The reasons I consider this to be a shite thread are:
i) there is already an existing
DPF bans Professor James H Fetzer thread, which lays out the arguments and counter-arguments, and at least started trying to do so without gloating;
ii) just as DPF discourages thread after thread about the Education Forum, so personally I am absolutely opposed to thread after thread about Jim Fetzer. One dump thread is better than endless new ones which lead to the arguments being rehearsed over and over again, essentially spamming up the forum;
iii) Fetzer is like the English sandwich spread, Marmite. You either love him or hate him. Or more recently, you either deify his work and declare it infallible, or you pity his work and declare it demented. There is little middle ground, and the threads ALWAYS end up in bitterness and conflict;
iv) as this thread, in its inglorious evolution and triggerhappy anger, demonstrates.
There was a major independent documentary about De Beers & the diamond cartel, shown by the BBC in the 90s. A great film, which exposed the whole shameful scam.
Unfortunately, one line in the film - alleging trading with the enemy in WW2 - could not be factually substantiated.
Corporate lawyers sued - not for damages, but rather for an undertaking that the film was never broadcast again.
And it never has been.
One small error prevented the repeated publication of a larger truth.
Or, to put it another way, the larger truth was contaminated by a single error.
With Fetzer, we are no longer talking about single errors.
Fetzer's multiple and manifold errors contaminate the battle to communicate the larger truth.
Here, once again, is the statement from the DPF founders:
The Moderators Wrote:DPF Bans Professor James H. Fetzer: The Rationale.
The Oswald Innocence Campaign, in their own words, is "a gathering of researchers, and concerned individuals, committed to spreading the truth that Lee Harvey Oswald was the "Man in the Doorway" in the famous photo, by Ike Altgens, which thereby exonerates Oswald of having shot at President Kennedy. In this case, a picture really is worth a million words, since it trumps the massive media effort to the contrary. We are taking a stand for what, upon close examination, the photo clearly reveals and cannot be denied by rational thinking people. The founding of the OIC marks a sea change in JFK research. A new breed of JFK researcher has emerged. Nevertheless, there are those on the internet, such S.V. Anderson and other "lone gunman" shills, who comb internet forums and cannot quite figure out why I, and others, of this new breed of conspiracy theorist, are so persistent and will not be silenced. The moment for the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth has come."
As research on the Deep Politics Forum and elsewhere has demonstrated, the photograph known as Altgens 6 is simply incapable of being used as "proof" that Lee Harvey Oswald was standing in a doorway on the streets of Dealy Plaza, and thus could not have been on the sixth floor shooting at President Kennedy. There is not enough "information" in the image to make the definitive judgement claimed by Fetzer and co. The claim also contradicts the most reliable witness evidence, which places Oswald in the vicinity of the Book Store's coke machine.
However, more fundamentally, such analysis of Altgens 6 is entirely irrelevant to Oswald's innocence. Decades of research into the life of Lee Harvey Oswald, into the circles in which he moved, into the plots prior to the assassination, into the nature of the deep political coverup after the assassination, and into the real historical context of JFK's presidency, expose the claim that "a picture really is worth a million words" as crude disinformation.
This promotion of "Oswald in the doorway" as the smoking gun that proves Oswald's innocence is deeply disturbing, as it will inevitably be shown as a massively overstated interpretation of the available evidence and thus tarnish the efforts of the entire research community.
Indeed, why is it that just before the 50th anniversary of the public slaughter of JFK, Fetzer and co announce the ridiculous vehicle known as the "Oswald Innocence Campaign"?
It feels more media stunt than serious research effort, and perhaps belongs in the faux and ephemeral sphere of the Blair Witch Project - an Oswald Innocence Project to entertain and titillate the masses.
We, the founders and owners of DPF, are deeply suspicious.
Here is how it is likely to play out.
MSM will be delighted to invite the sexily named Oswald Innocence Campaign members into newsrooms and onto anniversary documentaries. MSM will be delighted precisely because they know this supposed smoking gun, the interpretation of Altgens 6 as proof that Oswald was in the doorway, can be demolished in a moment. The claim can be demolished because the research community, of which DPF is a part, has already destroyed it.
Fundamentally, Altgens 6 cannot support the weight of interpretation placed upon it by the OIC.
End result: MSM has its cake and eats it. The self-proclaimed "Conspiracy Theorists" of the OIC are invited to make their best case, they put forward Altgens 6, MSM feigns interest then destroys the argument without raising so much as a sweat. And thus the meme that "you can't trust a Conspiracy Theorist to get anything right" is reinforced.
The circus continues.
The show goes on.
Fetzer and co chirp: "The founding of the OIC marks a sea change in JFK research. A new breed of JFK researcher has emerged."
Indeed. An incredibly stupid breed.
For some time, the founders and owners of DPF have been dismayed at the declining quality of Jim Fetzer's research in all deep political areas. The ludicrous and thoroughly debunked "Oswald in the doorway" theory is the final provocation.
We, the founders and owners of DPF, remain committed to shining light into the dark and shadowy reaches of deep political structures.
We also remain committed to exposing disinformation publicly, in stark daylight.
Once disinformation has been exposed, we will refuse to allow DPF to be used for the purposes of propaganda or Sunsteinian psy ops.
After reflection and discussion, we have decided upon the following courses of action:
i) to lock the "Oswald in the Doorway" thread, so it is not open to further comment. However, it will remain online in the interests of public education and exposure of the theory's total lack of credibility;
ii) to ban Jim Fetzer, as we have now concluded, with sadness, that his self-proclaimed "Conspiracy Theories" are the very worst examples of that discredited form, causing only damage to legitimate, considered, rigorous research.