JFK research and mental health.

[Simon Andrew]

Whether you are a hardcore researcher or casual reader, the information you learn along the way via the research community can be a heavy weight.

It’s an incredibly dark topic. When you delve into the world of Angleton and Dulles, there is no light, it’s just feels evil.

Especially at this time of year, look after yourselves and don’t forget to love and allow yourself to be loved by your family, friends or trusty pet!

 

 

[John Cotter]

My cat is a handsome tuxedo cat always dressed to kill. His name is Seamus, which is Irish for James, as in Bond - James Bond.

[Joe Bauer]

1 hour ago, Simon Andrew said:

Whether you are a hardcore researcher or casual reader, the information you learn along the way via the research community can be a heavy weight.

It’s an incredibly dark topic. When you delve into the world of Angleton and Dulles, there is no light, it’s just feels evil.

Especially at this time of year, look after yourselves and don’t forget to love and allow yourself to be loved by your family, friends or trusty pet!

 

 

Yes, truly.

Thank you for this thoughtful and well-intentioned heads up.

[Guest]

Good advice ! 

Just step away from it every now and then, I have my family, photography and music.

And sometimes I simply use the "it happened decades ago"-perspective, so it's not going to run away... you can still read that memo the next day.

 

 

 

    

Edited December 27, 2022 by Jean Paul Ceulemans

[Michael Griffith]

17 hours ago, Simon Andrew said:

Whether you are a hardcore researcher or casual reader, the information you learn along the way via the research community can be a heavy weight.

It’s an incredibly dark topic. When you delve into the world of Angleton and Dulles, there is no light, it’s just feels evil.

This is one reason that I find it so very odd, if not bizarre, that WC apologists claim that many people embrace the conspiracy view of JFK's death to avoid facing the supposedly deeply disturbing implications of the lone-gunman theory. This turns reality on its head. I would truly love to believe that JFK was killed by a lone, disturbed assassin, and that there was no conspiracy of any kind behind his death. That would be a comforting thing to believe. The idea that JFK was killed by some lone nut is far less disturbing than the idea that a powerful, high-level conspiracy murdered him in a public execution and then launched an extensive cover-up.

[Simon Andrew]

27 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

This is one reason that I find it so very odd, if not bizarre, that WC apologists claim that many people embrace the conspiracy view of JFK's death to avoid facing the supposedly deeply disturbing implications of the lone-gunman theory. This turns reality on its head. I would truly love to believe that JFK was killed by a lone, disturbed assassin, and that there was no conspiracy of any kind behind his death. That would be a comforting thing to believe. The idea that JFK was killed by some lone nut is far less disturbing than the idea that a powerful, high-level conspiracy murdered him in a public execution and then launched an extensive cover-up.

I think this is correct.

When you start reading something like the Devils Chessboard it forces you to re-evaluate history and realise the world is not really the way you thought it was.

I would say this kicks off something akin to a mourning process with different stages - anger, depression and eventually some kind of acceptance and compromise.

I think some people maybe get stuck in a particular phase. I started catching up with the assassination literature again in 2015 and went through this mourning process and came out the other side. I think reading about Stoicism a few years back helped, as well as having a family with kids to help balance things out.

Anyway, all the best, have a good holiday season.

 

[Pat Speer]

40 minutes ago, Simon Andrew said:

I think this is correct.

When you start reading something like the Devils Chessboard it forces you to re-evaluate history and realise the world is not really the way you thought it was.

I would say this kicks off something akin to a mourning process with different stages - anger, depression and eventually some kind of acceptance and compromise.

I think some people maybe get stuck in a particular phase. I started catching up with the assassination literature again in 2015 and went through this mourning process and came out the other side. I think reading about Stoicism a few years back helped, as well as having a family with kids to help balance things out.

Anyway, all the best, have a good holiday season.

 

The realization history is not what we've been told can be unnerving. Unfortunately, the road from "some of it is wrong" to "it's all a lie" perpetuated by "them" is a slippery slope. 

[Mark Ulrik]

1 hour ago, Michael Griffith said:

This is one reason that I find it so very odd, if not bizarre, that WC apologists claim that many people embrace the conspiracy view of JFK's death to avoid facing the supposedly deeply disturbing implications of the lone-gunman theory. This turns reality on its head. I would truly love to believe that JFK was killed by a lone, disturbed assassin, and that there was no conspiracy of any kind behind his death. That would be a comforting thing to believe. The idea that JFK was killed by some lone nut is far less disturbing than the idea that a powerful, high-level conspiracy murdered him in a public execution and then launched an extensive cover-up.

But the notion of a dark and mysterious conspiracy is also strangely appealing, isn't it?

[Pat Speer]

28 minutes ago, Mark Ulrik said:

But the notion of a dark and mysterious conspiracy is also strangely appealing, isn't it?

I'm not so sure. But the notion of a dark and mysterious conspiracy--that only a select few can recognize--has a certain attraction. But it's a double-edged sword. Those thinking they've studied the case and it's obviously Oswald and all CT's are loons have fallen prey to this same seduction. "I'm cool. Those guys are tools. Ha-ha!"

Edited December 27, 2022 by Pat Speer

[Simon Andrew]

23 minutes ago, Mark Ulrik said:

But the notion of a dark and mysterious conspiracy is also strangely appealing, isn't it?

For me personally, this was not the case. I simply wanted to understand our recent history.

I’m not attracted to conspiracy per se. If all the evidence pointed to a LN scenario then fine. 

[W. Niederhut]

Great comments here about the subject of our "Untold History," and its impact on our mental health.

The uncovering of the true history of JFK's assassination, and the 59 year cover up, is one part of a broader uncovering of the "Untold History of the United States," as documented by Oliver Stone, Peter Kuznick, and others.   The telling of national "family secrets."

How many Americans knew about the Tulsa Race Massacre until recently?

The grieving and working through process can be compared to the process of becoming conscious of, and working through, abuse and secrecy in dysfunctional families.

It is painful, but leads to resolution and wisdom, if people can fully mourn, rather than getting fixated at a stage of unresolved grief-- such as chronic anger about things that we can't change.

The end point of any grieving process is peace of mind and acceptance -- what Miguel de Unamuno called "the tragic sense of life."

Camus described it as acceptance of the absurd-- i.e., the absurdity of suffering and injustice.

Unfortunately, many people in our society are still fixated at a stage of denial of reality about America's "Untold History."

Denial is a defense that many people cannot do without.  Naturally, people don't want to believe that they have been betrayed or abused by trusted authority figures-- parents, Presidents, et.al.

I'm sure that we all know some people who simply cannot tolerate hearing any details about American slavery, JFK's assassination, Trump's J6 coup attempt, 9/11, etc.

Trump launched his 1776 fake history project in response to the 1619 Project to educate Americans about the true history of slavery.

Edited December 27, 2022 by W. Niederhut

[Michael Griffith]

28 minutes ago, Mark Ulrik said:

But the notion of a dark and mysterious conspiracy is also strangely appealing, isn't it?

Not in the least bit, at least not to me. 

The lone-gunman theory does not call into question the validity of our form of government and does not cause us to doubt our intelligence agencies, our law enforcement agencies, and our news media. The conspiracy theory does all of these things.

[Simon Andrew]

14 minutes ago, Michael Griffith said:

Not in the least bit, at least not to me. 

The lone-gunman theory does not call into question the validity of our form of government and does not cause us to doubt our intelligence agencies, our law enforcement agencies, and our news media. The conspiracy theory does all of these things.

Very succinctly explained. Once I had processed the facts, I came to the conclusions that:

a) Despite these events, it’s still possible to live a healthy and relatively prosperous life and bring up my family in peace. This is far more than others around the world have. 

b) Personally I wanted the correction of the historical record in order to demonstrate that, despite its flaws, western democracies can discuss and work through these thorny issues over time. I don’t want external forces like Putin or China undermining our systems by weaponising this research.

That’s just my take. I’m not saying it works for anyone else.

[Pat Speer]

6 minutes ago, Simon Andrew said:

Very succinctly explained. Once I had processed the facts, I came to the conclusions that:

a) Despite these events, it’s still possible to live a healthy and relatively prosperous life and bring up my family in peace. This is far more than others around the world have. 

b) Personally I wanted the correction of the historical record in order to demonstrate that, despite its flaws, western democracies can discuss and work through these thorny issues over time. I don’t want external forces like Putin or China undermining our systems by weaponising this research.

That’s just my take. I’m not saying it works for anyone else.

I feel much the same way. I was contacted by Russian media before the 50th anniversary in 2013. When I told them I would gladly discuss problems with the investigations, if the article was purely about what happened, and not presented as a symbol of American evil, etc, they never responded. It was clear to me they didn't care what happened. They only wanted to use the JFKA as a tool in their ongoing effort to de-legitimize the U.S., and legitimize Putin's thugocracy. 

[Kirk Gallaway]

I like your contributions Simon? or Andrew?  Keep it up!

I'm going to get a little dark on this. I've had some years  to evaluate what I've seen. I think most people here are reasonably well adjusted.

How I'm viewing your initial post from the conspiracy side, what I have seen to just  some here,  is that looking into these sinister forces you mentioned becomes a fixation and an obsession and that  can translate  to seeing  people who don't believe in the JFKA  as even scumballs, or one of the enemy, to a  point they are part of a conspiracy against them. And gradually more and more people are seen through a binary lens that they are with them or supporting them, or against them, which comes to isolate them, and that gives rise to more and broader  conspiracy beliefs to feed a fire to the point that nothing is taken at face value and every notion, every good intention  and  person is distrusted as part of a grand scheme working against them.

Your question involves mental health. I'm only focusing on what I see as the worst mental health problem.