[benjikan]

This is a prophetic and illuminating speech by John Fitzgerald Kennedy:

YouTube - JFK telling us the 911 truth

[Blue]

That was a good speech and he covered a lot of key things in there including but not limited to freedom of speech and transparency.

[wasser]

That was not JFK's speech. That was a massive edit of his speech to serve someone else's purpose. The full text of his speech shows his intent isn't the one presented in this youtube edit.

JFK's speech was given on April 27, 1961, in the days following the Bay of Pigs. It was an address to the American Newspapers Publishers Asssociation. The two paragraphs immediately preceding the beginning of the Youtube edit are really illuminating:

My topic tonight is a more sober one of concern to publishers as well as editors.

I want to talk about our common responsibilities in the face of a common danger. The events of recent weeks may have helped to illuminate that challenge for some; but the dimensions of its threat have loomed large on the horizon for many years. Whatever our hopes may be for the future--for reducing this threat or living with it--there is no escaping either the gravity or the totality of its challenge to our survival and to our security--a challenge that confronts us in unaccustomed ways in every sphere of human activity.

This deadly challenge imposes upon our society two requirements of direct concern both to the press and to the President--two requirements that may seem almost contradictory in tone, but which must be reconciled and fulfilled if we are to meet this national peril. I refer, first, to the need for a far greater public information; and, second, to the need for far greater official secrecy.

That's right! Before he speaks of the repugnancy of secrecy, he speaks of the need for greater secrecy. In fact, he goes on about the importance of secrecy and asks for discretion from the press.

This is a part that was conveniently edited out of the middle of this Youtube presentation:

But I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.

Today no war has been declared--and however fierce the struggle may be, it may never be declared in the traditional fashion. Our way of life is under attack. Those who make themselves our enemy are advancing around the globe. The survival of our friends is in danger. And yet no war has been declared, no borders have been crossed by marching troops, no missiles have been fired.

If the press is awaiting a declaration of war before it imposes the self-discipline of combat conditions, then I can only say that no war ever posed a greater threat to our security. If you are awaiting a finding of "clear and present danger," then I can only say that the danger has never been more clear and its presence has never been more imminent.

It requires a change in outlook, a change in tactics, a change in missions--by the government, by the people, by every businessman or labor leader, and by every newspaper.

To really understand what's going on, understand the context, read the full text, and don't let people with their own purposes rewrite history and JFK's speech.

[Blue]

Good catch Wasser.

[lithos]

Oh..."Illuminating"...I see what you did there...