Old guard back in the trenches at 'Occupy' protests

[Contrary1]

:yourock:



"NEW YORK — As soon as 62-year-old William Johnsen finished his intravenous drip, he waited for the nurse to apply a Band-Aid, said goodbye to the other patients and then left the veteran’s hospital for the spot where he has been spending his days for the last 3-and-a-half weeks — the “Occupy Wall Street” protest.

Johnsen, a disabled Vietnam combat veteran who suffered a heart attack in December, can’t sleep outside overnight like the young protesters due to his health issues — he has a genetic condition that has triggered emphysema and liver disease. But though the disease tires him out, the animated New York native isn’t about to sit out the crusade, which he says has given him a new sense of purpose.

“We are awakening, we’re waking up to the fact that it’s up to us,” Johnsen said Tuesday at the camp in Zuccotti Park, not long after finishing his treatment at the hospital. “Government and our other institutions of authority are so corrupt that we cannot trust them anymore. There is a rebirth of realization that it’s in our hands.”

“As somebody who has walked thousands of miles for jobs, democracy and justice, this is the type of spirit that was lacking in so many of my walks that I’ve done alone reaching out to people,” he added..."

More: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44880648/ns/us_news-life/

[FarCenter]

1. "Government and our other institutions of authority are so corrupt "

Too bad he didn't realize that before he went to Vietnam.

[FirstLight]

2. he probably had no choice

remember the draft?

[FarCenter]

3. I remember the draft

[ChandlerJr]

5. Maybe he believed the lies told by LBJ and the Democratic Party

and found out for himself when he was over there. I bought into their bullshit early on too.

[FarCenter]

6. What amazes me is how the kids fell for the same old patriotic shit after 9/11.

They don't seem to learn from their elders.

I knew boys that were killed for nothing in Korea, and my brother-in-law got a Purple Heart there.

[procon]

7. Ouch...

That was cold. Kids didn't get a choice, they got drafted... yeah?

[malthaussen]

9. Right, Blame the Kid

I think our culture's propaganda is so designed and targeted at making "warriors" of young men that it requires extraordinary sophistication to be able to shrug it off. The status of our rulers requires an endless supply of young idiots willing and able to defend their privileges, and however incompetent we might think the rulers are at solving problems that matter, it is clear that they have had this militant propaganda sewn up for years. It is not at all surprising that the rising generation buys into the same crap that has been working throughout history, especially since veterans themselves are usually uncomfortable talking about what war really entails.

Speaking personally, I was just exactly too young to be drafted, but had the Vietnam conflict continued beyond my birthday, I most likely would have volunteered. Do you really expect 18-19 year old males to exhibit mature judgement?

-- Mal

[FarCenter]

10. Not really, but I'd hope that their parents, relatives and neighbors would inform them

After all, many of our ancestors emigrated to the US to avoid becoming "cannon fodder" for the European Great Powers.

[jwirr]

11. Today it is even worse - the young in my family all play video games

and I watch them acting out what they play. They are primed to think beating the bad guys is what is manly. Fortunately most of them do not want to join the army but our littlest one (5 years old who watches dad and cousin play the games) is already talking about being a soldier. I told his mom that when she gets the time she needs to turn him around before we lose him. I do not want to censor the games I just want to point out that the culture is still teaching war.

[WilliamPitt]

12. (facepalm)

[myrna minx]

4. K&R n/t

[Blue State Bandit]

8. That pic is Philly, City Hall, Dilworth Plaza.