My Generation

[Blarg]

Good post. I'd just like to add that in the accepted way of discussing the 60's today, the fallback and most conservative take is to ascribe most all of it to drugs and kids being petulant and spoiled brats. In fact, what is being glossed over, by no accident, is how viciously political the times were. Think war, black bag jobs by the FBI, assassinations, spying on American citizens, and civil rights, not cartoonish things like Cheech and Chong. There were tremendous struggles regarding, and attempted reconceptualizations of, how power ws used and who had a right to it. Needless to say, that always comes as a shock to either politicians in power or a populace that largely thought these issues had been forever decided and were well beyond argument -- at least by people of any worth.

[katyseagull]

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What Blarg is trying to say, Katy, without blowing a gasket is that yes, intergenerational conflict during those decades was worse than ever before or since. Two entire generations of people were attempting to kill, arrest, imprison, infiltrate and many other not-as-bad things their own children and grandchildren. Or course, it wasn't THEIR children or grandchildren, it was that other guy's children and grandchildren. The actions and attitude towards the younger generation stretched from local government to the national guard. They stretched from your local sheriff to the FBI. They stretched from your neighbors on each side of the yard to two of the worst presidents ever. It was, as Blarg said, a war between generations. Prior to that time period, the prior generation was doing what it could to improve the lives and prospects of the next. Maybe not directly acting, but doing so in their day to day lives for their ethnicity, community, family, whatever - it all ended up improving everyone's lot.

I think what bothers me most about that today is that the kids that were under attack then have taken the worst of both sides as parents and leaders and applied it to their children. They've taken the memories of being whooped on and have turned into giant freaking enablers for spoiled kids. At the same time, they've taken a history of openness, freedom, alternatives and experimentation and decided that they could handle it as kids, but now their kids cannot.

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Good post KotOD. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

[dylan's alias]

[ QUOTE ]
Good post. I'd just like to add that in the accepted way of discussing the 60's today, the fallback and most conservative take is to ascribe most all of it to drugs and kids being petulant and spoiled brats. In fact, what is being glossed over, by no accident, is how viciously political the times were. Think war, black bag jobs by the FBI, assassinations, spying on American citizens, and civil rights, not cartoonish things like Cheech and Chong. There were tremendous struggles regarding, and attempted reconceptualizations of, how power ws used and who had a right to it. Needless to say, that always comes as a shock to either politicians in power or a populace that largely thought these issues had been forever decided and were well beyond argument -- at least by people of any worth.

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I sort of agree, but I don't think the issue is necessarily that politics were any different. Dirty tricks, international entanglements, back room deals, etc. have always been a huge part of politics. The young generation became more politically active (I'm reluctant to call them politically savvy). Most importantly, they were empowered to believe that they could make a difference.

[Blarg]

The large-scale engagement of youth in politics was unique. I'm reluctant to call anyone politically savvy, really; most people just parrot inherited prejudices, and this isn't exactly a nation of readers and is in many ways very provincial on international matters.

I'd say politics were definitely different, too. We were dealing with adults who had come out of a world war that I think transformed the nation's soul, and before that, had just barely survived "the great depression," and were scarred and turned very conservative by both. Along with anti-communist hysteria, it made a couple of generations terrified of change and deeply grateful for stasis. They were barely getting used to having anything and were thankful and probably a little shocked they had survived to do so. Their faith in America was nearly absolute, as a generation that has been through bootcamp and war is taught. My own dad was like that - "America, right or wrong!" "America, Love it or Leave it!" There was really little you could say that wasn't in agreement with everyone else that wasn't cast as some sort of betrayal.

It made for a painfully rigid and in many ways quite false and hollow social environment. Seeing through the facade of 50's happy family perfection was like shooting fish in a barrel -- and the generation before the boomers felt like they were the fish and being zeroed in on by their own kids. In an age when it was still very much the case that "Children are to be seen, not heard," our elders were frankly not about to brook any of our sh*t, no matter how reasonable. And if anyone wanted to send us to war, then by God we were going! Or, by extension, or rather a comfortingly easy substitution -- YOU were. After all, they had to do whatever they were told, even at the cost of their lives, so why the hell couldn't you? That somehow whether it was right or wrong could have anything to do with it was a near unfathomable objection to a generation that by and large believed it belonged to the most moral nation in the history of the world and had just gotten done proving it at the cost of their own blood. AGAIN.

There was also the easy tactic and first resort of all trying to restrict the political sphere, a favorite of outright dictatorships everywhere -- promulgating the idea that it must be "outside agitators" stirring up trouble among our innocent and gullible. The differences between hippy and Soviet communist were, to say the least, played down. Even anyone coming near protest over social issues could be tarred by essentially the same brush used against those most outspoken, by being called "fellow travelers." Really, it was a culture insisting that there was a very clear delineation between right and wrong, and that any grays were one or another flavor of espionage or betrayal. And right or wrong, unfortunately, was largely whatever the government told you it was.

It was a very inflexible society. These were the days when books and records were still being burned, the women's movement was still shocking and new, and people used the word "divorcee," but often with a mixture of disapproving giggling and contempt, served with a side of ostracism and shocked whispering. It was easy to play by all the rules if that was the way you were raised, but much harder for one's children to see the artificiality, stultifying conformity, and moral indifference disguised as righteousness and want to adopt it for one's own. Something had to give.

[littlekeed]

When our generation gets upset about something we blog about it.

When the 60's generation got upset about something... I think the difference is apparent.

[katyseagull]

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The world changed more in the 60s than it had in the past decades (I'd say since WWI). The buildup of wealth among the middle class and the lack of a war (from the mid 50's to the end of the 60's) resulted in kids with money to spend. America had already made the major change from agriculture to industry, which also freed the younger generation from farm work. Then, by the early 60's, the Pill became widely available. Now you've got kids with money, free time and the ability to have sex without getting pregnant. The stage for a cultural upheaval was set.


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Interesting discussion. I've never given any thought to the impact that the Pill had on previous generations. I guess I can see how this event might have caused a generational war and conflict within families, especially when combined with the political climate and conservative values of the parents.


(I like how they utilized tie dye in their social revolution!)





I was under the impression that in the 60s there were a lot of stay-at-home moms, and I was picturing their family life as very wholesome, kind of like in The Wonder Years or Leave it to Beaver. But it makes sense to me that the extra money and the pill afforded young people a sense of freedom that their parents never had and it must have been pretty shocking to the older generation.

[katyseagull]

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When our generation gets upset about something we blog about it.

When the 60's generation got upset about something... I think the difference is apparent.

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So at some point can we expect to see you guys taking to the streets with signs of protest or are you just going to keep blogging about it?

[Phat Mack]

OK, here's something good I've noticed about your generation. You are very savvy about technology; very comfortable with it; very familiar with it. But where previous generations thought technology might be the solution to the world's problems, to you it's a toy or maybe a tool, but you don't impart mystical importance to it. So maybe yours will be the generation that keeps its eyes wide open and does the most with it.

[Blarg]

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The world changed more in the 60s than it had in the past decades (I'd say since WWI). The buildup of wealth among the middle class and the lack of a war (from the mid 50's to the end of the 60's) resulted in kids with money to spend. America had already made the major change from agriculture to industry, which also freed the younger generation from farm work. Then, by the early 60's, the Pill became widely available. Now you've got kids with money, free time and the ability to have sex without getting pregnant. The stage for a cultural upheaval was set.


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting discussion. I've never given any thought to the impact that the Pill had on previous generations. I guess I can see how this event might have caused a generational war and conflict within families, especially when combined with the political climate and conservative values of the parents.


(I like how they utilized tie dye in their social revolution!)





I was under the impression that in the 60s there were a lot of stay-at-home moms, and I was picturing their family life as very wholesome, kind of like in The Wonder Years or Leave it to Beaver. But it makes sense to me that the extra money and the pill afforded young people a sense of freedom that their parents never had and it must have been pretty shocking to the older generation.

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The car did the same thing in the 20's. People got away from the house in them easily and practically for the first time, and started f*cking in them.

[Blarg]

I'm just curious as to how "the most" would be defined. I'd love for a less than completely trivial definition.