Mike Walton Nailed It

Michael Walton at the EF nicely summed up the problem with the research community.


http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?/topic/23677-a-couple-of-real-gems-from-the-harvey-and-lee-website/&page=37

Then we have a pretty good theory here, the mystery of a guy named Prayer Man, who looks like Oswald and is actually seen in films during and immediately following the shooting, standing in the shadows of the entrance of the building where he works.
While this was happening, the real Oswald is supposedly up on the sixth floor firing his gun and killing Kennedy.
If Prayer Man is Oswald, then it's a deal breaker, the ultimate proof once and for all that conspiracy took place in the Kennedy murder.
And yet, the same people who fall for the ridiculousness of the Lee and his clone, the scooped up film alterations, Judy Baker, and many many other crazy stories, often times argue AGAINST the Prayer Man theory.
These same people say the figure in the films is a woman, or he's too short, too tall, too this, too that, he wears a dress, and on and on.
Some even question if the figure and/or others in the images are even there, or how could the photos depict the figures, without having any clue at all how photography techniques and angles work.
Some of these people are double and triple majors in college.  We know this because when all other arguments are ended on this forum, they revert to the number of pieces of paper hanging up on their walls, or because a report told them they're very intelligent.
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So, kids, this is the current state of the JFK assassination research community. Is it any wonder why, when people on national TV are interviewed about the assassination and the conspiracy theory community is mentioned, these talking heads just smirk and shake their heads?

Alas Vinny, it is a truly sorry state of affairs. One might be tempted to say that the ridiculous is used as a tool of subterfuge in neutralizing viable alternatives such as Prayer Man, but then one must pass under the banner that reads "Conspiracy Nut", where one shall surely fall victim to the attendant slings and arrows. But, the fact that one is tempted to pursue such folly does illustrate the ridiculousness of the situation.

No, I prefer to lay at the feet of the root of all evil, money. JFK assassination literature is housed in a publishing casino. If the house is left with a game where only a single outcome is generated by any given gambit, then all odds even, nobody places any bets, and the losses are born of the overhead. Game over. So, these writers, as agents of the house, have vested interest in keeping games open that offer the full spectrum of outcomes. The more the merrier. 

Further, since it happens to be a band of altruistic misfits who advance the viable alternatives such as Prayer Man, unencumbered, over the internet, essentially free, and therefore without the same level of substantial monetary payoff as has been historically realized by agents of the house, then these fertile, viable topics cannot be co-opted by them without it being obvious. The topics are left without nurture, on a forum founded upon a membership standard that bestows its most elite validation upon those who can promote themselves as published and sponsored agents of the house. It's an organic entity that doesn't require conspiracy, just a brand of Keynesian, subjective self adjustment that is manifested as a ubiquitous consensus for exclusion of all viable alternatives embodying a potential to reduce the take.

There has been proper recognition in some quarters however, and that acceptance is staging to expand nevertheless.

Jake Sykes wrote:Alas Vinny, it is a truly sorry state of affairs. One might be tempted to say that the ridiculous is used as a tool of subterfuge in neutralizing viable alternatives such as Prayer Man, but then one must pass under the banner that reads "Conspiracy Nut", where one shall surely fall victim to the attendant slings and arrows. But, the fact that one is tempted to pursue such folly does illustrate the ridiculousness of the situation.

No, I prefer to lay at the feet of the root of all evil, money. JFK assassination literature is housed in a publishing casino. If the house is left with a game where only a single outcome is generated by any given gambit, then all odds even, nobody places any bets, and the losses are born of the overhead. Game over. So, these writers, as agents of the house, have vested interest in keeping games open that offer the full spectrum of outcomes. The more the merrier. 

Further, since it happens to be a band of altruistic misfits who advance the viable alternatives such as Prayer Man, unencumbered, over the internet, essentially free, and therefore without the same level of substantial monetary payoff as has been historically realized by agents of the house, then these fertile, viable topics cannot be co-opted by them without it being obvious. The topics are left without nurture, on a forum founded upon a membership standard that bestows its most elite validation upon those who can promote themselves as published and sponsored agents of the house. It's an organic entity that doesn't require conspiracy, just a brand of Keynesian, subjective self adjustment that is manifested as a ubiquitous consensus for exclusion of all viable alternatives embodying a potential to reduce the take.

There has been proper recognition in some quarters however, and that acceptance is staging to expand nevertheless.

My attempt to boil this scathing yet scholarly summation down: economics 101: supply and demand. PM short circuits the supply side. Thus PM has not been well received, yet through the efforts of a band of misfits, the work is incrementally advancing.

Embedded in that is another truth: the JFK Ed Forum exists to promote the authors who keep this circus rolling. 

If I am mistaken in those interpretations Jake, by all means, correct me. What you wrote does need to be correctly understood and I want to be sure I'm not just interpreting it through the prism of my own world view.

Greg, you have it pat. I actually wish I knew how to do that. I guess that's one of the things that set you apart. You really do have a remarkable command of language combined with advanced intellect. My compliments for extracting the essentials from my wordiness.

I include myself in that band of misfits by the way.

Thanks for the kind words Jake... it's stretching my intellect, but I'll take it!

I hope you know, the rest of us misfits are very happy to have you as one of us.

Now this same guy had done a U Turn and claims that it is not Oswald.

Vinny wrote:Now this same guy had done a U Turn and claims that it is not Oswald.

There's something about Prayer Man that forces people to (eventually) show their true agendas. Seems to be no middle ground.
 
Bill Kelly started out open to the idea that PM could be Oswald; his "Oswald leaving TSBD?" thread asked this very question. As Sean Murphy started building the case for Oswald being down in front and at the same time building the case against the second floor lunchroom encounter, Bill countered with alternatives that allowed PM to be Oswald while also preserving the Coke and the lunchroom rendezvous (Prayer Man, page 68). It was only after Sean demolished all of Bill's second floor arguments that he withdrew from any further debate, later showing hostility toward the notion. Despite any and all evidence to the contrary, the Coke and the second floor lunchroom encounter are postulates with him.  
 
I know this is a bad example because we're talking about a cannabis-laced lunatic, but even "Albert" Doyle himself started out by saying how "a sharp eye" could easily see that PM looked like Oswald. We know how that turned out.
 
When it comes to PM, there's been a lot of U turns. Like Goban says, Prayer Man is a litmus test.