Is public interest in the JFK assassination declining?

[Douglas Caddy]

A Facebook member who follows the membership and support of over 250 organizations and websites devoted to study the JFK assassination reported recently that he has noticed a severe decline in public interest in the topic over the past year.  He noted that one organization has lost over 1000 members. His research raises the question as to why this decline is taking place. Could it be that public has finally concluded that the mystery surrounding the death of JFK 56 years ago will never be solved? Or could it be that the millions born since 1963 have received little education information about the entire topic? What ever the cause his research finding is disturbing.

[Ray Mitcham]

4 minutes ago, Douglas Caddy said:

A Facebook member who follows the membership and support of over 250 organizations and websites devoted to study the JFK assassination reported recently that he has noticed a severe decline in public interest in the topic over the past year.  He noted that one organization has lost over 1000 members. His research raises the question as to why this decline is taking place. Could it be that public has finally concluded that the mystery surrounding the death of JFK 56 years ago will never be solved? Or could it be that the millions born since 1963 have received little education information about the entire topic? What ever the cause his research finding is disturbing.

If we made a phone app, they might get interested.

[David G. Healy]

13 minutes ago, Ray Mitcham said:

If we made a phone app, they might get interested.

that, AND a single website housing the best of the best 1964 WCR critic-researchers and their work (public or otherwise). 

[Ray Mitcham]

Schools don't realise what a coup d"etat took place on 23rd November 1963

[Paul Brancato]

I think partly this is a sign of the times. There is so much one everyone’s mind for now and the future. Also the plethora of sites is confusing. 

[Cliff Varnell]

48 minutes ago, Paul Brancato said:

I think partly this is a sign of the times. There is so much one everyone’s mind for now and the future. Also the plethora of sites is confusing. 

I've been railing about this for years -- we're losing younger generations because the case has been made to look far more complex (and boring) than it need be.

The JFKA Critical Community is incapable of forming a consensus on the most obvious fact -- JFK was shot in the back at T3, a location too low to have been associated with the throat wound.

In any other murder case the physical evidence found with the body would be of prime interest, but lots of top JFKA researchers marginalize the physical evidence in order to inflate the significance of their own original research.

 

 

[Cliff Varnell]

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Edited November 16, 2019 by Cliff Varnell

[Denny Zartman]

I grew up in the '70's and the JFK assassination was barely in our history books then. Oliver Stone's "JFK" probably did the most to bring it back into public consciousness, but even memory of that film is fading. Now it's mostly YouTube videos and websites, most with inconsistent messages.

I wouldn't want to be someone just starting to read about the JFK assassination today. The case does look extraordinarily complex. Look at the backyard photo thread that's going on right now and try to see that through the eyes of someone who knows nothing at all about the assassination. I'd guess that they could barely make heads or tails out of it. Determining which sources are trustworthy and which ones aren't is another serious challenge for a beginner. Finally, the concept of a "conspiracy theorist" now has a seemingly inescapable stigma about it.

I hope to somehow, someday, play a role in helping people understand what went on and exactly what makes this case so endlessly fascinating for those of us who continue to study it after so many years. It's a challenge to take the many aspects of this case and make it comprehensible to someone who knows absolutely nothing at all about it.

[Cliff Varnell]

15 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

I grew up in the '70's and the JFK assassination was barely in our history books then.

I read about it in CREEM magazine in 1975 after Robert Groden played the Zapruder film on Geraldo.

[Cliff Varnell]

17 minutes ago, Denny Zartman said:

 It's a challenge to take the many aspects of this case and make it comprehensible to someone who knows absolutely nothing at all about it.

 I once pointed out to a millennial friend of mine that her generation didn't appear all that interested in the Kennedy assassination.

"That's because they make it so boring," she said, and the subject dropped.

A couple weeks later she asked me what I'd been up to and I said --"Giving people hell about the central question of the JFK assassination."  This was in the late summer of 2013.

"What is the central question of the JFK assassination?"

"You don't want to know--"

"No, tell me.," she said, or words to that effect.

"JFK was shot in the back, there was no exit wound and no bullet found in the autopsy; he was shot in the throat, no exit, no bullet found in the autopsy.  The central question is --'what happened to the bullets that caused the back and throat wounds?'"

She thought for a second, then said -- "But was it a real autopsy?"

"A lot of problems with the autopsy, but that was the situation...Some people think the bullets were removed prior to the autopsy--"

"--Or it was some government shi* that dissolved!" she said with an air of triumph.

About a year later I told this story to another millennial friend of mine and when I got to the line "or some government shi* that dissolved--" she said-- "That's what I was gonna say!"

These kids are ahead of the JFKA Critical Community by a mile.

[James DiEugenio]

Ever since about 1993, the broadcast media has done everything it could to pummel the public consciousness with the whole WCR was right baloney.

That is about to change.

I am not free at this time to describe them, but there are a couple of major media events on the horizon that will do much to spur interest.

 

[Vince Palamara]

I think it is the natural inertia of the times. Keep in mind, it is 55 years later, 10 presidents later, the 21rst century, post-9/11, many witnesses and principals have died, etc.

That said, the 2016 Ted-Cruz's-dad-knew-Oswald was a huge story. In addition, the October 2017 Trump-releases-the-files story was a huge story, as well. I had many people write and talk to me in person about this. The 2018 CNN special on The Kennedys, although disappointing, generated tremendous ratings and many repeats. Today, go to any super market and it seems "JFK was murdered in a conspiracy" screams from every cover of a tabloid monthly if not weekly.

I am NOT vouching for the integrity of these items. I am just saying that the case is far from stone-cold dead.

AND, speaking of "stone", Trump aide Roger Stone, author of the best-selling LBJ-did-it book, is constantly in the news and that specific book still sells like wildfire (again, NOT vouching for the veracity or integrity of the information).

My four books sell EVERY single week (since 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2018, respectively) with 0.0 mainstream publicity (no television or mainstream radio) and via a small publisher.

Every time I post Kennedy photos or information online, it generates tremendous interest (in today's vernacular, hundreds of "likes" and "comments" and positive "emojis").

----

All that being said, the mainstream media are doing their darndest to kill the case; at least since the 50th anniversary. On a personal note: from roughly 1998-2013, if you put "secret service jfk" in a search engine like Google, Yahoo, etc., my many blogs and videos would come up and pretty much dominate anything else. Since 2013? SOMEONE or some people has messed with the meta data or something, because it is the total opposite now: put "secret service jfk" in Google and little or nothing of my information comes up in the all-important first page.

Gee, I wonder why?

Interest in the Kennedys and the assassination will never die...but if we are expecting things to be like the halcyon days of 1988-1993 when the Stone film was out, many books were in JFK ASSASSINATION sections of book stores, and many principals like Jackie, Governor Connally (JFK Jr even), etc. were still alive, we are fooling ourselves.

 

[Vince Palamara]

One more thing: I know of a young (early 20's) author of an upcoming massive book on the medical evidence who is a savant on the case and a tremendous write, as well. Also, when I was in Dealey Plaza in 2016, many young people were walking around and were very enthusiastic about the case. Hope springs eternal.

(always remember: the Lincoln movie from 2012 was huge and all things related to President Lincoln were red hot at the time: books, Tom Hanks specials, etc. Give the people a spark and they WILL be interested. If Oliver Stone was to do ANOTHER ASSASSINATION MOVIE, interest would spike up yet again. The case was pretty dead from 1980-1988)

[Michael Clark]

15 minutes ago, Vince Palamara said:

One more thing: I know of a young (early 20's) author of an upcoming massive book on the medical evidence who is a savant on the case and a tremendous write, as well. 

Why not name names, Vince? I would think that if he is about to publish a book, and is so well read, he must, already, have some kind of presence in the community or in relevant social media, no?

[Joe Bauer]

Yes, quality major films always reignite more interest.

I know that almost every year, there is a major film done with the Jewish holocaust under the Nazis as a main backdrop and these keep this tragedy in the minds of new generations.

I believe it will take 2 to 3 major budget films done by great directors and with all-star casts to reignite interest in the JFK event in the minds of our younger people.

We have said this here on this forum many, many times..but a big budget film on Dorothy Kilgallen , her remarkable, high achieving and celebrity glamorous life and suspicious death with connections to her JFK/Oswald/Jack Ruby investigation would be a fine first film for this purpose.

Perhaps a new film centered on Mark Lane, Abe Bolden or even a new film on Jim Garrison might help.

Otherwise, only some death bed confession by someone close to the main suspects may spur more interest.

 

 

Edited February 6, 2019 by Joe Bauer