The difference between the protestors of today and the '60's....

[kentuck]

In the '60's, the young people ruled. There were few older people at Woodstock and there were few older people protesting in the streets. The young people thought they could change the world and they did...for a while.

Now, those same young people are older and many of them are still leading the protests. It should not be that way. The young people must step forward. We are only young once. We need you.

[AllyCat]

1. I've seen a real mix of age, race, etc

at the protests I've attended. I don't know who started them though. Maybe it was all the older folks. But still, if the older ones start it and the young ones participate, maybe they will start their own next time.

Or maybe the young of America are asleep like the rest of the sheeple.

[kainah]

2. Amen!!

You're exactly right. I remember when I was demonstrating in the 60s, I always thought it was very cool when we had "little old ladies" joining us. Now I am one of those little old ladies and while I enjoy that senior status, I wish more of the college age kids in our group would be more active.

What I find interesting, though, is that -- at least here in Laramie, Wyoming -- we have both the university and, of course, the high schools. During the 2 years of our peace group's existence, the high school has had a more active presence that UW. That's changed slightly since we began tabling at the university and a couple of our active high schoolers graduated last year but it seems to me that the under 18 crowd is even more active than the 18-25 year olds.

[candy]

3. It was the baby boom.,period. They are all fat and happy capitalists

now.

[greatauntoftriplets]

4. Interesting.....

The triplets' mother voted Democratic. But my 31-year-old niece and 24-year-old nephew both voted for the craphead.

Go figure.

[BrklynLiberal]

5. I think it is the younger generation who are the fat, happy capitalists...

they are the yuppies, GEN-X, etc who could not care less about politics, social justice or what is going to happen to the world after they are gone.

[RafterMan]

9. Blame their parents

nt

[American Tragedy]

17. Perhaps...

yet we 18-25 year olds are still the only age demographic that overwhelmingly broke for Kerry.

[Warpy]

7. Careful, kid

The cohort from 1946-1955 saw the worst of the economic disasters of the 1970s. They also saw contributions to pension after pension legally stolen by the companies they worked for every time they changed jobs. Now they're looking at no pensions and social security is threatened. The first cohort of the baby boom is NOT fat or happy.

The cohort from 1955-1964 fared much better, since the older of them were still in college during the worst of the 1970s, they'd missed Vietnam, and they'd grown up hearing their parents bitch about how the first cohort were ruining the country. They're the ones who are reaping the benefits of first portable pensions and later 401k plans. They're also much likelier than the first cohort to vote for Repuglicans.

So don't talk about boomers until you define precisely what you are talking about, and don't dismiss all of your elders so cavalierly without knowing what the economic history of this country has been.

[candy]

20. I'm dismissing my elders? I'm 72 years old. n/t

[UncleSepp]

28. Haha! Love you Candy, that was great (n/t)

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[candy]

22. Limited vocabulary also! n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

14. Not all

I'm 57 and I'm engaged. I'm here. I pay attention. I do as much as I can in activism.

[tridim]

6. Lots of youngsters are speaking their mind on the Net

And that's not a bad thing. The media pays attention to blogs, they almost never show protests. I'm not saying that we shouldn't come together in the streets. I have, and will continue to, but don't discount the kids.. Just the other day a military kid told off his boss on national TV and made him look like a jackass.. That's power.

[mtnsnake]

16. That's the problem. The kids aren't getting out into the streets.

They don't need to because they can talk about it on the computer. The only problem is, the right people (MSM) aren't hearing them...and no one is seeing them.

[mcscajun]

8. In NYC in August...

...it was an incredibly diverse group...500,000 strong!

New Little Old Ladies, VERY old ladies, Old Guys who marched before Vietnam, Folk musicians still keepin' on' keepin' on', College Kids, teens, kiddies in strollers, gays, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, blue collar workers and college professors.

But you're right...we really need the young people out there...in the Horrifying heat that was August in NY...lots of us older ones couldn't make the entire march at the snail's pace the Size of the crowd and the police controls kept us at.

Thank goodness for Internet organizing and UFPJ, among others. :)

on edit: Woo-hoo!!! Post # 300!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. come the draft

the kids will come out. They don't think politics affects them yet. Big surprise coming!

[mcscajun]

13. Yeah...that was the huge motivating factor in the 60's - early 70s.

Either you were a guy and were eligible, or you were a gal who loved guys who were...you didn't want them to die or end up maimed. You thought about becoming a conduit for guys leaving for Canada. You marched despite the risk and the abuse...and the FBI file you were building.

When the draft returns...the kids will be out again.

[welshTerrier2]

12. in the 60's, our politics was supported by our culture ...

i'm afraid that's not the case today ...

there's plenty of anti-establishment protest music today but my impression of today's "youth culture" is that it's been heavily commercialized ...

i think the sentiment you expressed is shared by both young and old alike ... both generations would love to see a new "taking to the streets" in the youth culture ...

perhaps events will bring this about ... we seem unable to build the movement thus far ...

[Stinky The Clown]

15. I'll take on Janice Joplin or one Jefferson Airplane to a room full

of Jessica Simpsons or Brittany Spears.

Substance vs air heads

[NuttyFluffers]

18. y'know, being one of 'those youngsters.' i had to reply.

there are many passionate people my age out protesting. but i think what happened was many of my generation does not protest for several reasons.
this is responses i've come across, dismiss them if you want, but it would be better to listen to their perspective and see how we can adapt. i believe they are engaged, but far more 'subtle' than before, kind of like the change of feminism from the 60'-70's to now.

1. if you become a leader of the movement, they'll just come after you and kill you. i don't wanna be bugged, be blacklisted, etc. (i think this fear was instilled by history classes/teachers and parents wanting to keep their kids alive and not glamorize the protest movements)

2. often protests create a lot of noise that is easily ignored. it too rarely changes stuff anymore. just causes traffic and nothing else. (could be seen as a waste of effort, pentagon and media really worked to frame protests in this light)

3. i don't want to be beaten up and have nothing to show for it. too often a few plants or ruffians start a riot which grants the police free reign to riot against protestors. (a legitimate issue, society has been seriously worked by the overlords to sanction more beatings, more jailings, and more insider mole corruption)

i think that's why new things are starting to pop up. there's such a disillusionment with society that many just want it to just up and die already so we can start again. it is seen as all corrupt, all worthless, all pointless, and dangerous to boot.

but, that leaves this generation as perhaps the most dangerous, because if pressed against a wall they have no problem destroying it all to start again. pretty much like the dangerous loner kid who hates everyone and everything and just wants to be left alone while he waits for decay and time to set him free. you could cheerlead and rah rah 'til your face turns blue, but the second you step up into his face and back him into a corner... watch out! all bets are off, you were warned!

i really wish it wasn't like that, but it seems my generation has a seething for the current state of affairs that cannot be quenched. deep down many want it better, but the only tool they feel they can fight back with is entropy, sarcasm, and disinterest. which probably explains why i love "Starve the Beast" so much, and why others want to run away or just slow everything down until it all collapses. it's like the ridiculed loner kid who is about to be set off -- he's starting to feel cornered and testing his options. that's why i feel the kerry vote was so big. it was a final test to see if there's any redeemable factor in american elections. the answer is no, our suspicions were confirmed, the dangerous quiet begins. that's why i feel many sense a deep sense of unease -- there's a whole generation feeling vindicated for saying 'it's all a sham' for ages and finally being proved right. and now that they are shown right, they can work on waiting to strike at the right time and to strike true. i'm scared because if this generation gets up angry, it'd be akin to the sleeping giant of america in WW II. a lifetime of frustration poured out in a moment.

beware still waters, for they are known to run deep (or was it?: give me rough waters, for that i know what to expect. something like that)

[JI7]

19. difference between then and now is the draft

[IndianaGreen]

21. Ding, ding, ding... we have a winner here!

and I am certain that as the situation in Iraq goes from bad to worse, the powers-to-be will have to figure out a way to reinstate the draft.

The draft gave clarity to the war. Those that were unmoved by the moral argument against the war, were easily persuaded when it was their hide on the line.

[DerekG]

23. It took the young people a little while to "rule" in the 60's...

I recall several sources which state that the '64 and '65 protests against our rape of Vietnam were comprised more of older leftists; for a time, it was the professors who chided the students to get involved. The draft changed this right quick.

And I'm not exactly looking forward to another Woodstock: several hundred thousand chanting, drug-addled hedonists didn't do much to end the war. My respect goes to the shit-stormers: Hayden and the Students for a Democratic Society; the Freedom Riders; the Catholic Left, the Yippies, the Black Panthers, and Daniel Ellsberg/Anthony Russo. They ended the war.


On edit: Out of respect, I added Russo.

[jarab]

24. Yet, the protests of the 60s

only became "huge" once the draft deferments ran out - and the middle class became subjects for the war cause. To be honest, they didn't protest so fiercely until their numbers came up - and they found themselves in a similar position as the poor and unconnected bullet stoppers who had been prime fodder til then.

It became a different story and war once the shoe was placed on the other foot. Most didn't protest for those preceding them or those currently serving - but rather selfishly for themselves. That could be why most of the protests were led by the college-aged. Their exemptions were being phased out, and their own blood was in demand.

...O...

[proudbluestater]

25. The BOOMERS were great in number!

There was also a draft and the Vietnam War that went on endlessly, it seemed.

You are exactly right, though, the young folks should be leading the protests. That's just my opinion. I would join a protest in a NY minute if I knew there were going to be a group of folks showing up!

But the Boomers had the advantage of a REAL media. There was no right-wing media domination like there is now. The evening news showed the EVENING NEWS, not the sanitized version that the government wants you to see. Hard to get up the energy to protest when you are not aware there is a problem of great magnitude. Most folks are unaware that "we" have plans to invade Iran and Syriaa, too.

[Griffy]

26. YES.. what can we do in colleges?? we need them... wheres Eminem?

[GarySeven]

27. We had MANNERS in those days ...

We always said "excuse me, pig" before we chucked the tear gas back at the cops.

[retread]

29. We were never a majority in the '60s. It was demographics and

a media creation.

What did Woodstock have to do with protesting in the streets? Is smoking dope and ingesting psychedelics while observing rock music a political protest?

[kentuck]

30. Woodstock was political to a large degree.....

But the point was that it was primarily younger people....and it was the younger people that were leading the protests. Whether it was because of the draft is open to debate. Perhaps it was? But there is energy and passion in young people that is needed to keep government thugs away from our doors.

[XemaSab]

31. Three points

ONE, watch yourself with the Gen X-slacker crap. That's *so* '93.

TWO, as a child of a UC Berkeley class of 1970 mom, I think there's more caution on our part. We saw what y'all did right, but we also saw where you went wrong.

I'm currently reading "What's the matter with Kansas?" and the part about the effect of the culture wars on the middle of the country is really hitting home.

Equating drugs and "free love" (irresponsible sex) with effective social protest was a GIANT mistake. An even bigger mistake, which my mom freely admits to, was the TERRIBLE treatment of veterans returning from vietnam.

In retrospect, the giant youth protests of the 60's seem like a giant "proto-echo chamber," where lefties were reborn as die hards, and moderates became increasingly alienated from hedonistic youth culture.

THREE, we've also come of age in an era where we have reaped many of the successes of the 60's. My understanding is that the 50's were an enormously repressed era, and the youth movement was in large part a response to that. We, as little liberal puppies, grew up in a fairly permissive, albeit PC environment, which didn't serve to wind the spring for a backlash.

These were the issues in my high school:

The *whole school* walked out for Rodney King with the assistant principal shouting that we'd all be suspended, but we ignored her. The administration tried to censor a picture of a dude smoking weed in the yearbook and failed, which resulted in the ousting of the principal. There was some meek protest about condoms in the nurse's office that fizzled promptly. We had a very graphic peer sex education/HIV prevention program. We had "slave auctions" that were renamed something else. There was still some residual noise about the change of mascot from the Indian to the Red-Tailed Hawk. The year after I left, a gay-straight alliance was formed with no protest whatsoever. One kid dropped acid at prom and was locked into a closet by several of the quicker-thinking teachers before the administration noticed and kept the kid from graduating.

Marin county.

(Trivia note: I went to school with the kid who introduced John Walker Lindh to Islam... seriously, being a conservative republican or Christian/Muslim was really about as rebellious as you could get.)