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The Boomers, the Bombers, and the Betrayed »
Posted by: Spadecaller 2 years, 1 month agoThis macroscopic view of the peace movement from the 60's to the present traces America's largest subculture from it origins to the present. Where are you in this picture?
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Spadecaller
Welcome to my profile. About me: I'm an artist of several kinds; from bull to painting. I don't spare too many words. Most ...
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Comments: 118
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Spadecaller
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:42 a.m."Some became entrenched in bitterness and their retaliation only mimicked the tactics of their enemies. Some migrated to Canada to evade the draft, and fear led others to withdraw from the peace movement altogether. Among those still alive todayâ;¦"
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Ciera-Marie
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:04 a.m.Paul Wellstone was elected to Senate.
Norm Coleman elected to senate after Senator Wellstone died.
Senator Coleman is the best example of what became of a hippie. During the 60's he protested the Vietnam War, smoked pot and was a democrat. He now is a Republican, for the Iraqi War, against marijuana use and is considering becoming an independent. Here is the link http://articles.citypages.com/2007-09-05/news/w...
These were the two examples that came to mind when I read the article. This is another good one Spadecaller.
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agentX
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:52 a.m.Hey, good to see you back Spadecaller!
I was not alive until the '80s, but if I were alive in the 60s I am pretty sure I would either
a) have been drafted, fought and died in Vietnam
b) been hung in the South or shot in the Watts riots.
Yeah, the 60s for us black folk wasn't exactly the best of times...
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palamaComment has been removed: Retracted by user
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getreal1
Oct. 24, 2007, 12:13 p.m.My what trouble I had getting in on this post. One would think the truth that has past is still a threat to our wonderful administration. A lawyer friend of mine who now runs a big firm in Columbia S.C. denies those days of free statement past. He and a few of his colleagues gave a lot of the people that they grew up with a lot of hope and when they got were they wanted to get they turned of us. Thank you Spadecaller, how right we were.
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Spadecaller
Oct. 24, 2007, 12:19 p.m.Yes...we've come a long way; now liberals, terrorists, and and traitors are syonyms to the neocons.
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mcgrievysr
Oct. 24, 2007, 1:20 p.m.I grew up in the 50's and 60's. As a teacher who was married and who had a hearing loss, I was draft exempt. I was fairly oblivious to all of the turmoil surrounding Viet Nam, or at least until many of my friends returned home. I did know that I did not want to see a repeat of Viet Nam in my lifetime. As I came onto Netscape (Propeller), I was fairly apolitical. After reading hawkish diatribes by rabid neocons that stretched all limits of logic, I slowly began to hate what we as a nation had wrought in Iraq. I read tempered responses from those who opposed the policies of our current administration. I began to agree. Now, belatedly, I'm proud to say that I'm a member of our new subculture. But, is "subculture" an accurate term as we become the majority?
(cont.)
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mcgrievysr
Oct. 24, 2007, 1:23 p.m.Let's vote new blood in during the 2008 elections and get rid of the rabid war mongers. Let them find themselves on the outside looking in. Or, in the case of our current orchestrators of the Iraqi occupation, leave them on the inside (incarcerated) looking out. :-)
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Wolfie2007
Oct. 24, 2007, 4:13 p.m.Have any of you old hippies daydreaming about the good old days ever realized that this is the world you brought about. Now it's time to say you 're sorry about it all, shut up and go away. Please.
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miklkit
Oct. 24, 2007, 5:52 p.m.The 60's were radical times. I'm surprised at how little reaction there is to what is happening today.
In my neighborhood there was 1 full time student, 1 who went to college and became a police officer, 5 married right out of high school, 1 who was 4f who enlisted anyway and ran heavy equipment for the Army Corp of Engineers, 1 who enlisted in the Marines and got his face blown off by a grenade in Vietnam, and 3 of us got drafted. 1 went to Germany. 2 of us went to Vietnam. 1 was wounded, and I came back ok.
This was probably typical for California. There were thousands in the streets protesting and that is why we will never see a draft. The warmongering republicons would get tarred and feathered and rode out of town on a rail.
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not2needy
Oct. 24, 2007, 8:03 p.m.OMG, i remembered every single item mentioned, like i just stepped back into yesteryear!
Thanks Spadecaller, i missed those stories. I bookmarked it too so i could read more later!
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ind06
Oct. 24, 2007, 9:01 p.m.I have to admit, being born only a few months before President Kennedy was assassinated none of this really made much of a mark on me. Vietnam was that grainy black and white footage they showed on TV at dinner and then there was a map with a line showing the "front" that never seemed to move. One of my friends older brothers was a bona fide hippie and that was cool because he owned a convertible VW Beetle and I thought those were the best cars on earth.
Mostly, the impact of the baby boom for me has been: 1) to clog up the job market, 2) to carry their search for "peace and love" in a religious direction and become what we used to call "Jesus freaks", but, now that they have more money, are called "Fundamentalist Christians". These people have been and continue to be, IMHO, not exactly the best thing to happen to America.
I'm generalizing, I know. But I'm being forced to speak of an entire generational block here.
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Natureboy
Oct. 24, 2007, 9:31 p.m."Among those still alive today, are the turncoats, many of whom head up the companies profiting from the war in Iraq."
One of the failings of the peace movement is that the vast majority of participants are college educated, white, middle class, and do not fully comprehend that they lead lives of privilege, lives made comfy by the oppression of half the globe, by class inequities, etc. So they want "peace," but within the social and economic framework which makes perpetual war inevitable. When the "peace" movement becomes a radical social, economic and environmental justice movement, it may expand beyond its historic class boundaries and really catch fire.
Thus endeth the sermon.
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humemacdonald
Oct. 24, 2007, 9:35 p.m.So that is what they are called "realists who have lost their vision"- didn't these people just used to be called "sell-outs" or "cop-outs" I better keep up on the lingo.
"The thousands of workers and supporters of great people don't expect applause to persevere."
Of course they don't but I am just tired of applause being given where it is undue.
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Amazing1
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:30 p.m.As a member of Women in Black, I can tell you that in my neck of the woods, most of the members are like myself, aging hippies. I work at a Senior Citizens Center. Most of the people there are ideologically aligned with the "peace and love" movement of the 60's. We have not gone away. There are many of us still out here. And we wonder where the moral compass is for the generation of today. Most of the young people we encounter are not interested in politics or demonstrating or taking a stand. They want the latest iPod or iPhone or video game. And we are all sadder for it. The best we see is the popularity of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. The greying flower children of yesteryear have not all lost their ideals. But we need the thinkers and doers of today to join us.
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canadianrancher57
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:42 p.m.I was near the end of the baby boomers, but when I read the artical the same feeling came back to me as in the 60's in regard to the Kennedys and Martin Luther king. The deaths of these people still leaves me with a feeling of emptyness today. MY grandfather always let us sit up and watch the national news with him every night and we would watch the reports from Vietnam, He would comment on how that war was for nothing and would never be won. He was born in 1892 and had seen 2 great wars so he made a point of informing me on war. I have worked hard and acomplished something with my life but I am still a peace loving hippy today, it is sad how many people accept the world as it is and give up trying to change it.There have been times in my life that I have fought and there have been times I have walked away, I always found it hard to walk away when people were calling you a chicken, but if the cause was wrong it was worth it.
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Spadecaller
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:42 p.m.Amazing1,
You are a power of example; I know you "walk the talk'. Thanks for checking in.
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rwrnae
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:42 p.m.While the fruits and nuts were out protesting, I was in the Army having fun (kind of like deer hunting only more exciting, deer with guns!) When I came back and finished college I majored in keggers and running Hari Krishnas robes up the flag pole (we were curious to see what they wore underneath.) Meanwhile the fruits and nuts moved on to other protests. Now they are old fruits and nuts and still bitter (for example Hillary.) As near as I can figure out they are against whatever is the present norm , are perpetually unhappy and blame everything on "someone else", government, "the establishment", "the power elite", whatever. Except themselves, of course. By and large their families, if they have any, are a mess, their personal lives are a mess (divorces, single parent families, messed up kids, etc.) So much for ideals.
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canadianrancher57
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:50 p.m.rwrnae-Your comment is a contridiction, are you not the one blaming someone else for the problems of the nation.
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Spadecaller
Oct. 24, 2007, 10:56 p.m.To the "deer hunter" who pretends not to care:
Hillary is irrelevant to this discussion, but then again so are your stereotypes. (fruits and nuts)
If anyone appears discontent on this thread, it is you. Many of us came back from Nam and took a stand against the war. Too bad you had to waste your time in a keg. Have you stopped drinking yet?
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Radiofreeeuropa
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:02 p.m.An excellent post Spadecaller. I'm one of the hopeless idealists of this era I will not be changing at this point in my life, my heroes are Martin Luther King and John Lennon.
Though I was young I did march with Dr. King and in fact it was a local church that provided buses for those who wanted to attend the D.C. civil rights march. I have watched in amazement as many of my age group succumbed to the temptation to sell out their principals for the material rewards offered in a "normal life". Many also just got beaten down so badly by the "establishment" for lack of a better phrase that they became completely jaded and apathetic. But then there are those of us and I know we are a minority but not insignificant in number who refuse to die! I know quite a few right here on propeller. Still others had their voices silenced by the opposition.
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Spadecaller
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:17 p.m.Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., a true patriot, a protestor, and peacemaker...
Like it or not we are his surviving brothers and sisters, his sons and daughters, the heirs, and the bearers of his sepulcher. From what we share here, we breathe life back into his words.
Like it or not; it is up to us. We can pass it on to the downtrodden, the weary, and the forgotten - that one day they too can say," free at last!" This would bring a smile to his face; that we need not wait for leaders to stand up for us. Like it or not; it has always been up to us.
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slate
Oct. 24, 2007, 11:15 p.m."Turn on, tune in, drop out"; Become senators, congressmen and presidents and run the world.
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