12-06-2013, 01:32 PM
Albert Rossi Wrote:I'm a newcomer to Deep Politics Forum. Thank you for allowing me to post.
Albert - welcome. It is our pleasure.
Your review of Destiny Betrayed and your first post here are most insightful.
Albert Rossi Wrote:As for what led to JFK's death, his own "three strikes, you're out" reaction to Seven Days in May impresses me as particularly apt in terms of the Cuban situation: 1. Bay of Pigs; 2. Missile Crisis; 3. Back-Channel. But we can factor in any number of subsequent "Bay of Pigs" in other areas during the course of his final year in office, like the finalization of the Vietnam withdrawal plans, the Test Ban Treaty, etc., as contributory; as Douglass himself states, there is an embarrassment of choices. Why JFK was elected could also be explained by the fact that he did not always reveal his deeper convictions publicly, and appeared to embrace the Cold War rhetoric of the era (from which, however, it would be hasty to generalize about his intentions), so to some extent, at least, I think those who may have thought they could control him (since he was young and inexperienced in their eyes) did not really grasp whom they were dealing with. But that's just my take on it.
Books and films are different but complementary too.
I wrote about the Kennedy/Khruschev episode in Stone's Untold History documentary series in post #3 onwards in the DPF thread here.
Stone decided to use Seven Days In May and the "three strikes" quote as both a frame and as resonant shorthand to suggest the true nature of the public slaughter of JFK.
The narrative then cuts away from Dallas to the writing out of history of Nikita Khruschev and the largely unknown story of Vasili Arkhipov.
The juxtaposition of these contemporary events is, in my judgement, powerful and compelling.
When the documentary returns to America, it draws attention to the "promise of JFK's last year", cut down by the "Medusa", the Unspeakable, the Grotesque.
The Grotesque which is an invisible presence in our history books.
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war