A particular JFK speech

[Paul Mackin]

On 12/17/2011 1:20 PM, Ian Livingston wrote:
> Alarm? No. I just thought the phrasing was all so ambiguous as to
> qualify as nearly paranoid. Maybe, as Michael says, it's just JFK
> out-mongering his press. That seems a likely enough take. I just
> wondered if it might have relevance to the more generalized paranoia
> we meet in Pynchon' oevre and in Nixon and his breed of Repugnicans.

Sorry for the flippant remark.

P
>
> On Sat, Dec 17, 2011 at 9:56 AM, Paul Mackin<mackin.paul at verizon.net>  wrote:
>> I take it, therefore, this Kennedy speech is no great cause for alarm for
>> the p-list.
>>
>> P
>>
>>
>> On 12/17/2011 8:20 AM, Michael Bailey wrote:
>>> I mean, if you look at the context:
>>> he's in front of the newspaper guys, who are not all that friendly to
>>> him, which he mentions.
>>>
>>> he contrasts open society with the secrecy and the stealth of
>>> Communist insurgency
>>>
>>> he tries to unite everyone at the gathering against that threat, and
>>> enlist their loyalty, and remind them of their duty as newspapermen.
>>> I really don't see this as a forum for any kind of venting of
>>> suspicions other than against totalitarian Communism, and the need to
>>> distinguish free society from it...
>>>
>>> and there's no development beyond the mere mention of "secret
>>> societies" - it's a real stretch, although I personally believe in the
>>> existence and abhor the effects of numerous secret societies such as
>>> ALEC and Skull and Bones, I don't see them in this speech.
>>>
>>> However, we do know that at this same time, Kennedy was putting out
>>> secret feelers to Khruschchev and to Castro and in fact via
>>> journalists (this is detailed in James Douglass's excellent _JFK and
>>> the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why it Matters_ .)
>>>
>
>