Happy 192nd Birthday, Karl Marx! You told us what runaway capitalism is good for but hell no, we didn't believe you!
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The first 'Cannonball Run' began on this day in 1914. Most people think it was a movie(s) starring Burt Reynolds but it was originally a coast-to-coast motorcycle race against time.
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Looking back at the 60's and 70's rebellious days of American youth brings to mind something I hadn't much considered. Those kids claimed to be anti-establishment and demanded individualism, but by doing so they poured themselves into a mold. They not only thought the same and followed the same "party" line, they pretty well talked the same with the same lingo and dialect, they used and abused the same drugs, they mostly dressed the same, they listened to the same music, and when they danced, they all looked like a flock of airplanes flying in whimsical holding patterns over a 'seen only by them' airfield. They were a parody of and in many ways very similar to the mainstream American establishment. Every large town had a group or commune of them all being alike everywhere they were. The psychedelic colors of the late 60's turned into the tie-dyed t-shirts of the 70's. I actually liked the t-shirts, but they became so ubiquitous and established that I never bought one; I had my own sense of rebellion. The reality of the glorious 60's was not all the legendary picture seen, "remembered", and disseminated by those whom lived in the period. It was a time of great change, but it only brought on a new era of old fashioned conformity. $$$
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Wow, man! Have a wild Wednesday man!
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4 comments:
It is Wednesday and rainy which is good. Green beans and green maters' like rain over the hose. I always thought what is projected via media of the 60's is probably glamorized and those are some interesting thoughts.
I am scared for the shore line of west coast Florida, all the animals that will suffer, and families that will struggle with the loss of the fishing industry here.
Good rain is much better than city or well water.
The 60's were definitely troubled, but the glamorous part is way over-remembered and super-hyped.
A lot of the oil is slowly sinking and riding a few feet below the surface; I worry about the living coral reefs, too; This will have many years of effecting the environment. Like Mark, I would like to know the truth from the beginning.
Thanks, Tammy.
There were many good ideas and intentions of the youth and many of its leaders. The government was very afraid of the youth culture and did many things to try and get them to come apart from the inside.
The FBI was very involved in working to create turmoil with any of the movements the kids were leading America towards.
As the 60's crept into the 70's Nixon and the Republicans put a great deal of fear into much of the voting public and ultimately crushed George McGovern and dreams that had carried over from the 60's.
I truly believe that if McGovern and Sargent Shriver had won the election things would be vastly different today.
These things combined with the fact these kids were creeping into their mid 20's and were slowly becoming adults ended up putting the dream of what we could become to rest.
I think one of the reasons it is looked back on so fondly is that many Americans now see that some of those dreams were not so far fetched and we lost many opportunities to make some real changes in America.
No matter what one thinks we lost our innocence in the 1960's and we have yet to recover from those years. The ten year span from 1963 to 1973 changed America in ways we still do not understand.
The biggest problem I saw with "the movement" was too many factions and no overall leadership. The real movers and shakers each had their own agenda and that fact alone prevented any cohesion that would have stopped Hoover and his henchmen. The "flower children" were mostly just happy to be there, and would follow whatever leader who was in vogue on a particular day. Instead of trying to get any huge national organization behind the overall need for change so they would have some clout, they alienated the likes of labor unions and their everyday workers whom I believe would have lent a more sympathetic ear if they had not been lumped in with the big money and big government. Without real national leadership, Hoover was left to cut the factions into smaller pieces that finally died from lack of momentum.
McGovern played straight politics whereas the Republican machine we know today swung into high gear for the first time. Even though Mac was anti-war, the democrats as a whole were un-apologetic and that put the burden of Johnson's policies right on his shoulders. He didn't have any chance of being elected; not even the Daley machine in Chicago could buy or arouse enthusiasm. Hell, Agnew--as big a jerk as he was--could not help Mac even with his arrogant stupidity. People wanted out of the war, they were scared because of oil embargo and threats of the economy going to shambles, and Mac wasn't promising he could fix things; just make them better.
You are correct, the dreams were not far fetched, but the reality was. There were enough people to cause a permanent change for the good, but they could never work as a unit.
The 60's were not a total loss, many good things are still with us. It was the mystique of the period which is still growing that was unreal in many ways and that are accepted now as being a fact of Camelot.
Thanks for some interesting points which are well taken and very much true. :-)
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