I Guess I am Mentally Challenged
The latest edition of Ciphered Past, a conspiracy podcast, has a guest claiming that I am mentally challenged. Then the host accused both Gerald Posner and me of doing what we do for money.
Here is the first excerpt: (27:00)
Gardner: And the history books themselves will I mean I tell us over and over. I mean I when I was a kid, I got to learn about all these events in, throughout US history. But as I grown to be a grown man and and and over time, I've learned that literally 99% of them are BS.
O'Halloran: Hmm hmmm.
Gardner: It's BS that there's so much more to it. Yeah. Yeah. We hear stories about the Alamo. We hear stories about the Civil War. We hear stories about all these these these events that happened over time, but we don't look at the other side of it, right? I mean, the thing that like the Alamo, you had to deal with the the Mexican immigrants and the people that were fighting for their country over there making like the these people in the Alamo look like they they were heroes. You got the Civil War, there was a completely different dynamic to that. The JFK assassination, especially like we've just been talking about, there's a completely different dynamic with that. And if you believe everything that you read in the history books, the biggest deception that you could possibly have. And you're absolutely right with these generation people that has spread this down to other people with this disinformation. Believe everything you read in the history books. Believe everything that you you hear from Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather, and all these other people. And that is a very, very, very bad way to live your life, man. I'm telling you, that's a very bad way. Cuz what you're doing is you are actually ignoring the world that's out there. You're still stuck in this box. You have to get out of that box. And And you know what? Some people will never get out of that box because I'll tell you, Will, they are so s
damn stubborn. It's crazy.
O'Halloran: Yeah, I could not agree more. Yeah. Every argument or debate I've had with them, that's always their mindset. Whether it's on today's politics or the assassination specifically, every time I or my generation tries to, you know, get them to understand how flawed their thinking is, they just dismiss it and deny it all, you know, and pretend like, you know, everything is, you know, fine and perfect, you know, all sunshine and rainbows, but that's not at all reality. Whether it be like for this case specifically like Fred Litwin, Bill O'Reilly or others, you know, it's -- their ignorance is just mind-blowing to me. And it really makes you wonder if it's either willful ignorance or I hate to use this word, them being mentally challenged, but [laughter] I mean it really makes you wonder. That's not to say that they're wrong about everything. No, of course not. But their ignorance with this, you know, topic and others like it, it really makes you wonder, you know, why and how they think the way they do. And I think, you know, blind faith and authority is the biggest factor behind it. And them not being able to open their minds because they're just not really used to it.
Conspiracy theorists just cannot accept that some people believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman. In this case, it's my ignorance or the fact that I might be mentally challenged.
The other reason often used is money. Here is the second excerpt: (43:17)
Gardner: And the the one thing is is that you and I have been part of some threads on on on uh the Facebook chat on there on some of these threads that they have on there and and I dude I hear you, man. I see that I see what you have to go through and I have a lot of respect for you, man. I really do. Whenever they try to call me out and say, "Well, I want you to explain to me then if if Oswald didn't do it, then who did it?" Well, I'm not going to sit there and waste my time in explaining this stuff. They need to they need to look at themselves because like
O'Halloran: Exactly.
Gardner: It's a It's very lazy for them to expect me to sit there and and explain everything to them because I
O'Halloran: Believe I tried to do that, but they still deny it anyway. So, I figure what's the point?
Gardner: Yeah. Yeah.
O'Halloran: And if they're so certain, why do they waste time waste their time arguing with us? Can't they just move on with their lives, you know?
Gardner: Yeah. Well, also, when was the last time you ever saw them ever go to NARA and read records or take time ...
O'Halloran: Never.
Gardner: ... to actually do investigation? Never. Oh, I I mean that that's the issue. I mean, look, I have no bad blood with any of those particular people that believe in that. I mean, I just feel bad for them. I feel bad because look, even Gerry Posner told Harold Weisberg, off the record years and years ago. he believes there's a conspiracy. So, he's doing all this stuff for money. I mean, he's doing it for money and and Litwin is doing it for money and to have status because the people that make the money, friend,
Lone gunmen never go to NARA? I've been to NARA five times, the Library of Congress three times, two visits to Baylor University (papers of Gus Russo and Dick Russell), and I've also been to Boston University (papers of James Kirkwood and Gerald Posner), Georgetown University (the Richard Billings Papers) the Sixth Floor Museum (Papers of Patricia Lambert), the Library and Archives Canada (papers of Louis Bloomfield).
Perhaps at the beginning of Gerald Posner's research he might have told Weisberg he believed in a conspiracy. But his immense research convinced himself otherwise.
As for doing this all for money and status? Well, I'm still waiting for my checks, and what status do I have?
I should add a few words about Tim Gardner. In April he approached me to debate David Josephs on his podcast. I saw that he had already taped episodes with just Josephs and I felt that, to be fair, he should have me on to expound my views and then we could debate.
As you can see, he agreed to my proposition, and then backed away.
Then came these tweets:
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