And that point is when they start talking about the actual assassination itself. It is not because I am too squeamish to look at the Zapruder film or too sad to relive the moment. Quite the contrary I studied that moment for at least 30 of those 50 years. I read everything I could gather about that moment. I studied photographs, and video , devoured every documentary. It is when these mainstream media specials start talking about the who and why. That is when I can no longer stomach watching the TV machine. More over the squiggly...
I was watching a JFK memorial on the National Geographic channel last night narrated by actor Bill Paxton that was actually quite good. It counted down the last 24 hours of JFK's life after he landed in Houston before his fateful trip to Dallas. It included some never before seen video of his trip to Houston. They interviewed several people who interacted with Kennedy during that trip and their remembrances were truly eye-opening and fascinating. Then came the day of the actual assassination itself. That's when the documentary went into the Lee Harvey Oswald assassin mode, and that's when I turned it off ( although a co-worker today told me that later on in the special they developed some kooky theory of a secret service agent killing Kennedy by accident, which is much worse than the lone gunman theory because it just diverts attention from where it should be focused).
The JFK assassination is still painful for me to this day. The memory of sitting in that 8th grade classroom when the principals voice came on the intercom announcing that JFK had been shot and killed. The girls crying in the classroom. Going home that night seeing my Dad sitting on the couch with a look on his face that I had never seen before(later on as I got older he would tell me he felt worse that day than he did when his own father died). It is even more painful, 50 years later to see the mainstream media still portray Lee Harvey Oswald as the assassin when fully 70% of America believes he didn't act alone or he had nothing to do with it at all. I am firmly in the latter camp. I believe he was just what he said he was, as he told reporters briefly in the hallway of the Dallas Police station, " I am just a patsy."
I believe November 22, 1963 was the beginning of the end of the American dream. It is certainly the American nightmare now, as the late, great George Carlin said. It is a shame the American national media ( owned by a few corporations) is still in denial about the who and why behind his killing.
So between now and November 22 there will be many more JFK TV specials. I will watch most of them .....to a certain point.