Has the JFKA perhaps just run its course?

[Lance Payette]

I just donated $100 because I'm a kindly sort and realize that maintaining a forum does entail some expense. (The last forum I donated to - White Horse Theology - pulled the plug about two weeks later, so hopefully I don't have the reverse-Midas touch here.)

With that, however, I am voting with my feet.

Insofar as the forum itself is concerned, I find it impossible to follow discussions where (1) there is no notification that one of your own posts has been responded to, and (2) pretty much every thread is rapidly derailed by non-substantive, ad hominem sniping by a handful of regulars who clearly hate each other and whose posts you must wade through in search of anything substantive. Perhaps what is needed is a single Pissing Contest Thread strictly for anything-goes ad hominem attacks?

(BTW, someone named Fergus just chided me for calling another poster a nutcase. I will agree that "nutcase" was beneath me - I usually attempt to be at least mildly witty - but surely it's little more than par for the course here? Neverthelss, Fergie, you did make me weep in shame. I hope you're happy now, you beast.)

The Ed Forum has descended to pretty much the same level, in the hands of nutcase (oops!) moderators and a handful of regulars who just say the same things ad nauseam. It isn't even worth lurking anymore. And Greg Parker's is gone.

This raises a larger issue, it seems to me: Has the JFKA just run its course? Has it reached the level of little more than a handful of old farts (hey, that's me!) who just mumble the same things over and over and over as they drool into their porridge? Jesus, has every possible nuance of the case not been beaten to death and beyond? Isn't it kind of ... well, BIZARRE ... that fanatics keep rehashing the same arguments as though minds were actually going to be changed?

That's why I really can't see the JFKA obsession as anything more than a game or hobby with a fair dose of mental illness at the fringes. What on earth is actually the point? Every time I attempt to participate, I quickly end up asking myself "Am I as nutty as these people? If not - and I don't think I am - what am I doing here, other than making myself look as though I actually am just as nutty?"

The current flickering flame is the hope that the remaining JFKA records will at last contain bombshells that will settle the matter. They won't, of course. The very idea that they would, 62+ years after the event, is fundamentally absurd. Yet the hope persists because ... well, because that's all there is. When that hope is gone, I see the JFKA being of about as much interest as the assassination of Caesar. (Perhaps there is a forum somewhere in which REALLY old farts debate the Lone Brutus theory and call each other archaic names. You know, that sounds kind of interesting ...)

With that, I bid you a semi-fond adieu - even you nutcases, who are fascinating psychological studies if nothing else.

"Good riddance, you pompous, self-important twit!!!" There, I saved you the trouble.

Duncan, it is my last will and testament that you spend at least $50 of my $100 on a round of Guinness Stouts at the your favorite pub.

[W. Tracy Parnell]

I just donated $100 because I'm a kindly sort and realize that maintaining a forum does entail some expense. (The last forum I donated to - White Horse Theology - pulled the plug about two weeks later, so hopefully I don't have the reverse-Midas touch here.)

With that, however, I am voting with my feet.

Insofar as the forum itself is concerned, I find it impossible to follow discussions where (1) there is no notification that one of your own posts has been responded to, and (2) pretty much every thread is rapidly derailed by non-substantive, ad hominem sniping by a handful of regulars who clearly hate each other and whose posts you must wade through in search of anything substantive. Perhaps what is needed is a single Pissing Contest Thread strictly for anything-goes ad hominem attacks?

(BTW, someone named Fergus just chided me for calling another poster a nutcase. I will agree that "nutcase" was beneath me - I usually attempt to be at least mildly witty - but surely it's little more than par for the course here? Neverthelss, Fergie, you did make me weep in shame. I hope you're happy now, you beast.)

The Ed Forum has descended to pretty much the same level, in the hands of nutcase (oops!) moderators and a handful of regulars who just say the same things ad nauseam. It isn't even worth lurking anymore. And Greg Parker's is gone.

This raises a larger issue, it seems to me: Has the JFKA just run its course? Has it reached the level of little more than a handful of old farts (hey, that's me!) who just mumble the same things over and over and over as they drool into their porridge? Jesus, has every possible nuance of the case not been beaten to death and beyond? Isn't it kind of ... well, BIZARRE ... that fanatics keep rehashing the same arguments as though minds were actually going to be changed?

That's why I really can't see the JFKA obsession as anything more than a game or hobby with a fair dose of mental illness at the fringes. What on earth is actually the point? Every time I attempt to participate, I quickly end up asking myself "Am I as nutty as these people? If not - and I don't think I am - what am I doing here, other than making myself look as though I actually am just as nutty?"

The current flickering flame is the hope that the remaining JFKA records will at last contain bombshells that will settle the matter. They won't, of course. The very idea that they would, 62+ years after the event, is fundamentally absurd. Yet the hope persists because ... well, because that's all there is. When that hope is gone, I see the JFKA being of about as much interest as the assassination of Caesar. (Perhaps there is a forum somewhere in which REALLY old farts debate the Lone Brutus theory and call each other archaic names. You know, that sounds kind of interesting ...)

With that, I bid you a semi-fond adieu - even you nutcases, who are fascinating psychological studies if nothing else.

"Good riddance, you pompous, self-important twit!!!" There, I saved you the trouble.

Duncan, it is my last will and testament that you spend at least $50 of my $100 on a round of Guinness Stouts at the your favorite pub.

Glad to see you here Lance and, as usual, you have it exactly right. All of the arguments have been made and remade and the LN argument (let's call it the modified WC theory of the assassination-LHO did it alone firing the shots in 8 or more seconds with the only possible conspiracy coming in the form of Castro acolytes assisting or at least encouraging him) has prevailed. To use a term from the book "Conspiracy Theories, a Primer" by Uscinski, epistemological authorities have accepted that LHO did it alone. The conspiracy people have been unable to present sufficent evidence to reverse that opinion.

The last hope for the CTs is indeed the JFK files. But we know there is nothing there that will change the concept that LHO did it. Tunheim and others have seen the files and stated this. For a deep dive into what is really in the files see:

http://jfkarc.info/2025/02/19/redact-2025-02/

And as you correctly point out, the notion that there would be anything there is silly. So, we are rapidly approaching the "end of days" for the CTs. At that point, the JFK assassination will indeed be relegated to the likes of the Lincoln assassination etc.

[John Iacoletti]

This isn't an airport -- you don't need to announce your departure.

That said, Lance charged in here with the usual arrogant LN appeals to ridicule and his own non-substantive ad hominem, so he shouldn't really be surprised that he was responded to in kind.

[Dan O'meara]

Your non-contribution to the debate will be sorely unmissed.