tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post3002309630897749434..comments2024-03-28T05:22:09.542-07:00Comments on Record of a Baffled Spirit: Kennedy’s PimpMike Keytonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15116528233058221536noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post-12872098810253066172011-07-11T10:50:37.164-07:002011-07-11T10:50:37.164-07:00Now if Turnips Townsend had been assassinate near ...Now if Turnips Townsend had been assassinate near the Grassy knoll - we'd have had a hook!Mike Keytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15116528233058221536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post-11664798846123832362011-07-11T04:45:00.203-07:002011-07-11T04:45:00.203-07:00This reminds me of the teenager on a TV game show ...This reminds me of the teenager on a TV game show who, when asked where JFK was shot, said: 'Grassy Knoll'. When asked where Grassy Knoll might actually be, he had no real idea but suspected it might be in America.<br /><br />Yes, the hook is crucial to grab interest. The clever part is persuading people to go beyond the hook and delve deeper. Not sure how that's done as I didn't progress much further than Turnip Townsend...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05938431508430656253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post-26317618476301956152011-07-09T02:51:18.760-07:002011-07-09T02:51:18.760-07:00Maria, 'media truth' is a beautiful phrase...Maria, 'media truth' is a beautiful phrase and a horrible, sinister reality. I'm hoping to post on that sometime if the red wine flows and the brain cooperates.<br />Adam, thanks for the comments. You're dead right, the hook is crucial. The only thing is there are some who never get beyond the hook :)Mike Keytonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15116528233058221536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post-82570012166545555952011-07-08T14:41:33.122-07:002011-07-08T14:41:33.122-07:00Great, thought-provoking post.
It's certainly...Great, thought-provoking post.<br /><br />It's certainly macabre, in its way, the way we wean our children on the horror stories of history. But what draws people into a fascination with and study of history? History's a long story. The world's greatest story. <br /><br />We'd be fooling ourselves to say that those twisted moments of history - the footage of Auschwitz, the Black Death, the Inquisition and the Iron Maiden - aren't those that grab onto a young person's mind and cling there like a burr. But you always hope a young mind can take as much reflection as sensation out of Anne Frank's Diary.<br /><br />I'm not saying that history should be presented and taught as a simple procession of titillating atrocities, and as a teacher it must be troubling to be forced to relive (over and over again) scenes like the Kennedy assassination. <br /><br />But I can also clearly remember when history began to grab hold of my mind, and it began with a teacher that liked to mix in lots of great asides about hangings and ghosts and crucifixions, and as soon as he would launch into one you could see the torpor of the entire class sort of evaporate.<br /><br />It works in much the same way as literature. If I want my children to eventually discover and appreciate Shakespeare or Joyce or Tolstoy, there's a good chance I'm going to have to let them discover more sensationalistic authors like RL Stine, Poe, and Stephen King. Stepping stones, I suppose, for the maturing mind. <br /><br />Before cultivating a fascination, they must be fascinated.Adam M. Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12174171725951187454noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644036152805047632.post-41864431638808923672011-07-08T09:38:20.083-07:002011-07-08T09:38:20.083-07:00There's no way to equate your method to the tr...There's no way to equate your method to the train wrecks they pimp on reality tv and other such venues. At least you were opening up minds. The media scrunches them up into tight little packagees--insulated from everything except the 'media truth'.<br /><br />You posed legitimate questions. The media gives us sound bites and summaries.Maria Zanninihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01604862636922299273noreply@blogger.com