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Comment by yucky | Hacker News Reader

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>Bush Sr also claimed not to remember where he was when he found out JFK had been assassinated (despite everyone alive at that time remembering it clear as day for the rest of their lives).

Lots of people actually misremember, or outright lie, about these matters. For example, with 9/11: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/911-memory-accura...

So him actually not remembering isn't that surprising.

Your linked article mentions that people are particularly accurate at remembering where they were: "We then went back to the 9/11 survey data, and we did see that memory was better for where than the other details. In recalling where they were when they learned of the attack, people were 89 percent accurate at survey two and 83 percent accurate at survey three."

I was in my car commuting to work, and very annoyed at what sounded like some kind of tasteless radio prank. I turned it off and only upon arriving at the office realized it was actually happening.

That would still be around one in ten people unable to remember where they were. Enough that Bush not knowing where he was isn't strong evidence he was connected.

It wouldn't. Saying you know, but being wrong on details, is very different from saying you don't know

It's possible he had discussed the event since and realized his memory was unclear.

That's how my "where were you when you heard about 9/11" goes. I confidently had an answer for decades, but a few years ago discussed it with my father who I remembered telling me, and he doesn't remember it the same way. So now I'm not sure whether either of us remember it correctly.

Your anecdote is fine, but it doesn't resolve the issue with the wrong assessment: nowhere near "one in ten people" had this self-reflective experience you had that led to them declaring since they don't know, that was a reference to a totally different group of people

Just realized while reading this: I remember I was in the office pounding on keyboard. What I do not remember at all is which one of 2 offices in 2 different locations I was at. Kind of bugs me.

> So him actually not remembering isn't that surprising.

Regardless of the accuracy or implication of where he was or wasn't, which I have no comment on or knowledge of, you are claiming that a government official not remembering he was merely a block away from where the president of the United States was assassinated not that surprising? I could imagine details, like the hotel or street name, being misremembered, but what you're claiming is hard to believe.

Maybe he was busy and didn't hear about it until later? Maybe he was asleep? Wouldn't it make more sense for him to lie and embellish about his experience during that day (as politicians often do with this kind of thing), rather than flatly state that he just didn't remember?

How would you hear about it when you're sleeping?

The article about the oil business specifically mentions the JFK assassination conspiracy theory, and links to evidence of why it is false.

http://jfkfacts.org/about-that-lame-bush-conspiracy-theory/

This reads like a typical NYT hit piece. Carefully structured sentences that do not directly deny the truth of the assertions but that place judiciously chosen doubtful statements and incertitude in the reader's mind.

The “evidence” it claims to debunk the JFK Assassination link is extremely weak.

It works the other way. You need strong evidence to prove someone was linked to an assassination, not to disprove such a claim.

There are a lot of things that are highly coincidental, but doesn't make them factual.

I was in Toronto just 20 days before 9/11. Was I a co-conspirator? No.

Says you

How much jet fuel does it take to melt steel beams?

Depends on how much support structure you take out with the plane.

I laughed at this.

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