Video Evidence

To me the JFK assassination is most remarkable because of the sheer amount of visual documentation that exists on Lee throughout his life. I first noticed this watching the Frontline Documentary on Lee, and was continually struck by just how often they were able to find photo documentation of  where he was and what he was doing at various points in his life. This of course culminates in the famous Zapruder film which catches the moments before, during, and after Kennedy's assassination. Such evidence before that time would have been considered quite rare, and a valuable piece of evidence in any investigation. And while the Zapruder film certainly has been the backbone for much of the investigation into the assassination, and has helped with ballistics reports, it has also become one of the most (if not the most) controversial pieces of film in the twentieth century.

I think in our current day and age we take it for a given that for most any major event that may happen on any given day there's a pretty good chance someone filmed it. This is due to the widespread use of recording devices, but in addition to that many of these devices are connected to the internet and often make their content available for my viewing pleasure, as well as millions of people around the world. In my opinion the Zapruder Film could be viewed as the harbinger of the visually documented era. And while this may to large degree mean that people can be better informed with first hand documentation, but it also leads to even greater levels of skepticism of the extent to which seeing something happen really means you understand what's going on. It's remarkable really that I can hop on the internet and from the safety of my room watch video footage of war zone action in Libya. It's also remarkable the extent to which imagery can be manipulated, and in many different ways too, not just the photoshop method. In other words while it may be the case that my generation has come to expect an almost omnipotent range of vision throughout the world, I think we've also come to accept the fact that in many cases a simple video falls woefully short of a full explanation.