{"id":1392162,"date":"2023-12-14T14:32:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:32:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=146562"},"modified":"2023-12-14T14:32:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-14T14:32:48","slug":"hideous-times-of-high-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/12\/14\/hideous-times-of-high-hope\/","title":{"rendered":"Hideous Times of High Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It is hard for those who have not lived through the shattering political assassinations of the 1960s to grasp their significance for today.\u00a0 Many might assume that that was then and long before their time, so let\u2019s move on to what we must deal with today.\u00a0 Let some old folks, the obsessive ones, live in the past.\u00a0 It is an understandable but mistaken attitude that this documentary will quickly shatter, visually and audibly.\u00a0 The echoes of those guns that killed President John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy in rapid succession repeat and repeat and repeat down through the years, and their echoes bang off the walls of all today\u2019s news that springs from the cells of all the little digital dinguses that provide a constant stream of distractions and fear porn meant to titillate but not illuminate the connections between then and now, nor those between the four subjects of this illuminating film.<\/p>\n

Today we are living the consequences of the CIA\/national security state\u2019s 1960s takeover of the country.\u00a0 Their message then and now: We, the national security state, rule, we have the guns, the media, and the power to dominate you.\u00a0 We control the stories you are meant to hear.\u00a0 If you get uppity, well-known, and dare challenge us, we will buy you off, denigrate you, or, if neither works, we will kill you.\u00a0 You are helpless, they reiterate endlessly.\u00a0 Bang. Bang. Bang.<\/p>\n

But they lie, and\u00a0this series<\/a>, beginning with its first installment (see sneak peek\u00a0here<\/a>), will tell you why.\u00a0 It will show why understanding the past is essential for transforming the present.\u00a0 It will profoundly inspire you to see and hear these four bold and courageous men refuse to back down to the evil forces that shot them down.\u00a0 It will open your eyes to the parallel spiritual paths they walked and the similarity of the messages they talked about \u2013 peace, justice, racism, human rights, and the need for economic equality \u2013 not just in the U.S.A. but across the world, for the fate of all people was then, and is now, linked to the need to transform the U.S. warfare state into a country of peace and human reconciliation, just as these four men radically underwent deep transformations in the last year of their brief lives.<\/p>\n

Four Died Trying<\/em><\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>directed by John Kirby, the wonderful filmmaker who made\u00a0The American Ruling Class\u00a0<\/em>with and about Lewis Lapham, and produced by Libby Handros, his partner in exposing the criminals that run the country, has just begun streaming.<\/p>\n

As I watched the first twenty minutes of this opening episode, I was inwardly screaming, feeling deep in my soul how powerfully the film was capturing the essence of the dynamic, prophetic, and charismatic voices of JFK, Malcolm X, MLK, Jr., and RFK.\u00a0 All shot down \u2013 we hear the gun shots \u2013 by deep state forces, even as the film artfully juxtaposes this brutality against video clips of new reports, images of advertisements for silly products, and television shows that kept most of the public entertained and distracted during the 1960s carnage. \u00a0Doing the Hokey Pokey, as the soundtrack plays it, but not turning around in a profound sense, as did the four who died trying to radically change the country and the world for the better.\u00a0 Simply as film art, this documentary is ingenious.\u00a0 And its use of music is great.<\/p>\n

I was transported back to the time of my youth.\u00a0 I was startled again by the powerful courage, passion, and eloquent intelligence of those four compelling voices that once lifted my spirits to the heavens, and I felt the despair as well as each assassination followed the other and my spirits sank.\u00a0 It is not nostalgic, I am sure, to say that one is hard pressed to find those qualities in many leaders today.\u00a0 Like others of my generation, I am still trying to grasp the depths of what their assassinations did to me. \u00a0Bob Dylan, who came to prominence in the midst of it all, referring ironically to his own life and work, has said that his first girlfriend was named Echo. \u00a0I think I know her, for she echoed down the canyons of my mind as I watched this prologue and continues as I now reflect upon it.<\/p>\n

So it does get hard to be objective, if that is what you want.\u00a0 I don\u2019t.\u00a0 This not-to-be-missed film is truthful, for it uses vintage footage of what these men said and what was said against them by a government\/media intent of distorting their messages and their assassinations.\u00a0 Listen and then research if you have any doubts.\u00a0 See if the film is truthful or manipulative,\u00a0 As one who has deeply studied these matters, I can attest to the former.<\/p>\n

And I can tell you that if you are young and never knew about these four guys and what men they were \u2013 not in any macho sense, but as true lovers of human beings, men with chests, as C.S. Lewis described those who were true and brave and undaunted by the then current vibes that sucked the soul out of you, not pseudo-men in the \u201cpumping iron\u201d sense, not men who tried to appeal to your grossest stereotypes \u2013 you are in for a great surprise.\u00a0 You will yearn to see them resurrected in others today.\u00a0 In yourselves.\u00a0 As Malcolm X said hopefully, \u201cThe dead are arising.\u201d<\/p>\n

This 58 minute prologue touches on many themes that will follow in the months ahead.\u00a0 \u00a0Season One will be divided into chapters that cover the four assassinations together with background material covering \u201cthe world as it was\u201d in the 1950s with its Cold War propaganda, McCarthyism, the rise of the military-industrial complex, the CIA, red-baiting, and the ever present fear of nuclear war.\u00a0 Season Two will be devoted to the government and media cover-ups, citizen investigations, and the intelligence agencies\u2019 and their media mouthpieces\u2019 mind control operations aimed at the American people that continue today.<\/p>\n

One important aspect of this documentary series \u2013 never before done in film \u2013 is the way it shows the linkages between these four great leaders.\u00a0 Beside their own words, we hear from their families and associates throughout.\u00a0 Based on over 120 interviews conducted over many years, we hear from the four men\u2019s children, Vince Salandria, James W. Douglass, Mort Sahl, Harry Belafonte, Khaleed Sayyed, \u00a0Earl Caldwell, Clarence Jones, James Galbraith, John Hunt, Stephen Schlesinger, Andrew Young, Oliver Stone, David Talbot, Adam Walinsky, et al<\/em>.\u00a0 It is an amazing list of thoughtful commentators who tell the story for the dead men whose living tongues have been silenced, although we are privileged for their fatidic cinematic ghosts to speak to us through archival footage.<\/p>\n

In this opening Prologue, I was especially impressed with the words of\u00a0Vince Salandria<\/a>, one of the earliest critics of the Warren Commission\u2019s absurd claims, and Adam Walinsky, a former aide and speechwriter for RFK, who made it clear that we are free, no matter what the propagandists tell us.\u00a0 That freedom to think and act, to make connections between then and now, to see the linkages between the four men\u2019s messages and today, is crucial to carry on their legacy.\u00a0 That message ends the Prologue.\u00a0 It is a message of hope in a dark time.<\/p>\n

This opening prologue is divided into four parts, each devoted to what each man tried to accomplish.\u00a0 That is followed by a section on how they died and the ways it was buried, ending with an Epilogue on why they died and why it matters today.<\/p>\n

All four died fighting the international power structure, the CIA and FBI, the military-industrial complex, the racist ideology central to the capitalist elites\u2019 economic injustice and warfare state \u2013 those deep structures of power that have come to be called the deep state.\u00a0 They were brothers in arms, their only weapons being their linked arms in a spiritual war against evil forces.\u00a0 They were men of compassionate conscience, warriors for peace and justice for all.\u00a0 That is why they were killed.<\/p>\n

Four Died Trying<\/em> is a profound documentary.\u00a0 It is good that each episode will be a stand-alone short film \u2013 that gives the viewer time to absorb its lessons rather than bringing on too much too soon.\u00a0 Once you watch this prologue, with its overview of all to come, you will be hooked.\u00a0 It is not just revelatory history, but is artistically made, and, dare I say, entertaining.\u00a0 Kirby and Handros are astute to realize that young people demand more than lectures, and it is to the next generations that these voices must be addressed.\u00a0 For although the times have changed, in so many ways we are today faced with all the same problems.\u00a0 The deep wounds of the 1960s were never given careful treatment; they are now suppurating and the infection is spreading.<\/p>\n

Then and now.\u00a0 There is a powerful clip in the film of Senator Robert Kennedy giving a speech in Chicago when he has decided to enter the race for the presidency right after the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, a massive breakout surprise to U.S. authorities who thought they could contain and defeat the Vietnamese struggle for independence; that they had them trapped.\u00a0 Kennedy has decided to enter the race for President and realizes that supporting a corrupt South Vietnamese government and their ruthless policies aimed at exterminating the Vietcong and North Vietnamese is morally wrong and runs counter to American attestations of the belief in democracy and justice for all.\u00a0 He says about such an impossible military victory:<\/p>\n

. . . and that the effort to win such a victory will only result in the further slaughter of thousands of innocent and helpless people\u2014a slaughter which will forever rest on all our consciences and the national conscience of the country.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

His was a powerful moral voice.\u00a0 Who is standing with the innocent and helpless people today?\u00a0 And who is standing with the killers?\u00a0 As Martin Luther King, Jr., put it, \u201cA time comes when silence is betrayal.\u201d\u00a0 And procrastination is still the thief of time and conscience whispers those pathetic words: Too Late.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss\u00a0Four Died Trying<\/em>.\u00a0 I am sure it will affect you deeply and force you to think twice over about what is going on today.<\/p>\n

Yes, then and now.\u00a0 To slightly alter the song,\u00a0As Time Goes By:<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s still the same old story.
\nA fight for love and glory.
\nA case of do\u00a0and<\/strong>\u00a0die.
\nThe world will always welcome lovers
\nAs time goes by.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>The post Hideous Times of High Hope<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is hard for those who have not lived through the shattering political assassinations of the 1960s to grasp their significance for today.\u00a0 Many might assume that that was then and long before their time, so let\u2019s move on to what we must deal with today.\u00a0 Let some old folks, the obsessive ones, live in [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post Hideous Times of High Hope<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,130,132,13362,134,138,139,2725,8319,142],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392162"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1392162"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1395359,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1392162\/revisions\/1395359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1392162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1392162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1392162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}