THe Kennedy family has been referred to as "the royal family" of America. I find this disturbing.

What have they done that was so great to deserve this accolade? In fact, their family is so tainted that it is almost like linking Adolf Hitler as the symbol of Germany. Germany is a great place. And so is the USA. It doesn't deserve to be slandered like this.

Here is a list of things that the Kennedy family has committed that I don't like.

  • The Kennedy family fortune came from bootlegging booze during the Prohibition.
  • Joe Sr. Kennedy ordered that his daughter Rosemary have a lobotomy because she was retarded. He did it without telling Rose Kennedy first. Rosemary is still alive in a Wisconsin institution.
  • Joe Sr. allegedly had a affair with actress Gloria Swanson, which Rose ignored.
  • Joe Sr. was a Nazi sympathizer who made money doing deals with the Third Reich.
  • JFK's allegedly had affairs with Marilyn Monroe and many others while he was married.
  • JKF had connections to crime organizations, including the Mafia.
  • Ted Kennedy drove a car off a bridge on Massachusetts' Chappaquiddick Island after a party, fatally injuring aide Mary Jo Kopechne. He then left her to die after escaping.
  • Ted's son Patrick, now a Congressman, sought treatment for cocaine addiction as a teenager.
  • Joe II Kennedy, tried to get an annulment (instead of a divorce) erasing his 12-year marriage. Supposedly Joe wanted to remain in the church, so he was willing to say that because he'd lacked "due discretion," he had never really been married. Joe's ex-wife published a book "Shattered Faith" that depicts him as a narcissistic bully and protests his efforts to have their 12-year marriage annulled. The annulment got overturned and his next marriage was not in the Catholic church.
  • Michael Kennedy drew negative publicity for an affair with his family's underage baby sitter.
  • William Kennedy Smith was accused of rape at the family's Palm Beach, Florida, estate after a party with Uncle Ted. He was acquitted.
  • David Kennedy overdosed in drugs and died in 1984.
  • Bobby Jr. was found in possession of marijuana while a juvenile.
  • Bobby Jr. overdosed on heroin in 1983 while aboard an airplane. He was arrested upon landing.
  • You see, the Kennedy family isn't so great. JFK was elected president due to Nixon's 5 o'clock shadow. There are several drug addicts, criminals and adulterers in the family. Are they still royalty? Do they still represent America?

    Update: icicle: Jeez, calm down! I'm just pointing out the wrongs committed by the family and why they should not get so much media attention. But you're right. Maybe crimes is a strong word.

    Oh no. I'm so shocked and appalled I'll never fucking read George magazine again, because it's not like I've heard any of those things before.

    As to whether the Kennedys represent America, OK: I grant you: the Kennedys are decadent fucks. If they're royalty, they represent a country that was stolen through whatever means necessary - including genocide and slavery, compared with which fucking Marilyn Monroe was almost a favor to humanity.

    I can't name a family or community in this country without problems of drugs and sex (evidently, the Bay of Pigs and Vietnam do not register as crimes in DMan's estimation - there is much less to be pitied there than in the obvious weaknesses in the character of many of the Kennedy clan). Most of us did not grow up under a microscope, nor were we afforded all the money and protection necessary to fuel our various unhealthy obsessions.

    Unlike the Kennedys, real royals (you know, all the European fucks who married their cousins and died of syphilis) are terribly sweet and good.



    Do I really seem that uncalm? I 'fess: I'm a shirttail Kennedy, and I haven't seen my heroin dealer in weeks.

    We should also bear in mind that hedonism, corruption and violence have been the hallmarks of Royalty ever since the concept was invented. Saying that the Kennedy family is american royalty is a compliment one way you look at it, and an insult another. Now, if you're going to call the Kennedys an American version of royalty, you might mean that they are rich, politically powerful and clannish. Royal does not mean well behaved, nor does it mean free from vice. You could also mean that the Kennedys are regal, dignified and stately. But they do seem to act like members of European royal families, both the good and the bad, neh?

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