Conspiracy mania

 Back ... and to the left. Back ... and to the left.

-- Kevin Costner, as Jim Garrison, in "JFK"

Everybody loves a good conspiracy wallow. That's why Oliver Stone made "JFK" to begin with, right?

It's the all-time champeen of cinematic conspiracy wallows, and give Stone credit: It accurately predicted our future. Because if nothing else, "JFK" was a precursor to today's America, where conspiracy kooks have so hijacked the national narrative they're given credence even by people who once were too level-headed to buy the snake oil.

Costner running and re-running the moment in the Zapruder film when JFK's head explodes -- all while intoning "Back ... and to the left" like some magical incantation -- is nothing but 9/11 kooks seeing an inside job and 1/6 kooks seeing evil Nancy Pelosi and the evil FBI trying to make deranged Trump cultists look bad. Slow down the video, edit it just so, and you can see whatever your imagination compels you to see. It's remarkably simple to do if you want to do it badly enough.

Which brings us, in the Blob's usual meandering way, to Caitlin Clark getting run over by an Ohio State fan in Columbus two days ago.

Like the Zapruder film, we've all seen the clip, and in real time it looks exactly like what it is: Clark running across the court toward the locker room, OSU fans rushing the court, Clark and one particular fan colliding.

Down goes Clark. And out come those who see something entirely different.

Slow down the video, see, and you can construct a narrative where Clark deliberately runs into the fan and then flops like a hooked trout. What a jerk!

Of course, this begs the obvious question, which is why on earth she would do that. It also ignores how quickly it happened in real time, and the fact Clark's head is turned right before the collision, and the fact she therefore had about a nanosecond to think "Imma run into this fan here, and then I'm gonna go down on the floor like I'm either Bill Laimbeer or I've been shot, because ... because we just lost and I'm mad and I want to make SOMEONE FROM OHIO STATE LOOK BAD."

Really, folks? I mean, really?

I don't know how we got to a place in this country where we immediately assume bad intentions, particularly if we're trying to advance a pet agenda. (I mean, I do know, and I know who's largely responsible, but that's another Blob for another day.) But technology has only ramped up that process, because everything everywhere winds up on video now and can be dissected any way you want.

So, Caitlin Clark flops and then, in a subsequent clip that shows her clearly hurting as she's being helped off the floor, fakes that, too. Because you've gotta believe the latter if you believe the former.

Me?

Hey, I get caught up in seeing stuff I want to see occasionally, too. Mea culpa. 

I just don't see it here.