the government commission that investigated David Ferrie and Jack Ruby! There was no CIA conspiracy then, and there's no CIA conspiracy now</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->!"<br><br>I was pretty taken aback by this. I remember trying to ask him details, such as <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>what</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> government commission, and why he never mentioned that in the article, but he was done. He just kept repeating the same line over again, and then hung up.<br><br>I never really thought about this too much since, but it was just one of those things that are just hanging there. <br>I looked at a staff list from HSCA, and couldn't find his name, but that was pretty much it. Didn't check Warren, he seemed too young.<br><br>So, anybody else familiar with this guy? Read his bio or his books? Anybody got lists of staff for the various other '60's and '70's investigative commissions? <br><br>Like the song said:<br><br><!--EZCODE ITALIC START--><em>Things that make you go 'hmm...'</em><!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> <br> <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p216.ezboard.com/brigorousintuition.showUserPublicProfile?gid=proldic@rigorousintuition>proldic</A> at: 12/2/05 7:48 am<br></i>