The JFKA Records Suppression-- Should RFK, Jr. Criticize Donald Trump?

[W. Niederhut]

    Much ado has been made here about Biden, like Donald Trump, declining to release the JFK records.

    In fact, Benjamin Cole has indignantly declared that, "We are all MAGAs now," as a result of Biden, like Trump, declining to release the JFK records.

     Curiously, the anti-Biden candidate, RFK, Jr., has declined to criticize Donald Trump for his historic decision to block release of the JFK records in 2017 and 2018, as did Fox News at the time.

      RFK, Jr. has also declined to criticize Trump for promoting a violent attack on the U.S. Congress, organizing slates of false electors, trying to extort political favors from Ukrainian President Zelensky, and declaring that, "Putin is a genius," after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

      RFK, Jr. doesn't seem to realize that personal, and national, trauma cannot be resolved by pretending that the trauma never happened, and refusing to talk about it, in the self-professed interest of "healing." That's the denial stage of unresolved trauma.

      When I watched the interviews of RFK,Jr. in DiEugenio's JFK Revisited documentary, it was immediately obvious to me, as a psychiatrist, that RFK,Jr. was still experiencing a great deal of unresolved grief about the tragic murders of his uncle and father.  He reminded me of PTSD patients in the early stages of therapy for unresolved grief, who are still flooded with un-abreacted emotion.

      I mention these observations now, in the context of RFK, Jr. fans vehemently attacking Joe Biden, while refusing to criticize Donald Trump for his refusal to release the JFK records, and even declaring that, "We are all MAGAs now."

       It's predicated on denial of Trump's serious crimes, and the MAGA/Fox delusion that Trump is a victim of the Deep State.

Edited July 1, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[W. Niederhut]

Ben,

     Should RFK, Jr. criticize Donald Trump for doing a "snuff job" on the JFK records in 2017, when they were finally due to be released?

     Thus far, RFK, Jr. has refrained from criticizing Trump, in the interest of "national unity."

     I think the concept is that, "we're all MAGAs now," and we shouldn't talk about Trump's historic crimes. 🙄

[Benjamin Cole]

6 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said:

Ben,

     Should RFK, Jr. criticize Donald Trump for doing a "snuff job" on the JFK records in 2017, when they were finally due to be released?

     Thus far, RFK, Jr. has refrained from criticizing Trump, in the interest of "national unity."

     I think the concept is that, "we're all MAGAs now," and we shouldn't talk about Trump's historic crimes. 🙄

RFK Jr. told Glenn Greenwald he considered Russiagate to be a hoax.

Many people are pondering the many fishy details surrounding 1/6, and have dismissed the 1/6 House TV show, the same way the Warren Commission is dismissed. 

We have different perspectives than you. Try to respect our positions. 

I assume RFK Jr., with his history regarding the JFKA, is dubious about politicized government investigations. We all should be. 

My own opinion is RFK Jr. is on the right track, and should not needlessly alienate populists, who have a lot to offer, particularly considering the globalist control of DC. 

This does not mean every populist is a wonderful person, anymore than all libs, conservatives, Donks or 'Phants are perfect people. IMHO, Trump had some good ideas---tariffs on China, seal the southern border, general non-interventionism globally---and many flaws. 

One thing to consider: Go back and read the NYT profile on Ray Epps. This guy wore a red Trump baseball cap, and exhorted people to "go into the Capitol" on 1/5 and 1/6. The very picture of what you call a "MAGAt."

Then NYT did an interview, and concluded Epps is actually a nice guy, loves his wife and dogs. For some reason, the NYT actually allowed a MAGA supporter to be humanized, and not demonized.  

Maybe you should try to see MAGA supporters as the NYT saw Epps. Fellow citizens with different views than you. 

RFK Jr. does not want to be a polarizing force. 

The two major parties want to be polarizing. 

I choose RFK Jr.

But even if RFK Jr. was a poor candidate, I would still vote for him. He will open up the JFK Records. 

 

 

 

[James DiEugenio]

Biden is a guy who has a bust of RFK in the oval office and. he had a wall portrait of JFK in his study.

And then he does something like this.

Which is beyond understanding in any normal way.

Did the CIA get to Biden?  Or will he give the same excuse as Trump did to Napolitano:  If you had seen what I saw judge, you would have donethe same thing.

[John Cotter]

7 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

    Much ado has been made here about Biden, like Donald Trump, declining to release the JFK records.

    In fact, Benjamin Cole has indignantly declared that, "We are all MAGAs now," as a result of Biden, like Trump, declining to release the JFK records.

     Curiously, the anti-Biden candidate, RFK, Jr., has declined to criticize Donald Trump for his historic decision to block release of the JFK records in 2017 and 2018, as did Fox News at the time.

      RFK, Jr. has also declined to criticize Trump for promoting a violent attack on the U.S. Congress, organizing slates of false electors, trying to extort political favors from Ukrainian President Zelensky, and declaring that, "Putin is a genius," after Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

      RFK, Jr. doesn't seem to realize that personal, and national, trauma cannot be resolved by pretending that the trauma never happened, and refusing to talk about it, in the self-professed interest of "healing." That's the denial stage of unresolved trauma.

      When I watched the interviews of RFK,Jr. in DiEugenio's JFK Revisited documentary, it was immediately obvious to me, as a psychiatrist, that RFK,Jr. was still experiencing a great deal of unresolved grief about the tragic murders of his uncle and father.  He reminded me of PTSD patients in the early stages of therapy for unresolved grief, who are still flooded with un-abreacted emotion.

      I mention these observations now, in the context of RFK, Jr. fans vehemently attacking Joe Biden, while refusing to criticize Donald Trump for his refusal to release the JFK records, and even declaring that, "We are all MAGAs now."

       It's predicated on denial of Trump's serious crimes, and the MAGA/Fox delusion that Trump is a victim of the Deep State.

Give it a rest, William. How many posts about this have you cluttered the forum with now?

All these posts tell us is that you’re a fanatical supporter of the mainstream Democratic Party, the purportedly “left” side of the duopoly which has imposed plutocracy in the US and throughout the world by ultimately violent means and which has demonised any nation that tries to resist it.

As for your “diagnosis” of RFK Jr, your inability to legitimately criticise him has apparently rendered you so desperate as to abuse your position as a former psychiatrist in breaching the professional ethics pertaining to that “profession”.

I refer to your apparent breach of the Goldwater rule:

The Goldwater rule is Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics,[1] which states that psychiatrists have a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to the improvement of the community and the betterment of public health, but they should not give a professional opinion about public figures whom they have not examined in person, and from whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health in public statements. It is named after former US Senator and 1964 presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule

[W. Niederhut]

37 minutes ago, John Cotter said:

Give it a rest, William. How many posts about this have you cluttered the forum with now?

All these posts tell us is that you’re a fanatical supporter of the mainstream Democratic Party, the purportedly “left” side of the duopoly which has imposed plutocracy in the US and throughout the world by ultimately violent means and which has demonised any nation that tries to resist it.

As for your “diagnosis” of RFK Jr, your inability to legitimately criticise him has apparently rendered you so desperate as to abuse your position as a former psychiatrist in breaching the professional ethics pertaining to that “profession”.

I refer to your apparent breach of the Goldwater rule:

The Goldwater rule is Section 7 in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Principles of Medical Ethics,[1] which states that psychiatrists have a responsibility to participate in activities contributing to the improvement of the community and the betterment of public health, but they should not give a professional opinion about public figures whom they have not examined in person, and from whom they have not obtained consent to discuss their mental health in public statements. It is named after former US Senator and 1964 presidential nominee Barry Goldwater.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldwater_rule

John,

    I thought you were going to stop posting absurd, inaccurate comments on the forum.  No such luck, eh?

    In truth, I think we all know who has been cluttering the forum with redundant "Biden snuff job" threads this year -- while even declaring that, "We're all MAGAs now" that Biden has blocked the release of the JFK records, (as Trump did in 2017.)

    Conversely, the only thread I have started on the topic of Trump blocking the release of the JFK records was initiated in September of 2020, and was subsequently moved to the JFK Deep Politics board.

     As for my clinical observations about the RFK, Jr. interviews in JFK Revisited, get a clue.  They are spot on, and highly relevant.

     Do you really imagine that psychiatrists don't use filmed interviews to make clinical observations, and for teaching purposes?

     An experienced clinician can learn a lot from a filmed interview.

     The Goldwater Rule is a political joke that was widely rejected by the American psychiatric community, including the American Psychoanalytic Association, during the past eight years.  Yet, it has often been invoked by Trump fans who object to accurate psychological profiling of Donald Trump.

      Since 2016, many reputable American psychiatrists have openly warned the public about Donald Trump's serious psychopathology.  We were correct.

      The truth is that knowledgeable psychologists and psychiatrists can make valid diagnostic inferences about people they haven't interviewed in person, even including those who are deceased.  

     There is a genre of "psycho-history," which includes diagnostic biographical essays by psychiatrists like Erik Erikson, Anthony Storr, and others.

      Erickson "psychoanalyzed" Hitler, and Storr has analyzed historical figures ranging from Isaac Newton to Churchill.

Edited July 2, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Benjamin Cole]

6 minutes ago, W. Niederhut said:

John,

    I thought you were going to stop posting absurd, inaccurate comments on the forum.  No such luck, eh?

    In truth, I think we all know who has been cluttering the forum with redundant "Biden snuff job" threads this year -- while even declaring that, "We're all MAGAs now" that Biden has blocked the release of the JFK records, (as Trump did in 2017.)

    Conversely, the only thread I have started on the topic of Trump blocking the release of the JFK records was initiated in September of 2020, and was subsequently moved to the JFK Deep Politics board.

     As for my clinical observations about the RFK, Jr. interviews in JFK Revisited, get a clue.  They are spot on, and highly relevant.

     Do you really imagine that psychiatrists don't use filmed interviews to make clinical observations, and for teaching purposes?

     An experienced clinician can learn a lot from a filmed interview.

     The Goldwater Rule is a political joke that was widely rejected by the American psychiatric community, including the American Psychoanalytic Association, during the past eight years.  Yet, it has often been invoked by Trump fans who object to accurate psychological profiling of Donald Trump.

      Since 2016, many reputable American psychiatrists have openly warned the public about Donald Trump's serious psychopathology.  We were correct.

      The truth is that knowledgeable psychologists and psychiatrists can make valid diagnostic inferences about people they haven't interviewed in person, even including those who are deceased.  

     There is a genre of "psycho-history," which includes diagnostic biographical essays by psychiatrists like Erik Erikson, Anthony Storr, and others.

      Erickson "psychoanalyzed" Hitler, and Storr has analyzed historical figures ranging from Isaac Newton to Churchill.

As a layman, I have the same understanding that Cotter does regarding "psychoanalysis from a distance." 

Would a medical doctor diagnose someone they had never met, or conducted tests on? Under duress or for political expediency, perhaps. 

I thought most psychiatrists say they need many hours of analysis---one-on-one private and sacrosanct conversations---to gain even a limited understanding of a patient. 

Would you accept a medical doctor's appraisal, voiced from Alabama, that Biden was senile? Biden can't seem to keep facts straight while speaking, slurs his words, loses orientation while walking (gets lost) and falls down on stage.

I guess we can diagnose Biden as senile. 

But I would prefer a professional, hands-on examination of Biden. 

 

 

[W. Niederhut]

18 minutes ago, Benjamin Cole said:

As a layman, I have the same understanding that Cotter does regarding "psychoanalysis from a distance." 

Would a medical doctor diagnose someone they had never met, or conducted tests on? Under duress or for political expediency, perhaps. 

I thought most psychiatrists say they need many hours of analysis---one-on-one private and sacrosanct conversations---to gain even a limited understanding of a patient. 

Would you accept a medical doctor's appraisal, voiced from Alabama, that Biden was senile? Biden can't seem to keep facts straight while speaking, slurs his words, loses orientation while walking (gets lost) and falls down on stage.

I guess we can diagnose Biden as senile. 

But I would prefer a professional, hands-on examination of Biden. 

 

 

Ben,

     Your opinion about accurate psychiatric diagnosis is ironic, given your numerous, redundant posts "diagnosing" Biden's alleged senility-- often based on deceptively edited Rupert Murdoch video clips.  (Certainly not based on his historic public speeches.)

     It reminds us that opinions are like the distal ends of our alimentary canals, particularly in your case.

     But, to reiterate, experienced clinicians can learn a great deal about a person by studying their behavior and speech, (and/or writings) in person or from a distance.

     That is the basis for the genre of psycho-history.

     It has to do with observing signs and symptoms of mental disorders.

    There's an old saying in medicine-- "You see what you look for and you look for what you know."

     If a man sobs while discussing the long ago murder of an uncle or father, I might infer (from many years of experience working with victims of trauma and/or loss) that he has not fully grieved or worked through his trauma/loss.  He is still overwhelmed by emotion-- not at a stage of peaceful acceptance, the end stage of griefwork.

     Perhaps he has dealt with his unresolved grief by avoiding his sadness, drug abuse, or displaced rage.

     How old was he when his father was murdered in 1968?  14?

     Most people have a developmental fixation at the age of a parental loss, in the absence of genuine working through.

     

     

[Pamela Brown]

1 hour ago, James DiEugenio said:

Biden is a guy who has a bust of RFK in the oval office and. he had a wall portrait of JFK in his study.

And then he does something like this.

Which is beyond understanding in any normal way.

Did the CIA get to Biden?  Or will he give the same excuse as Trump did to Napolitano:  If you had seen what I saw judge, you would have donethe same thing.

I think Biden may think he is protecting RFK, perhaps at the expense of the whole truth about what happened toJFK...

[John Cotter]

9 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

John,

    I thought you were going to stop posting absurd, inaccurate comments on the forum.  No such luck, eh?

    In truth, I think we all know who has been cluttering the forum with redundant "Biden snuff job" threads this year -- while even declaring that, "We're all MAGAs now" that Biden has blocked the release of the JFK records, (as Trump did in 2017.)

    Conversely, the only thread I have started on the topic of Trump blocking the release of the JFK records was initiated in September of 2020, and was subsequently moved to the JFK Deep Politics board.

     As for my clinical observations about the RFK, Jr. interviews in JFK Revisited, get a clue.  They are spot on, and highly relevant.

     Do you really imagine that psychiatrists don't use filmed interviews to make clinical observations, and for teaching purposes?

     An experienced clinician can learn a lot from a filmed interview.

     The Goldwater Rule is a political joke that was widely rejected by the American psychiatric community, including the American Psychoanalytic Association, during the past eight years.  Yet, it has often been invoked by Trump fans who object to accurate psychological profiling of Donald Trump.

      Since 2016, many reputable American psychiatrists have openly warned the public about Donald Trump's serious psychopathology.  We were correct.

      The truth is that knowledgeable psychologists and psychiatrists can make valid diagnostic inferences about people they haven't interviewed in person, even including those who are deceased.  

     There is a genre of "psycho-history," which includes diagnostic biographical essays by psychiatrists like Erik Erikson, Anthony Storr, and others.

      Erickson "psychoanalyzed" Hitler, and Storr has analyzed historical figures ranging from Isaac Newton to Churchill.

You’ve walked yourself into a quagmire of your own making here, William, and your desperate flailing about is just making matters worse.

You invoked your “authority” as a psychiatrist in “diagnosing” RFK Jr. That authority derives from your membership of the American Psychiatric Association, not the American Psychoanalytic Association.

The former association is the leading such association on the planet and the publisher of the “bible” of psychiatry, the DSM. You know – the manual by reference to which you “diagnosed” the “mentally ill”, incarcerated them, lorded over them in their dehumanised degraded state and treated them accordingly.

The latter association is concerned with more ostensibly respectful, humane and enlightened practises such as the “talking cure”. Your saying that this association rejected the Goldwater rule is a dodge, a misdirection.

One association rejecting one of the rules of another association is irrelevant to the fact that it is your “authority” as a member of the latter association that you invoked in “diagnosing” RFK.

But nice try.

Contrary to what you say, Erik Erikson was not a psychiatrist. He was a psychologist and psychoanalyst. As for Anthony Storr, I’ve read his books on creativity (The Dynamics of Creation) and Jung. As you say, Storr “analyzed historical figures”, but as far as I’m aware, he didn’t abuse his position as a psychiatrist by using it to denigrate a contemporary political figure.

People often comment on the mental state of politicians and other public figures as apparently manifested by their behaviour. There’s nothing wrong with that. We can all see what’s in front of our eyes, and we don’t need self-styled intellectual geniuses with lots of letters after their names to tell us what we’re seeing.

That’s completely different from what you’ve done in invoking your role as a psychiatrist to promulgate a supposedly authoritative “diagnosis”. It’s an abuse of your position and a breach of the relevant ethical rule of the association whose prestige you’ve hijacked to weaponise your political prejudice.

Essentially, your “diagnosis” of RFK Jr is a particularly despicable ad hominem attack on him. It arises from the desperation caused by your inability to logically rebut his political views.

[W. Niederhut]

John,

     I'm going to briefly correct your inaccurate, off-topic, ad hominem t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g of this thread-- in red-- after beginning with a brief summary of the key premises of the original thread.   It's a shame that your inaccurate, ad hominem t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g is still permitted on the Education Forum.

    For starters, the thread is not about your erroneous beliefs about psychiatry, mental illness, and my psychiatric career.

    It's about the bipartisan suppression of the JFKA records, and the persistent, misguided threads by Benjamin Cole framing the suppression of the JFK records as a partisan issue-- e.g., Ben claiming that, "We are all MAGAs now," since Biden has refused to release the records.

    The truth is that Donald Trump also refused to release the JFK records-- even though Trump is now advertising himself as a Deep State adversary.

    Secondly, the thread is about RFK, Jr.'s dysfunctional refusal to criticize Donald Trump's crimes and his reactionary MAGA cult.  Silence and denial are not constructive responses to the crisis of Trump-ism in contemporary American politics.

    RFK, Jr.'s public silence about Trump's serious crimes also prompted me to posit a hypothesis about RFJ, Jr.'s psychodynamic issues relating to the trauma of his uncle and father's murders.  I pointed out that, in his JFK Revisited interviews, RFK, Jr. appears to be experiencing intense, unresolved grief about the traumatic loss of his uncle and father.  Based on my work with PTSD patients, RFK, Jr. appears to be in an early stage of unresolved grief.

John Cotter wrote:

You’ve walked yourself into a quagmire of your own making here, William, and your desperate flailing about is just making matters worse.

Another John Cotter absurdity, in which he characteristically insists that the person he is t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g has lost the debate.

You invoked your “authority” as a psychiatrist in “diagnosing” RFK Jr. That authority derives from your membership of the American Psychiatric Association, not the American Psychoanalytic Association.

What was my "diagnosis," Sherlock?  Also, I haven't been an APA member for years. 

The former association is the leading such association on the planet and the publisher of the “bible” of psychiatry, the DSM. You know – the manual by reference to which you “diagnosed” the “mentally ill”, incarcerated them, lorded over them in their dehumanised degraded state and treated them accordingly.

Study the origins and precision of the descriptive psychiatry of the DSM-- most of it was based on the precise observations of 19th century European psychiatrists like Emil Kraepelin, in Munich, and Ricard von Krafft-Ebbing, in Vienna.  As usual, you are clueless.

The latter association is concerned with more ostensibly respectful, humane and enlightened practises such as the “talking cure”. Your saying that this association rejected the Goldwater rule is a dodge, a misdirection.

You strike out again, John.  I was trained by psychoanalysts, in one of the few remaining psychoanalytic residency programs in the U.S. in the mid-80s.

One association rejecting one of the rules of another association is irrelevant to the fact that it is your “authority” as a member of the latter association that you invoked in “diagnosing” RFK.

But nice try.

The Goldwater Rule is a political farce.  And I stand by my observation that RFK, Jr. appears to be in the early stages of genuinely working through the trauma of his family tragedies.  I believe I could significantly help the man, if I had an opportunity to talk to him.  I'd probably have him try EMDR therapy for PTSD.

Contrary to what you say, Erik Erikson was not a psychiatrist. He was a psychologist and psychoanalyst. As for Anthony Storr, I’ve read his books on creativity (The Dynamics of Creation) and Jung. As you say, Storr “analyzed historical figures”, but as far as I’m aware, he didn’t abuse his position as a psychiatrist by using it to denigrate a contemporary political figure.

So now analysis and honesty are "abusive," eh?  Have you studied Erikson's psychoanalytic writings about Hitler or Storr's psychoanalytic writings about Churchill?

Have you studied the psychiatric literature about Donald Trump?

People often comment on the mental state of politicians and other public figures as apparently manifested by their behaviour. There’s nothing wrong with that. We can all see what’s in front of our eyes, and we don’t need self-styled intellectual geniuses with lots of letters after their names to tell us what we’re seeing.

That’s completely different from what you’ve done in invoking your role as a psychiatrist to promulgate a supposedly authoritative “diagnosis”. It’s an abuse of your position and a breach of the relevant ethical rule of the association whose prestige you’ve hijacked to weaponise your political prejudice.

Again, what "diagnosis" and "abuse" are you referring to?  You really are cluelessly hostile to the medical sub-specialty of psychiatry.

Essentially, your “diagnosis” of RFK Jr is a particularly despicable ad hominem attack on him. It arises from the desperation caused by your inability to logically rebut his political views.

Which "political views" are you referring to in this idiotic, ad hominem post?

On this thread, I have questioned RFK, Jr.'s refusal to talk about Donald Trump's serious crimes against the United States-- and the threats that Trump's right wing, white supremacist cult pose for American democracy and civil rights.

American democracy and civil rights are betrayed by silence and denial.

Edited July 2, 2023 by W. Niederhut

[Lawrence Schnapf]

@W. Niederhut Trump's executive orders clearly violated the JFK Act- IMHO. i cobbled together several letters signed by lawyers, historians, researchers and open government groups to  senate and house leadership asking for oversight hearings on the failure of the executive branch to comply with the Act. These efforts fell onto deaf ears. 

But Trump is no longer president so it makes no sense to direct our ire towards him.

 

It is outrageous the BIDEN has continued this unlawful conduct. He is cowering to the absurd claims of the intelligence community that these 60 year old records not only present identifiable harm to national security but that the harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest. On this issue, he is no better than Trump.

While I'm not a professional therapist, I personally know RFK Jr from our mutual background. I have always felt he labored under some continuing emotional impact from the way his uncle and father were murdered. Who wouldn't?

But it is for that reason that I have lots of compassion for him.  Indeed, given your training, I have been surprised at the seemingly vehemence you exhibit towards him. I'm sure you are a highly skilled and compassionate professional so it appears to me that your commentary is animated by your political views  and not by your professionalism.

[W. Niederhut]

33 minutes ago, Lawrence Schnapf said:

@W. Niederhut Trump's executive orders clearly violated the JFK Act- IMHO. i cobbled together several letters signed by lawyers, historians, researchers and open government groups to  senate and house leadership asking for oversight hearings on the failure of the executive branch to comply with the Act. These efforts fell onto deaf ears. 

But Trump is no longer president so it makes no sense to direct our ire towards him.

 

It is outrageous the BIDEN has continued this unlawful conduct. He is cowering to the absurd claims of the intelligence community that these 60 year old records not only present identifiable harm to national security but that the harm is of such gravity that it outweighs the public interest. On this issue, he is no better than Trump.

While I'm not a professional therapist, I personally know RFK Jr from our mutual background. I have always felt he labored under some continuing emotional impact from the way his uncle and father were murdered. Who wouldn't?

But it is for that reason that I have lots of compassion for him.  Indeed, given your training, I have been surprised at the seemingly vehemence you exhibit towards him. I'm sure you are a highly skilled and compassionate professional so it appears to me that your commentary is animated by your political views  and not by your professionalism.

Larry,

     I share your indignation about Biden's refusal to release the JFK records.  In fact, I wrote a letter to Biden in 2021, as you advised, asking him to comply with the law and release the records.

     I only mentioned Trump's refusal to release the records in response to the redundant efforts of one Education Forum member to make the records release a partisan issue. 

     As for RFK, Jr., I absolutely feel compassion for him, for the traumatic loss of his father and uncle.

      I'm a lifelong fan of the Kennedy family.  I even attended Ted Kennedy's announcement of his Presidential candidacy at Faneuil Hall in 1979.

       I am disappointed that RFK, Jr. has refused to criticize Trump's right wing demagoguery.

       IMO, JFK and RFK would agree with me on that issue.

[John Cotter]

7 hours ago, W. Niederhut said:

John,

     I'm going to briefly correct your inaccurate, off-topic, ad hominem t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g of this thread-- in red-- after beginning with a brief summary of the key premises of the original thread.   It's a shame that your inaccurate, ad hominem t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g is still permitted on the Education Forum.

    For starters, the thread is not about your erroneous beliefs about psychiatry, mental illness, and my psychiatric career.

    It's about the bipartisan suppression of the JFKA records, and the persistent, misguided threads by Benjamin Cole framing the suppression of the JFK records as a partisan issue-- e.g., Ben claiming that, "We are all MAGAs now," since Biden has refused to release the records.

    The truth is that Donald Trump also refused to release the JFK records-- even though Trump is now advertising himself as a Deep State adversary.

    Secondly, the thread is about RFK, Jr.'s dysfunctional refusal to criticize Donald Trump's crimes and his reactionary MAGA cult.  Silence and denial are not constructive responses to the crisis of Trump-ism in contemporary American politics.

    RFK, Jr.'s public silence about Trump's serious crimes also prompted me to posit a hypothesis about RFJ, Jr.'s psychodynamic issues relating to the trauma of his uncle and father's murders.  I pointed out that, in his JFK Revisited interviews, RFK, Jr. appears to be experiencing intense, unresolved grief about the traumatic loss of his uncle and father.  Based on my work with PTSD patients, RFK, Jr. appears to be in an early stage of unresolved grief.

John Cotter wrote:

You’ve walked yourself into a quagmire of your own making here, William, and your desperate flailing about is just making matters worse.

Another John Cotter absurdity, in which he characteristically insists that the person he is t-r-o-l-l-i-n-g has lost the debate.

You invoked your “authority” as a psychiatrist in “diagnosing” RFK Jr. That authority derives from your membership of the American Psychiatric Association, not the American Psychoanalytic Association.

What was my "diagnosis," Sherlock?  Also, I haven't been an APA member for years. 

The former association is the leading such association on the planet and the publisher of the “bible” of psychiatry, the DSM. You know – the manual by reference to which you “diagnosed” the “mentally ill”, incarcerated them, lorded over them in their dehumanised degraded state and treated them accordingly.

Study the origins and precision of the descriptive psychiatry of the DSM-- most of it was based on the precise observations of 19th century European psychiatrists like Emil Kraepelin, in Munich, and Ricard von Krafft-Ebbing, in Vienna.  As usual, you are clueless.

The latter association is concerned with more ostensibly respectful, humane and enlightened practises such as the “talking cure”. Your saying that this association rejected the Goldwater rule is a dodge, a misdirection.

You strike out again, John.  I was trained by psychoanalysts, in one of the few remaining psychoanalytic residency programs in the U.S. in the mid-80s.

One association rejecting one of the rules of another association is irrelevant to the fact that it is your “authority” as a member of the latter association that you invoked in “diagnosing” RFK.

But nice try.

The Goldwater Rule is a political farce.  And I stand by my observation that RFK, Jr. appears to be in the early stages of genuinely working through the trauma of his family tragedies.  I believe I could significantly help the man, if I had an opportunity to talk to him.  I'd probably have him try EMDR therapy for PTSD.

Contrary to what you say, Erik Erikson was not a psychiatrist. He was a psychologist and psychoanalyst. As for Anthony Storr, I’ve read his books on creativity (The Dynamics of Creation) and Jung. As you say, Storr “analyzed historical figures”, but as far as I’m aware, he didn’t abuse his position as a psychiatrist by using it to denigrate a contemporary political figure.

So now analysis and honesty are "abusive," eh?  Have you studied Erikson's psychoanalytic writings about Hitler or Storr's psychoanalytic writings about Churchill?

Have you studied the psychiatric literature about Donald Trump?

People often comment on the mental state of politicians and other public figures as apparently manifested by their behaviour. There’s nothing wrong with that. We can all see what’s in front of our eyes, and we don’t need self-styled intellectual geniuses with lots of letters after their names to tell us what we’re seeing.

That’s completely different from what you’ve done in invoking your role as a psychiatrist to promulgate a supposedly authoritative “diagnosis”. It’s an abuse of your position and a breach of the relevant ethical rule of the association whose prestige you’ve hijacked to weaponise your political prejudice.

Again, what "diagnosis" and "abuse" are you referring to?  You really are cluelessly hostile to the medical sub-specialty of psychiatry.

Essentially, your “diagnosis” of RFK Jr is a particularly despicable ad hominem attack on him. It arises from the desperation caused by your inability to logically rebut his political views.

Which "political views" are you referring to in this idiotic, ad hominem post?

On this thread, I have questioned RFK, Jr.'s refusal to talk about Donald Trump's serious crimes against the United States-- and the threats that Trump's right wing, white supremacist cult pose for American democracy and civil rights.

American democracy and civil rights are betrayed by silence and denial.

William,

You're still flailing about in the quagmire I see. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by John Cotter

[James DiEugenio]

We are putting up a brief story and Action Alert on this today.

It is really kind of outrageous when you think about it.

As anyone who knows anything about the JFK Act understands, everything was supposed to be out in October of 2017. Everything, with no redactions.

We are now halfway through 2023, less than 5 months before the 60th and still everything is not out due to four delays by two presidents.

And now Biden stops everything in lieu of the CIA Transparency Plan.

This is ridiculous. The whole point of the JFK Act was to take away the right of refusal from the executive intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA.

So now, not only are the last of the documents still hidden, there are still redactions in the ones released.

I would like to hear from Tunheim on this one.

Edited July 2, 2023 by James DiEugenio