General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Does this atmosphere, this feeling in the air, remind you any of the late Sixties...? [View all]socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)There was more of a mass feel to the demonstrations of the 60s, even though the protest movement was still a minority. The biggest part of that mass feel was the FACT that the Vietnam war impacted us immediately and lethally. That was also the reason, along with a TON of suppression by the PTBs, that the protests died out with the ending of the war. Some folks made the connection between the system of capitalism and Vietnam, but most just saw it as their government trying to kill them. Until you understand the connection between the system that controls the government, you're going to blame the puppet rather than the puppeteer. Which is why the Teabaggers are so anti-government. They are mostly Boomers who never made that connection between the puppet and puppeteer, so they just regurgitate that distrust of government that they learned in the 60s. And yes, there's a healthy dose of racism involved too.
One difference now is that more of today's activists actually DO make that connection. Most still believe it's a matter of lack of "regulation" or big money "corruption" of the system, which is bullshit of course, but at least now days most people understand who the puppets are and who are the puppeteers. To me that's a positive and an advance over the 60s. What's not an advance, is the lack of the mass of people who are directly affected protesting. Things will have to get worse before you reach the point where there are mass demonstrations. Americans are not only lazy, but also highly propagandized (not surprising since this country has been the epitome of capitalism for at least a century), so they have got to be directly affected in a SERIOUSLY life threatening way (like a war) before they will do anything. It hasn't got that bad yet.