Remembering JFK: Voices from a Smoldering Grave

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Official White House photo. In the public domain.

MEMORIAL PROSE POEM

 by Anthony J. Marsella

John Fitzgerald Kennedy  (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), President of the United States of America

I.

I cannot rest,                                                                                   My spirit rages;                                                                      Incomplete truths, lies — remain.                                               My grave smolders!

 

I seek escape,                                                                                                                                    From casket, eternal flame, defamation,                                                                            Contrived by scrupulous minds,                                                                                                Penned by stained hands.

Conspiracy!                                                                                                                                             Protection for villains,                                                                                                                     Safety from condemnation.                                                                                                                    I was assassinated!

A grievous, immoral, illegal act!                                                                                          Complicit forces: Government, military, corporations, criminals!                                           No remorse, forced tears, false sympathies;                                                                               “Your Daddy was a great man, Caroline!”

Fear of contention:                                                                                                                             End wars, reduce military,                                                                                                            Prosecute criminals,                                                                                                                          Restore national identity!

Accept faults,                                                                                                                                           Confess errors,                                                                                                                              Compensate victims,                                                                                                                           On your knees, America!

Democracy disguised!                                                                                                                     Secret State, Shadow State, Deep State, No State;                                                                 Cabals, factions, sects, cliques, clans, tribes, Parties!                                                                     Plots, plans, intrigue – cowards –conspiracy!

II.

In death, I remain:                                                                                                                    Timeless beacon,                                                                                                                                      Truth image, of truth,                                                                                                                      Hope symbol!

Evil continues!                                                                                                                            Relishing roles,                                                                                                                               Celebrating deceit,                                                                                                                           Valorizing schemes.

Know this:                                                                                                                     From each grain of earthydust,                                                                                    I will continue to speak,                                                                                               Silence impossible!

 

 III. 

What madness possesses you?                                                                                                       What fury grips your mind?                                                                                                                What passions drive you,                                                                                                                 Justified betrayal!

You kill your own,                                                                                                                        Oblivious to consequence,                                                                                                     Hardened to suffering,                                                                                                                Grinning demon in morning mirror!

Patriot Act, DHS, NSA, FBI, CIA, DEA . . .                                                                          Acronyms cover vile purpose.                                                                                                         You crave dominion;                                                                                                                          My God, you are evil!

My assassination insufficient?                                                                                                    Family deaths: Brother? Son? Lovers?                                                                                         Each death whetting appetites,                                                                                                   Pleasuring for more?.

Plausible deniability!                                                                                                                            Cover: National Security!                                                                                                                    No fear! No constraint.                                                                                                                       No limit to menace.

IV.

Eisenhower saw, warned, escaped.                                                                                          Shocked by knowledge and participation,                                                                                      His image now safe!                                                                                                                           Kansas!

Johnson burdened by graves he dug!                                                                                         Carter repentant for Christian compromise . . .                                                                    Reagan, smiling, failing, vomiting.                                                                                            Nixon, mad with paranoia.

Clinton caught by semen splashes,                                                                                                     1. H. W. Bush enamored with elites, oligarchy, Skull & Bones;                                                   2. W. Bush, “You are with us, or against us.” He is both!                                                   Obama, election promises, lived lies!

These our leaders!                                                                                                                               Cry America! Shout enough!                                                                                                         They please:                                                                                                                                         War machines, coffin makers, gold collectors!

Libraries, shrines, sacred places to preserve names.                                                             Marble slabs inscribed words, images, reputations.                                                                 Keep alive presidential cults, designed to mollify,                                                                Penance for sin! Atonement for lies!

I claim no special sanction,                                                                                                        Beyond my mapped death!                                                                                                         Dismiss me if you will,                                                                                                                     Flee, if you wish, from hypocrisy!

Know I walked corridors of power,                                                                                             Know I stood amid whispered gatherings,                                                                                 Know I tolerated secrecy;                                                                                                                  For this, I suffer in death!

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea máxima culpa.                                                                 “Oh my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended you . . . “                                                      I learned, too late, lessons of betrayal,                                                                                                 I learned, too late, trials of victimhood.

No longer! I speak now for those killed,                                                                                    Home and abroad, young and old,                                                                                             Across time and place.                                                                                                            Memories cannot be bought!

V.

Fascism thrives!                                                                                                                                Who won? Homeland, Fatherland, Empire, Kingdom, Amerika!                                         Uber Alles! Deaths in vain!                                                                                          Surveillance, archives, fusion centers!

 Drones, robots, androids!                                                                                         You defile warriors!                                                                                                   You dishonor soldiers.                                                                                               You glorify war, dismiss death!

I am cold in bone and body,                                                                                    Shriveled from age and decay,                                                                               Scattered dust on coffin floor,                                                                                 Guarded by impervious flames.

Like John’s Brown body,                                                                                                          I smolder in my grave,                                                                                                      When will it end?                                                                                                                     We are fodder!

 Words rise from flames:                                                                                                      You command, kill, destroy for naught;                                                                       Ask John Brown’s Body! “. . .                                                                                         Truth goes marching on!”

 

Anthony J. Marsella

November 22, 2017

 

The Power of Tyranny, the Tyranny of Power

Police in riot gear at Ferguson, MO, protest. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Jamelle Bouie.

By Kathie MM and Anthony J. Marsella

To begin our new series on Torture, Tyranny, and Terrorizing, Dr. Anthony Marsella shared his perspectives on torture , highlighting the many forms that torture can take, ranging from child abuse through slavery to waterboarding, and murder.

Today we turn our attention to tyranny, defined as the “arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority.” Power, like torture, is a many-edged sword that can wreak terror and injustice in the hands of a tyrant.

As described by Professor Marsella in Transcend magazine:

  1. “Politics is about the “distribution” of power;
  2. Power is the capacity to effect “change” through control and domination of power sources and distribution;
  3. “Asymmetric” distributions of power risk abuses of individual, group, and nation rights, privilege, and choice;
  4. “Governance” constitutes a structure, organization, and process for monitoring, distributing, and sustaining power;
  5. Vertical “governance” structures and processes are subject to abuse via hierarchical concentrations of power;
  6. Societal population sectors with disproportionate wealth, privilege, and position can establish power “hegemony” (i.e., excessive self-serving influences);
  7. “Hegemonic” power sanctions use of “force” both to maintain control, dominance, and influence, and to preserve the status quo favoring power bases;
  8. “Force” options used by those in power include violence, war, “total” war, assassination, false flags, propaganda, deceit, character defamation, and assassination;
  9. “Absolute” power may be invested in a dictator, secret government, established government-military-corporate-media-educational complex, and/or cabals of undemocratic sources;
  10. “Absolute” power corrupts “absolutely;”
  11. All forms of power corruption result in asymmetric distribution of rights, privileges, and opportunities;
  12. Power corruption is evident in cronyism, bribery, favoritism, secrecy, advantage, force, nepotism, tribalism, and excessive wealth accumulation;
  13. “Absolute” power does not yield readily to public criticism, disapproval, or condemnation;
  14. Legal, ethical, constitutional, and moral codes of power distribution are often “biased” in favor of those in power, resulting in “injustice;”
  15. Power “injustice” abuses result in reactive and compensatory uses of “force” by victims of “injustice,” including protests, rebellion, violence, and “allegations” and “accusations” of “terrorism.”

BUT, resistance to power injustices does not always take the form of reactive force.  In our next post, we will consider the range of options—and forms of power—available to individuals and groups dedicated to resisting abuses of power.

 


Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment, is a past president of Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Emeritus Professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii’s Manoa Campus in Honolulu, Hawaii, and past director of the World Health Organization Psychiatric Research Center in Honolulu.  He is known internationally as a pioneer figure in the study of culture and psychopathology who challenged the ethnocentrism and racial biases of many assumptions, theories, and practices in psychology and psychiatry. In more recent years, he has been writing and lecturing on peace and social justice. He has published 21 books and more than 300 articles, tech reports, and popular commentaries. He can be reached at marsella@hawaii.edu.

The complete Transcend article can be found here.

Abuse of ethical standards? Experts in support of war

By guest contributor Michael D. Knox, Ph.D.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has bombed more than 25 countries. In these 68 years, no other nation has killed and injured more people living outside its borders. We have more nuclear weapons, more chemical weapons, and more soldiers than all other nations combined.

Nazi physician Karl Brandt sentenced at International Military Tribunal.
Nazi physician Karl Brandt is sentenced at International Military Tribunal. Image in public domain, from Wikimedia Commons.

In 2014, the U.S. continues drone and missile attacks on residential neighborhoods in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. We use concentration camps, torture, assassination, threats of war, and spying on our own people.

The invasions, the killing of thousands of children, the suffering of the wounded, the torture, the environmental impact, and so on, occur only because of support provided by professionals, educators, and scientists whose ethical standards should preclude any involvement with war.

These specialized experts include university professors, scientists, healthcare providers, journalists, engineers, teachers, and the clergy. Modern U.S. wars could not be fought without the complicity of these respected groups. Such groups were also part of the German war machine.

If you are a member of a group with ethical standards, be aware of what contributions your colleagues may be making to the U.S. war efforts. Consider how ethical standards apply, hold violators accountable, and do what you can to get your profession out of the war business.

All Americans, regardless of occupation, should consider what they are doing to sustain war. Without citizen support there would be no U.S. warfare.  Please consider what you might do to show your opposition to the bloodshed. Examples of what other Americans have done are recorded in the US Peace Registry.

Michael D. Knox, Ph.D., is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Florida, Tampa, and chair of the US Peace Memorial Foundation. He is also editor of the US Peace Registry. Dr. Knox’s work is now focused on recognizing Americans who have had the courage to publicly oppose one or more U.S. wars www.uspeacememorial.org/WorldPeace.htm.