Letters to the Editor
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HISTORY IGNORED
The 60's were great, in that the boomers took literally the lessons taught by their parents. All men are created equal, including ancestors of slaves. Segregation is wrong and must end. Women deserve equality in the home, in educational oportunities, and in the workplace. Treat others how you would like to be treated. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Imagine there's no heaven.
The Military Industrial Complex that Eisenhower warned us about was in fact real, and would continue to inject itself into Government until it controlled it, and us, completely.
If only little George Bush and little Dick Cheney had been forced into combat in Vietnam, how different things might be today. If only Bill and Hillary hadn't forgot all the lessons of the 60's, rendered amnesiatic and stupid, by too much time inside the privileged money sewers of Washington.
The lessons of the 60's were good. They just weren't heeded.
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The other myth about the sixties
I have not read DeGroot's book, but if Gary Kamiya did an accurate job of reviewing it, the author tackles many myths about the sixties except one: The constant and pervasive myth promulgated by the media, the History departments and Political Science and Sociology department, the businesses, and the members of our government, that the sixties was a bad time of cultural and social chaos that didn't accomplish much and should be forgotten and ignored (Interesting that it should be, therefore, reviewed out on the Internet, which was deeply grounded in sixties values and many of the inventions of which were produced by the crowd he is dismissing).
It would seem the reason he doesn't tackle this particular myth is because he believes it, and it informs his entire work. That does not speak highly of his talents as a historian. I have not read DeGroot's book, maybe I won't waste my time. It doesn't seem likely to be influential, and that, according to DeGroot, is all that matters.
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I hate all of you
And if the asteroid strike was tomorrow, I'd throw a party.
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smoothyo
There's another war going on but from where I'm sitting it looks like the priorities of today's 20-somethings lie in things like 'The Hills' on MTV, 'American Idol', iPods, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears. If this author thinks that the youth of the 60s accomplished nothing I can't WAIT to see what the professor(s) of tomorrow write in their books about the youth of the early 21st Century.
You do you think is fighting the war (or, more accurately, the occupation) in Iraq and Afghanistan? Who are dead by the thousands? It's those 18-20-somethings that you seem to think are worthless. You want to know why the youth is apathetic? It's because people like you drown out their voices.
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A surprisingly good book review...
Proof again that Salon has some redeeming value once you leave the political theatre to the side for a bit.
I will say that I'm just F'ING TIRED of hearing about how great the 60's were. Okay, I'll grant you that civil rights took a big leap in that decade, thanks in part to hard work done over the previous two decades before then.
And okay, there's the music...
But beyond that, I can't give Boomers any more credit...yall have been getting a free ride since then...but it ends once someone from OUR generation (aka Obama) gets elected to office.
And thank Christ Gen X/Y ers are doing the commercials now, because I was just sick of hearing 50s/60s rock music in raisin ads. Of course, now I get to hear Crazy Train in a car ad...startin' to feel old now, not liking that much.
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Having lived thru the 60s
I can tell you the fascination is with the rebellion against authority and the sexual freedom that fascinates us now. The rebellion continues to this day, abeit a bit more subdued. The sexual freedom is also continuing, subdued more by disease than by anything else.
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Electro Robot
Better get your party supplies ahead of time.
And therapy really can help some people, you should look into it.
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It was fun while it lasted!
Contrary to what seems to be the almost universal belief of those who weren’t there, the 60’s did happen, and yes- it was the best of times and the worst of times. In retrospect what distinguished this period- which to my mind ran from JFK’s assassination to Watergate- was the pace of change and the optimism that drove it. Prior to 11-22-63 it seemed like the whole world was static: black, white, gray, navy blue and commie red; within a couple of years it was a veritable rainbow. Culturally the Beatles and what came with and after them represented a sea change the likes of which I don’t imagine I will see again in my lifetime. Those who weren’t conscious then cannot imagine the difference between 1963 and 1968- you simply have no scale to compare it to.
But the big thing was the optimism, which came as the result of both the fact that the demographic bulge was coming of age, and the country as a whole was so prosperous that we could simultaneously tackle a foreign war, the war on poverty, and go to the moon. The results of these things were mixed- we got to the moon, but Viet Nam was a disaster of hubris and a “war” on poverty makes about as much sense as a war on terror- but there was a feeling in the air that despite the riots, assassinations and Tricky Dick we could change things, and because of it many things were changed for the better.
Now the mood is one of despair. We are beset by problems largely of our own making, but seem to lack the personal and political will to even try to fix them, and not co-incidentally mainstream culture is either self-consciously ugly or faux 50’s sentimental. So many battles were fought and won then that it seems need refighting again. Prior to JFK’s assassination we could at least claim innocence. That we- my boomer generation in particular- knows better now yet refuses to face this knowledge fills me with despair at times. McCain- a Viet Nam vet and former reformer who now wants to bomb bomb bomb Iran and maintain the status quo- is the perfect personification of this.
In short, the 60’s were the beginning of the world we live in now in many respects. But the new boss turned out to be the same as the old boss, and we are condemned to repeat history after all.