Wednesday, October 13, 2004
The Late Great Sixty-Eight vs Oh-Oh-Four
Some Random Thoughts:
1968 -- Dr Benjamin Spock, one of the first celebrities to publicly oppose the Vietnam war, was convicted of conspiring to encourage draft evasion. Dr Spock, THE definitive Guru of parenting the Baby Boomers with his book "Baby and Child Care" was held responsible for the rebelliousness of the youth by such political leaders as Vice Pres Spiro Agnew, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and religious leader Norman Vincent Peale. They blamed the undisciplined youth on Spock because he replaced "spare the rod and spoil the child" with "be natural and comfortable and enjoy your baby." Upon the death of Dr Spock, President Clinton said, "Dr. Spock . . . taught all of us the importance of respecting children. He was a tireless advocate, devoting himself to the cause of improving the lives of children."
2004 -– Martha Stewart, The Domestic Diva, was convicted of conspiring with her stock broker to lie to federal investigators about why she dumped stock just before prices plunged. Stewart (who used to be a stock broker herself), made her fame by giving a sense of style to home making, gardening, entertaining; inspiring people to add graciousness and style to everyday living. And that was a good thing.
1968 -– The North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a massive organized attack of over a hundred South Vietnam cities, discrediting General Westmoreland who had convinced the Congress and the American people that the "Vietnam Conflict" was going well. Nightly newscasts were, by this time, able to show actual footage of the "conflict" in their nightly reports and the Tet Offensive offered lots of graphic visuals of the "conflict." Then "conflict" correspondent Walter Cronkite said, "To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe in the face of evidence the optimist that have been wrong in the past. To say we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion. It seems increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."
2004 -– Iraq: We were told that our Shock & Awe offense was a successful military operation and that Iraq had been rescued. But nightly news reports offer an opposite view. Perhaps we need to negotiate as an honorable people??? Naw–those terrorists have no political middle ground. They have one goal and one goal only: Kill all non-Muslims and then kill all broad-minded Muslims and then kill everyone that is not "me" whoever the last "me" will be. This is a very tough problem. We can look at Vietnam and ask–is their country better off today without the foreign interference?
1968 –- Charlie Company slaughtered over 500 civilians (infants to elderly) at My Lai in Vietnam. After the three hour killing spree, approximately 30 were charged, but only Lt William Calley was convicted. The indicted were charged with crimes including murder, rape (gang rape), sodomy, maiming, torturing, assault of civilians. One positive thing came from all this–it reiterated the obligation of subordinates to take responsibility for their own actions even when clearly ordered to commit crimes or atrocities.
2004 -– Abu Ghraib: well, we will see how many convictions and how severe the sentences.
1968 –- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (a leader of equality-for-all which spawned countless civil rights movements) was assassinated – Major cities across the united states broke out in race riots. In Detroit, the Tigers won the World Series and whites and blacks broke out in dance and celebration--together. (To be honest, the Detroit race riots had already taken place the previous year.)
2004 –- Thank God, no comparable death. But the North Koreans and South Koreans marched together under the Korean Unification Flag in the 2004 Summer Olympics :)
1968 –- Robert Kennedy, Democratic candidate for President of the United States, was assassinated.
2004 -– Thank God, no comparable event.
1968 -– Abbie Hoffman urged "Yippies" (Hippies who ask the political question "why?") to go to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Peaceful demonstrations, picnics, parades, turned into a bloody Police Riot under the direction of Mayor Daley. The carnage occurred while "the Whole World’s Watching." Young middle-class whites were brutally beaten on live TV and suddenly there was a face to the troublemakers–and the face looked just like White America’s own children. Suddenly, white and black Americans both knew the brutality inflicted upon dissenting opinions in a country that had boasted of freedom of speech.
2004 -– City of Boston successfully kept a myriad, a menagerie, of protesters to the Democratic National Convention confined to a fenced-in area away from tv cameras and delegates.
1968 -– During a demonstration, a Women’s Liberation group threw traditional "trappings" of subjugation into a symbolic trash can--Thus giving rise to the term "Bra-burning."
2004 –- Although most American women enjoy much greater freedom then their mothers and grandmothers, many many women throughout the world are not so lucky. I did, however, see a great photograph of veiled Afghanistani women standing in line to vote and read some charming quotes shared here which was reminiscent of our fights for rights here in US of A.
1968 -– President Johnson decided not to run for re-election due to his unpopular stance on Vietnam and a growing anti-war movement in his own party. Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic nomination but lost to Republican Richard Nixon who ran on a "law and order" and "promise to end the war" campaign (although Nixon later ordered US troops into Cambodia thus expanding the war and setting off nationwide student riots including the Kent State demonstration/massacre). Nixon’s Vice Pres was Spiro Agnew, speaker of such great phrases as nattering nabobs of negativism, effete corps of impudent snobs, pusillanimous pussyfoots, and hopeless hysterical hypochondriacs of history.
2004 -– Republican President Bush is running for a 2nd term and is keeping Dick Cheney as Vice Pres. Democratic candidate John Kerry is running not exactly on an anti-war slate, but more of a I’ll-do-it-better-then-he-did-‘cause he has messed it up soooooo badly campaign with a we-never-should-have-gotten-into-this-war-in-the-first-place slant.
1968 -– Apollo 8 orbited the moon
2004 -– Internet Bloggers challenged the traditional media with a demand for accuracy and accountability. Maybe Bloggers who ask the political question "Why?" should also be renamed to Ploggers ????
2004 isn’t over. We will have to revisit the comparison as the year winds down.
Some Random Thoughts:
1968 -- Dr Benjamin Spock, one of the first celebrities to publicly oppose the Vietnam war, was convicted of conspiring to encourage draft evasion. Dr Spock, THE definitive Guru of parenting the Baby Boomers with his book "Baby and Child Care" was held responsible for the rebelliousness of the youth by such political leaders as Vice Pres Spiro Agnew, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, and religious leader Norman Vincent Peale. They blamed the undisciplined youth on Spock because he replaced "spare the rod and spoil the child" with "be natural and comfortable and enjoy your baby." Upon the death of Dr Spock, President Clinton said, "Dr. Spock . . . taught all of us the importance of respecting children. He was a tireless advocate, devoting himself to the cause of improving the lives of children."
2004 -– Martha Stewart, The Domestic Diva, was convicted of conspiring with her stock broker to lie to federal investigators about why she dumped stock just before prices plunged. Stewart (who used to be a stock broker herself), made her fame by giving a sense of style to home making, gardening, entertaining; inspiring people to add graciousness and style to everyday living. And that was a good thing.
1968 -– The North Vietnamese launched the Tet Offensive, a massive organized attack of over a hundred South Vietnam cities, discrediting General Westmoreland who had convinced the Congress and the American people that the "Vietnam Conflict" was going well. Nightly newscasts were, by this time, able to show actual footage of the "conflict" in their nightly reports and the Tet Offensive offered lots of graphic visuals of the "conflict." Then "conflict" correspondent Walter Cronkite said, "To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe in the face of evidence the optimist that have been wrong in the past. To say we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion. It seems increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could."
2004 -– Iraq: We were told that our Shock & Awe offense was a successful military operation and that Iraq had been rescued. But nightly news reports offer an opposite view. Perhaps we need to negotiate as an honorable people??? Naw–those terrorists have no political middle ground. They have one goal and one goal only: Kill all non-Muslims and then kill all broad-minded Muslims and then kill everyone that is not "me" whoever the last "me" will be. This is a very tough problem. We can look at Vietnam and ask–is their country better off today without the foreign interference?
1968 –- Charlie Company slaughtered over 500 civilians (infants to elderly) at My Lai in Vietnam. After the three hour killing spree, approximately 30 were charged, but only Lt William Calley was convicted. The indicted were charged with crimes including murder, rape (gang rape), sodomy, maiming, torturing, assault of civilians. One positive thing came from all this–it reiterated the obligation of subordinates to take responsibility for their own actions even when clearly ordered to commit crimes or atrocities.
2004 -– Abu Ghraib: well, we will see how many convictions and how severe the sentences.
1968 –- Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (a leader of equality-for-all which spawned countless civil rights movements) was assassinated – Major cities across the united states broke out in race riots. In Detroit, the Tigers won the World Series and whites and blacks broke out in dance and celebration--together. (To be honest, the Detroit race riots had already taken place the previous year.)
2004 –- Thank God, no comparable death. But the North Koreans and South Koreans marched together under the Korean Unification Flag in the 2004 Summer Olympics :)
1968 –- Robert Kennedy, Democratic candidate for President of the United States, was assassinated.
2004 -– Thank God, no comparable event.
1968 -– Abbie Hoffman urged "Yippies" (Hippies who ask the political question "why?") to go to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention. Peaceful demonstrations, picnics, parades, turned into a bloody Police Riot under the direction of Mayor Daley. The carnage occurred while "the Whole World’s Watching." Young middle-class whites were brutally beaten on live TV and suddenly there was a face to the troublemakers–and the face looked just like White America’s own children. Suddenly, white and black Americans both knew the brutality inflicted upon dissenting opinions in a country that had boasted of freedom of speech.
2004 -– City of Boston successfully kept a myriad, a menagerie, of protesters to the Democratic National Convention confined to a fenced-in area away from tv cameras and delegates.
1968 -– During a demonstration, a Women’s Liberation group threw traditional "trappings" of subjugation into a symbolic trash can--Thus giving rise to the term "Bra-burning."
2004 –- Although most American women enjoy much greater freedom then their mothers and grandmothers, many many women throughout the world are not so lucky. I did, however, see a great photograph of veiled Afghanistani women standing in line to vote and read some charming quotes shared here which was reminiscent of our fights for rights here in US of A.
1968 -– President Johnson decided not to run for re-election due to his unpopular stance on Vietnam and a growing anti-war movement in his own party. Vice President Hubert Humphrey won the Democratic nomination but lost to Republican Richard Nixon who ran on a "law and order" and "promise to end the war" campaign (although Nixon later ordered US troops into Cambodia thus expanding the war and setting off nationwide student riots including the Kent State demonstration/massacre). Nixon’s Vice Pres was Spiro Agnew, speaker of such great phrases as nattering nabobs of negativism, effete corps of impudent snobs, pusillanimous pussyfoots, and hopeless hysterical hypochondriacs of history.
2004 -– Republican President Bush is running for a 2nd term and is keeping Dick Cheney as Vice Pres. Democratic candidate John Kerry is running not exactly on an anti-war slate, but more of a I’ll-do-it-better-then-he-did-‘cause he has messed it up soooooo badly campaign with a we-never-should-have-gotten-into-this-war-in-the-first-place slant.
1968 -– Apollo 8 orbited the moon
2004 -– Internet Bloggers challenged the traditional media with a demand for accuracy and accountability. Maybe Bloggers who ask the political question "Why?" should also be renamed to Ploggers ????
2004 isn’t over. We will have to revisit the comparison as the year winds down.
