The Watering Hole

I've never followed the American history of the JFK shooting saga etc, just was never relevant to anything here for me, but seems to be all over the news at the moment because of the anniversary of the shooting.

I keep hearing how "great" he was etc etc.   Is his perceived greatness down to the fact that he was assassinated and therefore moved into the realms of legend and has nothing to do with him being great but more to do with him being dead, or was he indeed a "great" leader, and if so, why ?

Please discuss.

This is a question for the Dems/Libs.  Charger, Tripper and Hookbender should be along shortly to give their slant on it.  

Ok, since even jokes seem to offend people (and people who don't mind offending) I must at this time issue my standard "I am only joking" disclaimer.  

lots of people found him inspirational - go to the moon... that stuff. there was a fascination with his family and the mystique of "Camelot", the young family man taking over from the war hero... etc. people just liked the guy intuitively - he was charismatic. the shooting was a big shock that shoved all his negatives under the rug and they mostly stayed there. much like 9/11 making bush a great leader for a few months despite his being bush, he became, in memory, what people wanted him to be. it will probably die out in a decade or so... who commemorates the day McKinley was shot? no one... everyone who could remember it is dead.

He had a magic about him, that star quality that some have, as a president he was just OK. I was young at the time and more into pussy than politics. He was a good guy but like all politicians he had a party affiliation, and reelection priorities that mitigated what he did for the people. I was under the dashboard of a 1963 Ford doing some warantee work on it, and that is when I heard the news of the Dallas shooting. Shocked everyone.

Of course he was a philanderer, banging any thing that was female and walked upright. But all of that came out long after his death.

I did not think he was anything special at the time truthfully, and you can bet Republicans hated his guts at the time of course. All in all, his greatness is more nostalgia than anything else.

I was there at the time. 21 years old when he got shot. So I was aware of him and what he was about at the time.

He may have lead more in death than life...  People look back and highlight what they like about his term, both "sides" have been doing this.  He seemed to signal some cultural shifts that were happening here, plus they were the glamour couple that the masses love...mebee closer to your royalty trip, "stylistic leadership".  Cuba working out showed some leadership.  The Dem party was an interesting group at the time, trying to lead them musta been fun, mebee involved Hoover for Lyndon later.

Recent history for the US and shocking at that, I wasn't here yet...

There were a lot of other things since his assassination that has continued to fuel his legacy.  His family has been under the media rectalscope since.  Countless family news over the years constantly flames the story.  I.E.  Brother assassinated a few years later.  Another brother carwreck / sex scandal.  Wife marries Billionaire.  Son dies in plane crash.  Daughter ambassador to Japan.  Many many others.

Similar to your Royal family.  Constantly in the news.  Big anniversaries roll the ball and more shit sticks to it.  It has become big.  Bigger than the politics.

Interesting. I always wonder about the crap the media tell us.  They build certain people up and destroy others and none of it is worth a crap really. The media tells us that certain people are "great" and the massess just blindly follow this shit without questioning anything.....but I question everything, especially if the media says it's true.....usually means it isn't

Yeah, I always wonder how much of a story is fact.  My own experience with the media is they will embellish a story for their benefit.  Every Network or Station has some slant to it.  On one channel a guy was murdered.  On the next channel, the same guy stepped in front of a bullet. :o

The only story is that he, the President of the US, was shot and killed. Not much else to tell. Today, that family represents what's wrong, in part, with politics in America. Rich fuckers having careers in politics who, IMO, aren't worth a shit to begin with. (As politicians)

DreamTheaterRules — Nov 22, 2013This is a question for the Dems/Libs.  Charger, Tripper and Hookbender should be along shortly to give their slant on it.  

Ok, since even jokes seem to offend people (and people who don't mind offending) I must at this time issue my standard "I am only joking" disclaimer.  

It's only a real disclaimer if you mean it. :)

Not a Dem, only partially a Lib, I don't have much to say about Kennedy except that he died almost 10 years before I was born, his accent was hilarious, it's amazing to think someone that young was President, and there's no chance in HELL he would have survived as a politician in our 24-hour-news/TMZ/bullshit culture.

But the same could be said of Reagan if he had to contend with the party purity mentality of Fox News/Limbaugh when he was working with Democrats on compromises and raising taxes and giving immigrants amnesty.

And Bill Maher did this, which I found hilarious (hopefully the link will work):
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=655385824481648

Tripper

Just like to add, I'm not a liberal.

Just saw Killing Kennedy with my Mom.  They did a really good job!

Jon — Nov 23, 2013Interesting. I always wonder about the crap the media tell us.  They build certain people up and destroy others and none of it is worth a crap really. The media tells us that certain people are "great" and the massess just blindly follow this shit without questioning anything.....but I question everything, especially if the media says it's true.....usually means it isn't

The media and the TV, are the best brain washing tools ever invented by mankind. It forms public opinion in seconds, and if public opinion wanders away from where the media wants it, the media makes effort to pull it back.

I spend quite a lot of time with the TV turned off, I mediate daily, I play the guitar daily, I walk to the gym 3x weekly and work out on weights, then on the other days I ride my bike for 6 or so miles in our community. My wife watches it a lot of time and during those times I play games on my I-Pad and listen to MP3's on my MP3 player so I don't have to listen to that stupid dialog on the sitcoms. The TV actually hurts my head a lot of time. I prefer silence.

desertbluesman — Nov 25, 2013[quote author=Jon G link=1385155452/0#6 date=1385241795]Interesting. I always wonder about the crap the media tell us.  They build certain people up and destroy others and none of it is worth a crap really. The media tells us that certain people are "great" and the massess just blindly follow this shit without questioning anything.....but I question everything, especially if the media says it's true.....usually means it isn't

The media and the TV, are the best brain washing tools ever invented by mankind. It forms public opinion in seconds, and if public opinion wanders away from where the media wants it, the media makes effort to pull it back.

I spend quite a lot of time with the TV turned off, I mediate daily, I play the guitar daily, I walk to the gym 3x weekly and work out on weights, then on the other days I ride my bike for 6 or so miles in our community. My wife watches it a lot of time and during those times I play games on my I-Pad and listen to MP3's on my MP3 player so I don't have to listen to that stupid dialog on the sitcoms. The TV actually hurts my head a lot of time. I prefer silence.

What is mediate?

Duh....Nevermind. ;D

Typo amigo, meditate

Yeah. I realized that.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFUEgFdP5zE

;D ;D