No I don’t think we were sedated, but people really trusted the government, and the media. I never heard anyone say anything except my Grandma who said that LBJ did it.
I was stunned into silence - thought it was weird, and couldn’t fathom why she thought that, but I was respectful, so I didn’t question it.
I personally thought it was Castro or Soviets, but was waiting to see what the Warren Commission said. Bobby accepted it. So I thought it was either a lone nut, or else he was saving us from nuclear war.
So much of what we know today, was not known then. Walter Cronkite - most trusted man in America? Well he didn’t deserve it, but the news people then were trusted. I didn’t really even know about all the stuff in the Church Hearings on the CIA, until more than 10 years later.
Our local papers didn’t have much news. The radio and TV was the main source - so we were either uninformed or misinformed. The internet is the reason we know so much today. The other thing is, the declassified stuff - the patterns are there.
The one thing I did learn in the 70s was about the Bilderbergs, and that they selected the people who should become candidates. Knew they wanted World Government. Did not really know that it was to be totalitarian though-that came later. I just naturally distrusted any powerful group that would meet in such secrecy.
We had a good system, but it depends on having Christian values such as honesty, integrity, and concern for others. It also depends on a free press telling the truth. That was something that was already lacking even in the 60s.
The Soviets were also, at that time very belligerent, and they were trying like crazy to start a race war. So there were a lot of things to worry about.
It depends on the people, not the press. The press has always been dishonest. Only recently, since 30's or so, has the "fourth estate, honest press" myth been pushed.
Why should the people trust the press, which it has ZERO control over, and not trust the government, which it can depose? Doesn't make sense. Free press means they can lie, or they tell the truth. It's up to the people to make sense of all the conflicting messages.
Ben Franklin was a master propagandist, see history wehre he had false stories planted in major papers of the day.
We had a good system, but it depends on having Christian values such as honesty, integrity, and concern for others. It also depends on a free press telling the truth. That was something that was already lacking even in the 60s.
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Only 3 channels to get all of the current news- and regretfully they still exist. The whitewash by the Warren Commission and finding out that the CIA didn’t have one lick of oversight helped me see that our system of checks and balances had already been subverted.
The gov’t kept getting worse (I don’t think all individuals participated willingly)and when Bush senior ran for President I would not, could not vote for him.
A past director of the CIA has to many skeletons to not be crooked.(Even if he got warped while on the job - which I no longer believe in Bushes case.)
I’ve read the many theories about JFK over the year... “the Mob did it” “CIA did it” “Lone Gunman did it” “J. Edgar Hoover did it” ..... ad nauseum
From JFK-9/11 Everything Is a Rich Man’s Trick - I finally learned that Agatha Christi had solved it with “Murder on the Orient Express” -— JFK had so P.O.ed everyone that they ALL did it.