[operation clinton cleanup]

The decade had begun on a high note. Initially, Americans accepted the Vietnam War as a larger struggle against communism. Optimism grew as Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act in the mid-60s. A counter-culture movement was also taking root. Young people, in particular, were denouncing the traditions and norms of the establishment. For this affluent and educated set, drugs and music, rather than violence, would change the world.

Is this how people really viewed the 60's, while it was happening?

[Miss Marple]

To answer your question, NO, it wasn't that way at all. Not where I was, anyway. People opposedthe war because of the draft, and the bottom line is that people didn't want to get killed. All of this talk about "principled" resistance is hogwash. Boomers who pretend that they weren't afraid of getting killed are simply re-writing history. I sat in on too many dorm conversations to believe anything else.

The people who believed music would change the world were dopers who are by now institutionalized or dead. Those of us who were in the real world were scrambling to make lives while the entire country was torn apart by the demonstrations and later Watergate.

I will speak out whenever I hear clueless types talk about how wonderful the 60's were. ONLY the early 60's...the rest was crap.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Uh, yeah! A lot of Americans backed our troops and the civil rights movements, but somehow the anti-establishment types captured the imagination of the media and took over the universities. Any behavior was coddled and approved -- the more despicable the better. Now the same folks (with haircuts) RUN the media and the universities.

[brushcop]

I didn't view it that way, I was serving my country after which, I made sure I got a job and developed a career. Thank you Mom and Dad for showing the way.

[Cogadh na Sith]

Young people, in particular, were denouncing the traditions and norms of the establishment.

That led to:

higher taxes
more bastard children
inflation
Islamic extremism
lower wages
welfare queens
AIDS
crack cocaine
disco music
end of the space program
bombing Belgrade
Tuol Sleng prison
North Korean nukes
end of the Pledge of Allegiance
the therapy nation
abortion
divorce
latchkey kids (thanks, mom...)
feminism
Blackhawk Down
the housing bubble....

Thanks, Baby Boomers. Thanks a heap....

[nopardons]

The first 1/2 of that? ABSOLUTELY !

The second 1/2 is disingenuous. The hippies were led by men well into their 30s; almost every single one of them RED DIAPER BABIES. From '68 onwards, it was a scary, dangerous, frightening time, with the SDS and the Black Panthers and the Weathermen blowing things up, shooting police and innocents, and hordes of filthy morons taking to the streets, scaring and disgusting normal people.

Forget the "sweetness and light" garbage, you are told about that time. The anit-war morons, back then, were violent and yes, they took to the streets in marauding packs; spitting and cursing and harassing regular people and children.

[SE Mom]

bookmark for later

[Veto!]

Is this how people really viewed the 60's, while it was happening?

Yes. An abbreviated but accurate description of the mindset of the times, at least the mindset of those interested in changing their mindset, which was what it was about. Of course, it was driven by LSD, a drug taken not just by crazy kids but also by serious people including NASA scientists hoping for creative breakthroughs. Perhaps some people had good results, but in the man, it caused widespread devastation.