Rose Kennedy, Psychiatric Victim, Dead at 86
Rich Winkel
psychiatrists who destroyed her life. She was not retarded, she
was simply not willing to knuckle under to her father. The lobotomy
was all about controlling a rebellious young woman for the sake of
the "reputation" of the family. See the first email below.
This stuff isn't at all uncommon yet somehow no one seems to notice.
I wonder why leftists give psychiatry such benefit of the doubt
given their long history of misogyny and trail of destruction. -rw)
From: "David Oaks - www.MindFreedom.org" <oa...@mindfreedom.org>
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 12:42:32 -0800
Subject: [Sci-psych] psychiatry, Rose Kennedy, and human rights
Seth Farber is author of the book _Madness, Heresy & Rumor of Angels_.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psychiatry, Rose Kennedy & Human Rights
by SETH FARBER Seth...@aol.com writes:
The REAL story was told by her mother's-- Rose Kennedy-- secretary
in a book she wrote a 10 years ago. (I forget her name--I read
excerpt from the book in one of the NY dailies. )Furthermore the
secretary version is consistent with the facts below--which belie
the contention that she was retarded. First retarded people were
NOT given lobotomies. Lobotomies were given to "schizophrenics" in
the days before psych drugs when they were difficult to control.
"Anti-psychotic" drugs replaced lobotomies as social control agents.
Rosemary Kennedy was lobotomized because she was difficult to control
, more specifically, as the article below notes because " her father
worried that his daughter's MILD condition would lead her into
situations that could damage the family's reputation." (Emphasis
added) So "mild" she spoke fluent French.
The secretary's book tells us what those situations were. But first
examine how ludicrous the statement below is. How many "retarded"
people write 3 volume diaries chronicling trips to Europe and go
to numerous ballets and operas? How many retarded people attend
operas and ballets, interact with well known people, let alone write
about it all??. That is beyond the reach of a retarded person. Not
only that, but her mother's secretary tells us that Rosemary was
an attractive charming young woman who spoke French. How many
retarded people speak two languages?. And if her father was so
concerned about the family reputation would he take a retarded
person all over Europe instead of keeping her at home? Would he
take a retarded daughter to meet Presidednt Roosevelt????. There
is something wrong with this picture....
Rosemary at a certain age became experimental with sex and became
sexually involved with multiple lovers. Rose secretary tells us
this, but the family biographer lets it slip out. He writes (see
below)"Rosemary was a woman, and there was a dread fear of pregnancy,
disease and disgrace," author Laurence Leamer wrote in an unauthorized
Kennedy biography called "The Kennedy Women: The Saga of an American
Family." He wrote that Rosemary had taken to sneaking out of the
convent where she was staying at the time." "Pregnancy, disease and
disgrace" do not result from "mental retardation." They result
potentially from sex, ie they are/were potential risks of sexual
interaction in the late 30s and early 40s when contraception was
not as available as today and when STDs were not rare. John Kennedy
allegedly suffered all his life from syphilis--a product of his
numerous sexual contacts. Of course for a woman in "high society"
to be caught engaging in pre-marital sex would have been the height
of disgrace for the Kennedys. Evidently Joe tried to suppress
Rosemarey amorous inclinations but she kept sneaking out of that
convent. So he did the thing any decent misogynist billionaire
autocrat would do. He had her brain cut out, thus putting an abrupt
end to Rosemary's experimentation--and also precluding the possibility
that she could ever be a wife and mother. Rather than risk social
disgrace he transformed his daughter into a vegetable.
Had she been a man multiple lovers would have been tolerated or
even a source of pride--a sign of bemanliness. In a woman it was
considered promiscuity, a social embarrassment--a sign that Rosemary
was a "slut." Joe Kennedy-- like his sons-- was of course also
notoriously promiscuous.
But what is fashionable in men was intolerable in a woman--many
families in the late 30s would not tolerate such "looseness" of
"morals" in a woman. So Joe Kennedy had his daughter lobotomized.
After that she was a zombie who could not function without an
attendant. But evidently the Kennedys did not want to have the
lobotomized remnant of a human being around them --so she was sent
to an institution. The myth that Rosemary was retarded served/serves
2 functions. One, initially it served to conceal the more embarrassing
fact that Joe Kennedy's daughter was a "slut." Second even then in
the 1940s, but certainly later, it was not considered humane to
lobotomize women for engaging in sex. Thus the Kennedys have kept
the family secret for years. EVEN TODAY THE ENTIRE
FAMILY PROMULGATES THE LIE.
There was nothing wrong with Rosemary. Had she not been lobotomized
eventually no doubt she would have gotten married and had her own
children.Instead she joined the walking dead. 50,000 lobotomies
were performed in the US in the 1940s and 50s.Many of them were
performed on persons who violated social etiquette--for that reason
alone.
Seth
Seth Farber, Ph.D.
================
http://www.truthout.org/docs_05/010905Y.shtml
Rosemary Kennedy, 86; President's Disabled Sister Dies at 86
By Martin Weil
The Washington Post
Saturday 08 January 2005
Rosemary Kennedy, 86, the developmentally disabled oldest sister
of President John F. Kennedy, died Jan. 7 at Fort Atkinson Memorial
Hospital in Wisconsin.
Miss Kennedy was the oldest of the surviving Kennedy siblings, who
include Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.).
She had lived most of her life in a facility in Wisconsin since
undergoing a lobotomy more than 60 years ago.
Miss Kennedy was characterized as slow and shy-seeming from early
childhood, possibly dyslexic and apparently retarded. But behavioral
problems that began in her early twenties led to the brain operation,
according to published accounts.
She was "probably the first mentally retarded person to receive a
lobotomy," Jack El-Hai wrote in a 2001 article in The Washington
Post Magazine.
A 1987 Post excerpt of a book by historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
said that to Miss Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., a lobotomy
- a brain operation then regarded as a miracle treatment - "was an
obvious solution" to the frustrations she experienced in trying to
find a place for herself in a hard-driving family.
However, according to Goodwin's account, "something went terribly
wrong," and she emerged "far worse" than ever.
The institution that was chosen for her, according to the article,
was St. Coletta of Wisconsin, near Jefferson. According to a statement
St. Coletta issued last night, it aids the developmentally disabled
and cared for her for 57 years.
Miss Kennedy liked to send letters to her nephews and nieces, and
she visited relatives in Washington and Florida, the statement said.
It said she liked visiting the Cape Cod home where she and her
sisters and brothers grew up.
In a statement released last night through a spokeswoman for Sen.
Kennedy, the family said that Miss Kennedy "has gone today to be
with God." Her death was attributed to natural causes.
"She left us peacefully, with her brothers and sisters at her side,"
it said.
Miss Kennedy was "a lifelong jewel to every member of our family,"
the statement said, adding that from her earliest years, "her mental
retardation was a continuing inspiration to each of us, and a
powerful source of our family's commitment to do all we can to help
all persons with disabilities live full and productive lives."
Her sister Eunice Shriver is known as the founder of the Special
Olympics, and some accounts describe Rosemary as an inspiration for
the athletic competition aimed at those with intellectual disabilities.
According to published accounts, Miss Kennedy had been presented
to the king and queen of England in the 1930s while her father was
the U.S. ambassador.
After the family's return from England, it was reported that her
mental skills had deteriorated and her "customary good nature" had
given way to violent behavior that no one could understand, Goodwin
wrote.
Miss Kennedy was born in Boston in 1918. Her oldest brother, Joseph
P. Kennedy Jr., died at 29 on a World War II mission.
President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 at age 46. Sen. Robert
F. Kennedy was 42 when he was assassinated in 1968. Their sister
Kathleen, was 28 when she was killed in an airplane crash in 1948.
The surviving sisters are Eunice, 83, Patricia, 80, and Jean, 76.
Sen. Kennedy, 72, is the only survivor among the four brothers.
Copyright 2005 by TruthOut.org