It was fifty years ago today that American president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in broad daylight while visiting the state of Texas on the campaign trail. For the last few weeks Americans have been bombarded with Kennedy stories articles documentaries and memorials galore by the media. Even bellicose rightwing blowhard Bill O’Reilly got in on the act by conveniently releasing a book turned TV movie about the revered Democrat legend –surely no coincidence – this year.
It seems that anything and everything that can be said about the man and the tragedy that ended his life and “changed America forever” has been, or at least will be attempted to be said, this month. Except for the most glaring and obvious, i.e. who killed him, how did they do it, and why? In regards to every other aspect of his life, no stone has been left unturned. No aspect of his life left uninspected. Jackie O posthumously graces the cover of People magazine for the umpteenth time this week while both JFK and Jackie adorn the cover of TIME.
The only problem is that out of all the hundreds of thousands of words that will pour forth from this generation’s highest paid journalistic minds, none will say anything remotely new or noteworthy. Lots of rehash. Lots of obligatory mournful sentiment. The same stories. Told and retold. With slightly different angles or tone. The message the same. Youth. Vigor. Vitality. Promise. Tragedy. Loss. Shock. Sadness. Confusion. Mourning. Deification.
But no one will speak of the fact that the assassination of JFK was the first major blatant act of terror perpetrated by a mysterious cabal of evil-doers in order to seize control from the existing government and kidnap the American people in broad daylight. At least no one of major import. (Excepting Oliver Stone that is…) Mainstream media would never allow it. Is this because, as some propose, the same large multi-national corporations with no allegiance to country or king who own nearly everything also own this mainstream media? Or is it simply a matter of ratings? Why dare rock the boat in the name of truth when you can milk the tragedy in the name of patriotism and high ratings? Either way, one thing is sure: every major organization in the United States, from the New York Times to PBS to NPR to the Big Four networks and the monster cable ones to the White House, will address in one way or another the assassination of Kennedy, but very little attention will be paid to how or why he was killed, nor by whom. Instead everyone will pretend that they believe the “official story” — that Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy and Governor Connally with a cheap shotgun from a window several stories up above them and that he miraculously managed to not only wound Connally but kill the president with three shots fired in less than six seconds with a “magic bullet” that penetrated both the president’s body AND Connally’s body three separate times.
Yes the story defies the laws of physics and is full of holes. But we won’t hear our current president or any other politicians bring that up. Instead they’ll march, they’ll salute, they’ll tear up, they’ll draw flags to half mast and attempt to speak noble and mournful words about the potential greatness of this valiant and patriotic American fallen hero. Just as they’re supposed to. And for the most part the American people will fall in step with this charade and pretend that there is nothing wrong with this picture. That’s what’s expected of us.
Never mind that both recent polls and surveys from as far back as thirty-five years ago show that approximately 3 out of 4 people claim they do not believe the official story. For whatever reason we can all admit this to each other, we can even admit it to a random pollster who calls just before dinner, but we don’t and won’t do anything about it. This has been the main thing that’s been on my mind all week regarding this year’s anniversary. It really hit home when I saw the cover of TIME magazine. In the lower left-hand corner, as if only a side-note to the event itself, the so-called “conspiracy theories” are mentioned. This actually surprised me. That the powers that be at TIME would even mention that there are so-called conspiracy theories about the subject. That alone is progress. And the article itself is much more bold and elucidating about the problems with the official long gunman story than one would expect. Of course it’s followed immediately by an article of almost equal length that debunks all the conspiracies and attempts to prove that the official story is most likely exactly how it went down.
The question is, do we really BELIEVE that? I personally know of only one person who sincerely believes the official Lee Harvey Oswald story. But he’s as simple minded and apple-pie-American as it gets. So I can’t fault him for his naiveté. He does the best that he can with what he was dealt in this life. But for the rest of us, what bothers me the most, what perhaps bothers all of us the most is HOW and WHY can we continue year after year and decade after decade pretending that all is well when we feel deep down inside that it’s not, that it can’t be, when something so sinister transpired right before our eyes and is still being covered up by a government that we have to and need to trust?
After JFK came Malcolm. Then MLK, RFK, millions of innocent Vietnamese murdered, and several prominent members of the black Panthers shot dead while asleep in their own beds. Then Watergate. In relatively quick succession. And since then many many more similar incidents just as wicked suspicious illegal unjust and frighteningly blatant to the point where we the people have slowly become used to these acts of horror and terror transpiring in our own backyard by people who claim to be our government. We must remember that the above mentioned atrocities happened after The Election on the grassy Knoll. It was as if the killing of Kennedy in broad daylight like that was a coming out party of sorts, a cruel warning meant to shock and inform us that the great American experiment of a country and government for the people by the people had failed, had ended, and a new boss was taking over.
In our own time we’ve since seen Grenada, Chile, Ruby Ridge, Waco, Oklahoma City, 9/11, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Bolivia, American backed occupation of and genocide in Palestine, Colombian and Mexican drug cartel massacres, assassinations in Iran, global coup d’etats galore, Sandy Hook, constant drone killings, massive wiretapping and eavesdropping on innocent civilians inside and outside our borders, redactions, rendition, Guantanamo Bay, and even presidential-ordered assassinations of American citizens. For some reason to the casual observer, looking back on it all, it seems that it all started with those shots that killed Kennedy and stunned us all.
And now it seems that nothing is off limits. 9/11 was filled with even more holes and discrepancies than the Kennedy assassination. Sandy Hook even more so. One isn’t sure if they’re just getting sloppy, or lazy, or at this point they just don’t care if we know anymore, perhaps believing that they’ve finally pulled us down to our knees and trained us to understand that we have no choice in any of these matters; that we are all okay with this new set up of overt corruption, criminal intent and terrorism within our government. Perhaps it appears that we’ve become used to it now, that we’ve become used to the fact that we regardless of what we know or think we know that we have finally accepted that we are indeed powerless. That we are now just too damn scared to do or say anything about it.
It is inconceivable for most of us to even consider what the implications would be if we publicly acknowledged that we know that the Lee Harvey Oswald story is a complete fabrication and a cover up; if we stood up and demanded that all the private records pertaining to the the murder of Kennedy sealed by the government for “national security” reasons be released. Now. Today. No more excuses. No more lies. No more cover ups. No more pretending that we believe the story. Just how scared are we to demand this? You would think that the soul’s hunger for truth and justice would prevail over our primitive desire for safety and survival. But except for a brave few, it appears that is not the case. Most of us choose to deliberately play along with the charade rather than speak up or do anything. Worse yet we train our children and their children to do the same thing. Every child in America is raised to believe that a man named Lee Harvey Oswald killed president Kennedy on November 22nd 1963 for no apparent reason. And even though we don’t actually believe that, we allow this myth to perpetuate, leaving our children to eventually learn the cold hard truth on their own when they’re older, and teaching them from a very young age that we are either ignorant fools or utterly and hopelessly powerless.
But what if instead of cowering in fear and complying with the status quo through playing along and pretending ignorance we rise up and revolt? The 50th anniversary of the Kennedy assassination cover-up offers us the perfect opportunity to do just that. I for one would rather go down in flames fighting for a glimmer of truth rather than live a life of comfort ease that is supported by lies. I sincerely believe that at the very least we owe that much to president Kennedy and his legacy. If we aren’t brave enough or don’t care enough to do it for ourselves, then maybe we can do it for him. Just a thought on this hauntingly tragic day.
– Posted by The Ambassador using BlogPress on an iPhone