If your Uncle and Dad were assassinated by bullet, how stable would you be?

[OAITW r.2.0]

Have never been close to his politics, but you can't tell me he wasn't fucked up when his Dad was killed in 1968. He must have been around my age, 15. Would have warped my mind....forever.

[Patterson]

1. His siblings seem to be doing OK.

[OAITW r.2.0]

4. Yeah, but that doesn't speak to his mental illness, does it?

People react differently to events. Some process and deal...others don't.

[atreides1]

52. Okay

Has he been determined to be mentally ill by a professional?

[Happy Hoosier]

54. No, but it relates to the premise.

The trauma of his childhood may have contributed to his insanity, but it did not dtermine it.

[kacekwl]

84. Fine get some help

and stay out of government. Has obviously learned nothing. Become an actor if you want attention.

[OAITW r.2.0]

85. Wish he had...or continued his environmental work.

Maybe he ate a lot of fish in the Hudson River that were contaminated with GE/PCBs. And he's been squirrelly since he starrtrd his anti-vax crusade. Perhaps, after Trump loses, the family will seek help for their bother.

[no_hypocrisy]

46. Not quite.

His older brother, Joseph Kennedy II, had a drug problem in his youth. Overturned a Jeep he was driving and permanently paralyzed a young teen girl.

His younger brother, David, actually witnessed his father being assassinated on TV alone in a hotel room. Died of an overdose.

His younger brother, Michael, died in a reckless skiing accident in 1997.

https://people.com/all-about-robert-f-kennedy-jr-siblings-8601220

[mountain grammy]

64. I lost my dad at 10, my sister was 11

Not a violent death, cancer, but very quick, 2 months and, as children, we were given no warning.
We both struggled mightily, my sister worse than me, but my life was pretty chaotic.
Losing a parent at a young age is a trauma that lasts a lifetime. Some do better than others.

[OAITW r.2.0]

87. I cannot imagine your mind in this situation.

Not at 10.

At 24, my Dad had an MI and I was living at home,,,,,I jumped on him and started chest compressions. Kept his body alive until they declared him dead at the hospital. Here today, gone later today. My mom, though, totally different death hellscape....ALS..

[LeftInTX]

2. Caroline turned out just fine. Especially considering who her mother married!

Didn't she try to move them to Greece?

[Eko]

3. Ya that's kind of a weird take man.

[OAITW r.2.0]

6. Why?

I get some people can deal with their Dad's assassination, but others might be mentally crippled in that moment. JFK, Jr. seemed to be making a name back in the 80's on environmental issues, particularly on the Hudson River. So when did he go off the rails? Or maybe we really don't know how any of the Kennedy's dealt with their fathers' assassinations.

[Eko]

15. It could have nothing to do with his,,,, whatever that is.

Its a weird take because you are taking two horrific tragedies and making them into a character assassination. Some things you have to respect, and using the deaths of two people to say that is why they are, whatever that is, the way they are is really shitty. If he is then he is suffering mentally from two tragic events and needs help. That doesn't mean what he says is worth a shit but we dont need to attack him for his mental problems from said, tragic, historical changing events. I see this too much lately. We are the party of good, lets reinforce that. Fight like hell ya, but remember we are the good people and act accordingly. Stupid shit is still stupid shit but first with the head and then with the heart.
Eko.

[OAITW r.2.0]

40. Whatever. Is RJK, Jr. rational?

Not according to the family and the personal history we've been exposed to over the last few weeks. Which begs a question....why not? Perhaps the Kennedy name shielded him? Now we know....and the more I learn, the more I think he is truly fucked up.

[Eko]

22. Whats your policy position on this?

Do you have one or are you just using tragic events to further political goals?

[OAITW r.2.0]

41. LOL, policy position?

You gotta be shitting me.

[Eko]

43. Not at all.

If this is a political thing then you have a policy that you are supporting. If not then what is it?

[OAITW r.2.0]

44. Promise, Eko, not a poliop. Just presenting my opinions.

Deal with it, as you see fit.

[Eko]

45. I will.

And I'll take the hide for it if I need to. You are equating mental illness with politics. It's just fucking wrong and I will take a stand against it every single time. There are plenty of people on our side that deal with mental illness and extreme loss of people close to them so to make it political is just straight out wrong. Its pretty obvious that he has a mental illness, it's pretty obvious that his beliefs are wrong. That doesn't mean in any fucking goddamn way that having a mental illness leads you to becoming a maga fuckface. Deal with that as you seem fit.

[Eko]

37. Hey! not going to answer my posts?

[OAITW r.2.0]

42. Hey!

Just did.

[mucholderthandirt]

58. JFK Jr. didn't go off the rails, he did good work, married from what I've heard was a nice, normal girl.

And then his plane went down and the end. The Kennedy family has had it's share of tragedies, but really no more than most families. They're just in the public eye. Drug addiction, mental health issues, marital problems or whatever. Every family goes through it, some make it whole, others don't.

I feel for anyone who lost family members in such horrible ways, or even from normal death. It's hard. But RFK Jr. needs to be under mental health care, not going around with idiots like Trump, or saying the crazy things he does. He is in no way fit for any office or post.

[Easterncedar]

69. You mean RFK, Jr?

[NoRethugFriends]

5. Nah. He's just a jerk

[OAITW r.2.0]

8. Was your Dad assassinated when you were 15?

Please don't think I am a "Trump/RFK Operative" on board....I do have a posting history here on DU. All I am saying is that the House of Kennedy was pretty much destroyed in the 60s. Then we lived with the House of Bush. But I think there were other casualties within the Kennedy clan, that we really have not been privvy to.

[NoRethugFriends]

9. No my dad wasn't. Doesn't require Bob to behave like scum. Check Steve Kerr for father assassinated. (nt)

[OAITW r.2.0]

11. Because Steve Kerr processed it, to his credit....you expect everyone to have this capability?

Try again.

[OAITW r.2.0]

21. No hard feelings....

We discuss or we don't.

[arthritisR_US]

20. What other casualties?

[Zoomie1986]

24. A lot of people's parents get killed

He's not special in that regard.

One my 2nd grade classmates was killed by a drunk driver when I was 8.

My cousin was killed by a drink driver when I was 13.

My boyfriend was killed by a drunk driver when I was 15.

15 of my high school classmates were killed by drunk drivers, murdered or OD'd between my being 17 and 21 years old.

One of my closest childhood friends was killed by a driver under the influence when I was 19.

A girl I babysat for years, the daughter of my mother's best friend, was killed by a drunk driver when I was in my 20s.

My uncle was murdered in cold blood when I was in my 20s.

All that, and I didn't turn off my brain to become a traitorous conspiracy-peddling moron over any of it.

This dirtbag made the choice to be an idiot. That has nothing to do with his father and uncle getting assassinated. Stop trying to excuse his deplorable behavior, because you can bet that he has had far more resources to deal with what happened in his family than we ordinary people ever get.

[OAITW r.2.0]

27. No, you are wrong.

Nothing obvious you can point me to that says....there is one human way to process your father's assassination. Tell me why RFK, Jr. isn't a fucked individual? I can tell you, if I saw my Dad's assassination on national TV, it would have had a fucking huge impact on my life. I'd have been a fucked individual, too.

I guess media kept this fucked individual alive. way past his experation date.

[Zoomie1986]

60. No, I'm not wrong

Medgar Evers' kids not only had their father killed almost right in front of them, but had to relive his death over and over and over and over and over again.

They didn't become raving loons--despite how they never had the same kind of access to resources for coping with their loss that a Kennedy would have.

I don't feel sorry for someone who had literally every advantage imaginable for every single day of his life, and still turned out a liar and traitor.

That's entirely on him.

[dpibel]

7. I might be really fucked up

But I wouldn't have the money, influence, and name recognition for anyone to care.

We can pity those who are twisted by their circumstances. But only if they aren't actively trying to fuck things up.

[OAITW r.2.0]

10. Kennedy's cared...and they paid a price.

Bob and Martin seemed to be coalescing around a principle of equal justice for all Americans in 1968. They both died.

[NoRethugFriends]

16. Why the apostrophe?

[OAITW r.2.0]

23. Oh jeez..Mrs. Carlton, are you still critiquing my punctuation?

You were a teacher-warrior for the English language. But I've always had weaknesses in my diction shield.

[dpibel]

26. Which has what to do with the current Bobby?

What you've stated is a sad thing.

What it has to do with the current Kennedy guy is nothing.

What, really, is your point here? We should let BobJr fuck things all up because his dad got murdered?

You willing to extend to anyone whose dad got murdered?

This could be cool!

[DFW]

12. He was 14, but it's not an excuse, just one possible explanation

And it’s not a very strong one, either. He has plenty of rational siblings who have their heads screwed on straight. They went through the same trauma. He does not get a pass for this.

[OAITW r.2.0]

18. Bullshit, DFW.

There were 11 sibs in the family...do you really believe all of them processed their father's assassination the same way? I thought you were smarter than that.

Thing is RFK, Jr has been an asshole for a very long time....been a scumbag before and since his 1st wife committed suicide. But....is there a human moment when your life changes from a fairy tale into a horror story? Can everyone process the moment, such that they can continue on hurt but smarter? Or perhaps they go off in different direction.

I personally think RFK, Jr. is lost . If I wake up next week to find out Bob off'd himself, I would not be shocked. He's totally gone from the family. He's a lost man without a compass.

[DFW]

25. Bullshit right back

Obviously they all processed it in their own ways. I was in school with two of them when JFK was shot, and already Joe II (in my class) was a far different person from Bobby Jr, who was in my brother’s class, but with whom I got along better. We were just kids, but the memories don’t fade.

But they came from a big family that Ethel especially tried to keep close—obviously increasingly more difficult as they got older, and without Bobby, Sr. as a mitigating presence. In such a situation as theirs, you can either fall back on the family or feel, for whatever reason, a need or desire to break away. But they were there for him for a long time after he went off on his own tangent. Not taking advantage of that was his choice. I have had a very few classmates from my various schools who, in the words of those closest to them, “lost the battle with their own demons.” It sounds like Bobby is still wrestling with his, and still chooses to fight his fight alone. We haven’t spoken in 15 years, so I am in no position to give an accurate assessment.

[OAITW r.2.0]

31. Impressive, you have a personal connection.

My defense of RFKJr. is not on his history of accomplishments - private or public - I am just saying he could have snapped mentally back then. First his Uncle, then his Dad. I will bet there are damn few males in the history of the US that had 2 significant father figures assassinated.

[Hassler]

13. MLK's family seem reasonably well adjusted.

[arthritisR_US]

17. Then you get mental health

[Zoomie1986]

19. Oh please

Caroline and JFK Jr *also* lost a father and uncle, and they didn't become raving loons.

Medgar Evers' kids didn't become loons, despite how Byron de la Beckwith shot down their father virtually at their feet.

Stop making excuses for a scumbag who believes nonsense because he chooses to be a moron.

[dchill]

28. His siblings and cousins seem to be all right.

[helpisontheway]

29. The rest of the family members are okay. Nt

[Easterncedar]

30. You are coming from a kind place, sorry it got so venomous here

I really wish folks would try to civilly disagree.

Of course he was traumatized. You are right on that. And, if I had to venture a guess, which is presumptuous, of course, I would suggest that his youthful drug addiction permanently scrambled his brain, and that’s why he has gone so far off beam. However, the way he took over the Hudson Riverkeepers, forcing the board to accept the hire of a fellow convict, a wildlife trafficker, and forcing out the founder and his mentor, speaks to his essential character. Several of the people who knew him when he was young have discussed his being notably arrogant and self-centered.

People keep citing his early environmental work, but he went to work for the Riverkeepers as a condition of release from jail, and then used his name to make a power play to take it over. The Washington Post had a good article on that back in March. If I can find it, I’ll try to get a link. Here it is:

https://wapo.st/3XtPAwN

[OAITW r.2.0]

35. Wow, thanks for posting this. A really important aspect of Bob Jr.'s record. Shed's new light (to me) on his whole

environmental record.

[electric_blue68]

81. Woah, as an NYC'r I knew that he was the Hudson Riverkeeper BUT Not this Backstory!

[Easterncedar]

89. Funny how the story disappeared

But interesting that it was published at all, I guess.

[arlyellowdog]

32. More likely it was the entitlement just like Trump

Tons of stories of how he got away with everything as a kid, teenager, adult.

[elleng]

33. You are too kind.

[meadowlander]

34. Regardless, he answers to the worm's commands now.

Sorry he had a shitty childhood and then did a lot of drugs and then lived a life of almost unimaginable privilege falconing with his rich useless friends and eating roadkill.

None of that is an excuse to shill for Putin or spread vaccine misinformation that is literally killing kids.

[OAITW r.2.0]

36. Best comment on this OP.

Always comes back to the brain worm.

Mine's pretty active tonight.

[Keepthesoulalive]

38. He can choose

To get the help he needs to deal with his trauma or he can show the world he’s not all there.
As long as he decides to push conspiracy theories that hurt people, I will continue to criticize him.
No child should get whooping cough, measles, polio or any number of other diseases that a simple vaccination would prevent. Because of his name or his daddy’s that gives him no right to harm people and I will criticize him vigorously when anyone tries to defend him or make excuses for his crazy.

[Rubyshoo]

39. OAITW r.2.0 - I Agree... Please Read This:

ROBERT KENNEDY'S SON DAVID FOUND DEAD IN HOTEL


https://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/26/obituaries/robert-kennedy-s-son-david-found-dead-in-hotel.html


Archive: https://archive.ph/f97dU

[OAITW r.2.0]

74. There are so many fucked up things about this family now.

Where did it all go wrong? Pretty sure it started in 1963......then 68. then 69,.

[appalachiablue]

86. Jr was with his father when he died, then got into drugs and punk

mischief and crimes. Pulled out of that to become an effective environmental lawyer for decades. Then the Vax, autism stuff and who knows...

Wiki..RFK Jr was nine years old when his uncle, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated in 1963, and 14 when his father was assassinated while running for president in 1968.[20] Kennedy learned of his father's shooting while at Georgetown Preparatory School.[21] A few hours later, he flew to Los Angeles on Vice President Hubert Humphrey's plane, along with his older siblings, Kathleen and Joseph. He was with his father when he died. Kennedy was a pallbearer at his father's funeral, where he spoke and read excerpts from his father's speeches at the mass commemorating his death at Arlington National Cemetery.[22][23]

After his father's death, Kennedy struggled with drug abuse, which led to his arrest in Barnstable, Massachusetts for cannabis possession at age 16,[24][25] and his expulsion from two boarding schools: Millbrook and Pomfret.[26][27] During this time, some in the Kennedy family regarded him as the "ringleader" of a pack of spoiled, rich kids who called themselves the "Hyannis Port Terrors", engaging in vandalism, theft, and drug use.[28][29] At Harvard, Kennedy continued his experimentation with heroin and cocaine, often with his brother David, earning a reputation that has been described as a "pied piper" and "drug dealer".[30][31] Career...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_F._Kennedy_Jr.

[OAITW r.2.0]

88. Am I shocked? No.

I got bit on another thread saying, mental illness is not only organic, it can be witnessed.

[MistakenLamb]

47. The other children of Robert and Ethel seem fine ive met Chris twice seemed on the level

[SocialDemocrat61]

48. Hitler and Stalin both had bad childhoods

So I guess that gives them a pass on their crimes. Let’s keep making excuses for people’s bad behaviors instead of holding them accountable for it.

[Irish_Dem]

49. Military kids lose parents.

And they don't try to destroy the country.
They try to live out the values their parent died for.

[malaise]

50. I have thought about this more than once

Still I would not be involved in politics let alone siding with the likes of the CONvicted felon. His father would never have associated with this lowlife criminal.

[maxrandb]

51. Bullshit!

Millions of people suffer tragedies every day and don't become raving lunatics supporting rapists and felons.

President Joe Biden would like a word....

[atreides1]

53. Interesting

My aunt was murdered by her husband when I was 9...yet I don't eat road kill!

My first wife died by suicide, yet I'm not driving around Central Park with a dead bear cub in my car!

My mother attempted suicide several times when I was between the ages of 13 and 17, and yet I've avoided joining a cult led by an orange faced shit gibbon!

The issue here is that you're trying to make a comparison between who you are and who he is...maybe those incidents would have warped your mind, but it doesn't mean it warped his mind!

Plus you're not looking at his substance abuse problems, his infidelities during his first two marriages, the death of his second wife by suicide and the legal battle between him and her family for possession of her remains!

And the fact that there has been no diagnosis of mental illness by any professional in the field...at least no public acknowledgement of mental illness...unless you count the brain worm and some of his strange actions. But for people like him, those kinds of things are considered eccentric...

[Scrivener7]

55. True. That is a cursed family. Since even before the assassinations.

I would say I don't believe in such things, but a close reading of their history makes me wonder. It's like a Greek tragedy and it just keeps flowing down the generations.

[allegorical oracle]

56. A kind point to make. Everyone deals differently with tragedy. Hopefully they

seek help. RFK, Jr. got into drugs (possibly to cope with trauma), he led a respected environmental group to protect rivers. He was well regarded for cleaning up the Hudson River. Then, it's like he fell off a cliff. He should get professional help instead of running for political office.

His siblings and children, who presumably know him well, speak the loudest. He and we should listen.

[ColinC]

57. Losing his wife too. Dude has never really had it easy.

It’s a reason for his horrible decisions though. Not an excuse.

[Keepthesoulalive]

59. You don't hurt others because life's been tough

He should become a private citizen meaning leave politics and get the help he needs. He was not blameless in his wife’s suicide. It is evident he does not value others by hooking up with 2 degenerates
Who don’t give a damn about anything but themselves.

[ColinC]

62. Yep

[OAITW r.2.0]

75. I concur with your point totally. The guy is mentally fucked up.

Uncle, father assassinated, wife's suicide. Why is this person suddenly a member of the Trump Party? Other than his name?

[Zoomie1986]

66. Oh FFS

He comes from one of the most privileged families in the world. Not the country--the world. He has enjoyed literally every advantage imaginable, including the luxury of failing upwards.

Millions of people have gone through circumstances as bad or even worse, and never became conspiracy-peddling traitors.

At some point, it's not about a long-ago trauma, but his choices in life--choices that came not from trauma but from wilful stupidity. Trauma didn't turn him into an anti-vaxx nutbag. Trauma didn't make him cozy up to the worst person alive.

His own wilful stupidity did that. Nothing else.

[ColinC]

67. Oh I agree.

Although rich people can have tough lives too. As I said, it is no excuse for what he is doing and has done.

Fuck him to all eternity.

[Sympthsical]

61. I don't get the fascination with this family

Probably my Millennial talking. And I say that as someone related to them (through my grandmother).

It was nearly 60 years ago. How many generations of . . . that whole mess is interesting? Growing up - and well into adulthood - they were known to me through the dysfunction rather than the service.

Yes, there are good people there. Just like any family. You get some good ones, you get some bad ones. The bad ones have been . . . something, though.

Some people like the idea of American dynasties and pseudo-royals. I'm not one of them.

[BannonsLiver]

63. Oh please, fuck that guy.

I don’t see every other member of the family carting around dead bears and talking about brain worms and how vaccines are bad. He’s a life long fuck up who has never taken ownership of any of it.

[Blue_Adept]

65. Anything to excuse terrible behavior by men.

[mountain grammy]

68. I dislike RFK Jr and I wouldn't make excuses for him

but I do acknowlege the trauma he and his sibliings endured. I experienced this trauma and it interrupts a child's life in the worst way.

[Torchlight]

70. It may be a contributing factor. It may not.

Guesswork on my part would be my best (and a lacking) tool in attributing specific causation. But as my guess won't change the taste of mustard, I'll go with just another weird guy in a long, long planetary line of weird guys.

[Bucky]

71. He doesn't have a supervillain origin story

It's sad, of course, but it was over 50 years ago. He's lived a full life and has done normal things.

I'm not here to judge him. I only judge his policy ideas and political views. The view that he's gonna endorse a would be dictator cause he doesn't like it understand getting vaccinated is stupid.

[Jose Garcia]

72. Maybe it's because of all the heroin which he used to use

[PeaceWave]

73. Sorry, but this is an effed up question. Victims of gun violence include some amazing people...

In 1984, when Steve Kerr was an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Arizona, his father, Malcolm Kerr, was assassinated by a group of Islamic Jihadists. Malcolm Kerr was targeted because he was the president of the American University of Beirut. Steve Kerr is very much a victim of gun violence.

Did this major life event cripple Steve Kerr? No. Four years later, he led the Arizona Wildcats to the Final Four of the 1988 NCAA tournament. That same year, Kerr was drafted by the Phoenix Suns. Eight years later, Kerr was winning the first of nine NBA Championship rings as either a player or coach. A future Hall of Famer, Kerr recently spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Does this sound like an "unstable" person to you?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/05/25/malcolm-kerr-steve-assassination-lebanon/

[FalloutShelter]

76. Oh.. I don't know...

Let’s ask Caroline Kennedy.

[LisaM]

77. I have thought he had a form of PTSD for a long time.

Events don't always affect people the same way - take war, for example. Whatever the cause, he's messed up. I would prefer to see him seeking treatment than office.

[OAITW r.2.0]

78. I have obviously posted a stinker here.

Last edited Thu Aug 29, 2024, 09:40 PM - Edit history (1)

None of us who have posted on this thread, post from a position of direct knowledge. I am not condoning RJK, Jr. behavior at all...this alliance with Trump is the ultimate "fuck you" to his family legacy.

My point is, most in the Kennedy Family dealt with it and still support the values of John and Bob....but this dude is - dead bears and whale heads - ought to clue us in that this guy has issues and probably should not be a factor in this election....except, he's now working for the anti-Kennedy now.

[Starry Messenger]

79. MLK Jr.'s kids never cut the head off of a dead whale nt.

[OAITW r.2.0]

80. As far as we know.

My only humble point is that not everyone processes tragic events the same way. RFK, Jr. is going to get more attention now...and we may learn about even more fucked up things that are part of his past.

[ms liberty]

82. That's what therapy is for. With his money, education and connections he has no excuse

For not having straightened his shit out. As a child that trauma is a legitimate excuse, but as a 70 year old man? No, he's way too old to blame his childhood traumas for today's problems that he doesn't think he has And while he's welcome to be as fucked up a human being as he wants, he's not welcome to fuck up my democracy because of his stupid brain-cell-death rich-boy exploits and eccentricities.

He gets no sympathy from me.

[OAITW r.2.0]

83. Has he ever been to therapy?

I'm betting not...but I don't know this for a fact.