THE DECADE IS STILL WITH US: LOOK TO THE FUTURE, NOT THE PAST;
AS 2010 BIDS ADIEU, OUR CHALLENGE IS LIES AHEAD NOT BEHIND
Forget The End Of A Decade Hype, What Should Progressives Do Now?
By Danny Schechter
News Dissector, Author of Crime Of Our Time
Lets drop all the decade hype. I know we tend to structure history in ten year swallows: The 60's, the 70, the 80's etc. It is all so neat and so clean but, alas, not quite true.
The decade that began with the new millennium, doesn't really end unto the end of 2010, and that's not this year, even though we may want it too.
History doesn't self-package itself to fit a Greatest Hits song compilation. The 1950's with its anti-communist craziness and nuclear arms race started after the war, in the l940's and didn't end until Eisenhower's famous warning about the military industrial complex which is still with us all these years later. It was Ike who legitimated tricky Dick Nixon whose ride was just beginning. Tricky was devious but also an environmentalist and smarter than we gave him credit for.
The 60's as an era of drugs, sex and rock and roll didn't get going until mid decade as the Vietnam War's impact drove a whole generation into opposition. The 60's stayed with us, sparked by FM rock radio, until Nixon imploded and the war ended in l975.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
