Grassy Knoll explores the knowledge and wilful unknowing of information regarding the JFK assassination through Jim Garrison's On the Trail of the Assassins. A series of contextual spheres have been created to deliberate the question of knowledge and wilful unknowing focusing upon the assassination and in turn Garrison's text as the key source.
Grassy Knoll establishes what On the Trail of the Assassins informs us of the JFK assassination in regard to:
the distinct spheres of public and private knowledge,
the active process of unknowing (which can be seen as a systematic state of ignorance) as a form of censorship,
the mythic place of the JFK assassination in popular culture,
the history of assassination and fascination with assassination, and
the data smog encountered by historian and enthusiast alike.
To appreciate On the Trail of the Assassins as central to the proposition put forward by Grassy Knoll a framework of understanding for the JFK assassination is needed.
On the Trail of the Assassins is Garrison's record of his involvement with the prosecution of JFK's assassination. Garrison is a lawyer not a historian and as such, his work is not academic scholarship. Rather Garrison offers us his historical narrative, complete with logical flaws and nostalgic self-editing. Broadly, Garrison seeks answers, ideally he seeks the truth and it his investigation, his search that is integral to Grassy Knoll's proposition. Grassy Knoll seeks knowledge in all its forms; who has, wants, is denied knowledge; why are there silences in the assassination discourse; why is knowledge compartmentalised; what role did the government play in creating the myth of the JFK assassination we continue to promote, and most significantly what impact does the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act (1992) have on scholarship in this field. The release of these contained documents contribute to the central factor of knowledge management and that is data smog.
Roll your mouse over the title to view the brief of what that sphere offers. Click on the title to immerse yourself in that page.
"To uncover the whole truth would require an open-ended, honest federal investigation-the kind that has not taken place to date." Jim Garrison (On the Trail of the Assassins, p.xiv)
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is as American an idiom as declaring one's constitutional rights. Why then does the public accept that there is two distinct spheres of knowledge, public and private, at play and not demand access to this private information?
The JFK assassination is moment in history that has been parodied in song, film, television, art, literature and popular discourse.
The question that Grassy Knoll wants answered is, why is the JFK assassination so deeply ingrained in the cultural psyche?
The government, in the purported interest of the people, defends the pursuit of knowledge from the public. Garrison recalls the role of the government in 1963, "Americans wanted an answer. And we got one. The Dallas police closed the case almost immediately, convicting Lee Harvey Oswald without trial. The F.B.I. agreed, virtually closing the case in a matter of weeks. And then the Warren Commission, appointed shortly after the assassination, added its official stamp of approval less than ten months later." (Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins, xii)
"Assassination is the extreme form of censorship." -- George Bernard Shaw
Do you find it curious that the US Government has a House Select Committee for Assassinations? Note the plural. The context of assassination in American culture as necessary to understating the knowledge and wilful unknowing of information in the JFK assassination is explored in this section of the site.
David Shenk, author of Data Smog illustrates the "dizzying information glut of the late 20th century." Shenk demonstrates how "information has never been as easy to access-or as districting" and it is this state of analysis that is of interest regarding the knowledge and wilful unknowing of information in the JFK assassination.
Here you will find links to the following documents:
Warren Commission Report (1964)
House Select Committee Report (1979)
On the Trail of the Assassins, Jim Garrison (1988)
US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Oliver Stone's JFK (1991)
"Documents are the primary sources of history; they are the means by which later generations draw close to historical events and enter into the thoughts, fears and hopes of the past." President John F. Kennedy (19/1/63)
Here you will find a sampling of the various media relating to the JFK assassination both on line and in print publication.