I can't tell you have many times I have decried; how many anguished articles I have read from the formerly young protesters of the Civil Rights Movement, the Viet Nam war, of Watergate:
People who began movements and actually changed the world in dramatic fashion;
People who moved a government to grant and enforce equality for a small, oppressed minority;
People who stopped a major world power from making war on a small country;
People who forced the most powerful man in the world to quit his job in disgrace;
People who believed their hard work and sacrifice had created both a new and better world and, more importantly, had refined and affirmed a radical new model for social change: Henry David Thoreau's, Mohandas Ghandi's and Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent civil resistance.
And now these people lament; perhaps even they weep. For we are facing again times of deep crisis; again destroying a small, helpless nation that posed no real threat to us based on the lies of the powerful who see only personal gain in their ventures.
We again face a corrupt, imperial president, who is really trying to eliminate any meaningful public role in governing our nation, but this time is aided by a hollowed, weakened and cowed Congress and an accomplice Supreme Court.
We again face oppression of minorities, our African American countrymen and women through severe and heartless economic privation combined with blatantly prejudicial law "enforcement"; gays and lesbians through vile, cynical and shameless manipulation of religious texts to generate hatred and fear; Latino (mostly) immigrants through an equally depraved rhetoric of hatred, coopting a frightened population's notions of economic insecurity that is actually imposed by the manipulators themselves; Muslims with only one word: terrorist.
And now we also face a return to calculated and government supported econcomic inequality and labor exploitation, eroding the middle class, furthering depriving the poor, and stacking the deck for future success against all but the priviledged among our youth.
So we ask with hope and dread: where are the young protestors this time? For we need their energy, their new ideas and their irresistible appeal. Why aren't they marching in the streets; surrounding the military recruitment offices on campus? Seattle was a smashing success, why did they quit? Why are they not taking action to stop the theft of their nation when they are the ones who will live longest under autocracy or fascism, the ones with the most to lose from their nation's successful looting?
I don't know the answers to these questions, except the first one. I know where they are. So do you.
Yes, they are massed together out in the streets, enduring hours and days of discomfort and sacrifice in all manner of weather:
Lined up outside the Apple Store, waiting to buy a new I-phone.
It's not their fault. This is what America has come to. WE taught them those priorities.
You should be weeping if you aren't.
(More later on the effective efforts of the bourgeoisie to seduce us into substituting material possession for all other types of fulfillment and even for democracy)
http://madnessofdivinity.blogspot.com
Bruce is 46 year-old father of one, stepfather of three and grandfather of two, who left a lucrative law practice at a large national law firm to work, advocate and write for social justice and equality and find a way to incorporate a spiritual life into the material world. He now struggles along to make a decent living while holding true to his deepest principles in Portland Oregon.
Why don't they care? Talk with these empty hollow youth and you will know. They have no spine, no guts, no will, no fortitude. They care for nothing but themselves. I spoke with a young women recently who congratulated me for wearing an "Impeach Bush" T shirt. I ask if she would join out protest on Friday evenings. Her expression was that of fear. "I have my own life to straighten out. I have no time for anything else." That tells it all. "My own life." That's where the tale hangs. She needs a new car, a new house, new appliances, a new husband, a new baby sitter. There is no end to her selfish needs. Well, they will pay for their greed. They will wake up some day and find that Bush is Hitler and Cheney is Herman Goring and the streets are patroled by Blackwater goons. Then it will be too late.
by
eagleeye (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 29 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 5:33:43 PM
The youth we depend upon to pay social security taxes for us seniors are perhaps struggling to be independent. Chances of their buying a home without parental assistance is dwindling. Jobs are plentiful but there is no guarantee of advancement. They were taught to recycle and be kind to animals, but no one gave them good instruction in civics classes. I agree they may be somewhat clueless of how government works, but I do not think they are spineless as regards human decency.
If they spend leisure hours playing games on the computer, is it worse than the elders' sitting in bars? And when it comes to voting they are as likely to be attracted by someone who looks kind as they are to whether he/she is black/white, man/woman, Harvard/Yale.
They need a raise. They need medical care. They need banks which don't charge them 30 dollars if they overdraw on their debit cards. They need to be able to take training for skilled jobs. They need to be asked how the country is treating them.
And if campaigners talk to them, maybe they can do so recognizing that one size does not fit all. It's a bummer to be classified as lazy, indifferent, and greedy. I may be old, but I don't think it pays to pick on one generation against another. Because, believe me, when push comes to shove more intergenerational help is around than is intergovernmental help.
by
Margaret Bassett (25 articles, 1697 quicklinks, 29 diaries, 1020 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 6:06:38 PM
They ARE gathering...picking up the pitchforks and torches!!
Do Your Own Homework..... they're out there and growing fast.
Meet-ups are advancing support from "the web" to the streets!
"Supporters form these meet-up groups...this is what's unbelievable... I mean we can't even take the credit for it, because our office is too small and we are growing so quickly!!!" ----Ron Paul answers Q&A Phoenix Sky Harbor airport (June 15)
A local Iowa talk host, Jan Michaelson of WHO news talk radio has been handling the latest supporter focus in Des Moines Iowa. In one afternoon/evening….they documented over 17,000 server requests to download the broadcast coverage concerning Ron Paul.
Thank you for the hopeful information and the challenge to my homework. I've done it in many ways and I know what you say is true. I have worked with many youth in canvassing and petition signing and they are wonderful and I love them! I am not down on young people, I am down on a society that has made shiny gadgets so much more important than the core values on which this nation was founded and has matured.
by
Bruce Allen Morris (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 48 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:40:42 PM
I know from asking young people on why they aren't participating and invariably am told they don't know how! This comes from years of "The Dumbing Down of America". No civics classes, nothing on American Govt. History, no political science. My primary education included classes on state civics beginning in the sixth grade continuing into hischool with Am. Govt. Today they have Senitivity Training Classes, Alternative Life Style, Aids Classes. When would they even work in an algebra class? Todays parents need to get involved in their childrens education. Sadly, they don't.
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carolyn buck (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 2 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 7:10:30 PM
Excellent observation Bruce, it has become painfully obvious how lost our society has become, and its all by design. It's difficult to deal with some days and today, as the MSM pushed car bombs and iphones down our throats, has definitely been one of them. I watched this morning as every news channel carried on about the iphone, it was a sad display watching people walk out with their iphone so proudly. It is a phone... a five hundred dollar phone!
Unfortunately the younger people("gen y") have been put in public schools (for the most part) which are tools of the system, training them to live like little prisoners with a "group think" mentality.
Over a short period of time we went from a country where one person could make a good living, (buy a home, groceries, family vacation all of it) to a country where people have three jobs, and its still not enough. So, instead of addressing the problems, because they appear insurmountable, we became a society in which we must reward ourselves. The generation that should have seen this coming were the Boomers, these problems are not new. What happened to the hippies? They gave up after the war was over, when the fight for America was still raging. Now we have found ourselves in a country where people worship bobbles that were made by Chinese slaves.
As coined by Paul Levy, Denial has become the 51st state adopted by America. ( read his article here: http://www.awakeninthedream.com/den51state.html )
We just have to be strong, and keep telling people the crap they don't want to hear. You will find that this world has become uncomfortable for many, and your friends and family may not want to listen, but that's just too bad for them, we don't have time to talk about bullshit anymore.
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Amy de Miceli (26 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 6 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 7:27:32 PM
Materialism/consumerism and dumbing down are two of the main reasons they are where they are.
Here's what's happened over the past 40-odd years:
My father came of age in the early '60s when most young people wanted to work for the Peace Corps, people who majored in business in college were regarded as nerds, and not that many teenagers had their own cars.
I came of age in the mid-'80s (the heyday of Ronnie Raygun) when everyone in colleges wanted to be business majors and most teenagers had cars, though the cars were usually old.
Today, the kids go to college only to make money and they all have expensive new cars and all the luxuries their parents can possibly buy them.
by
teeem (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 41 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 8:28:11 PM
We Are Change activist and 9/11 Truther Luke Rudkowski has confronted: Zbigniew Brzezinski, David Rockefeller, and Giuliani. Just check out the google search: click here
by
Joann (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 45 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 9:36:25 PM
I know you are out there and I am so grateful for you and admire you more than you can know. And, I want to be clear that I am not down on young people. I am down on the grown-ups who I believe are failing you and teaching young people the wrong values (or at least values out of balance). I am also delighted this piece has drawn so many varied comments. This is a discussion we desparately need.
by
Bruce Allen Morris (34 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 48 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:35:25 PM
What would you do if you were told you only had 10 years to live?
I was one of those "Hippies", sitting in coffee houses in North Beach with the likes of Gordon, Ginsberg, Ferlinghetti and Bill and Sandy Love of "Ace Trucking Company" and "The Committee" fame, who where vanguards for the "Free Speech Movement". Lenny Bruce may have been The King, but I still have visions of Sandy Love running topless through an audience of open mouthed college students yelling "FUUUUUCK!!!" at the top of her lungs.
We not only were stirred we stirred others. We marched, got arrested, heads got busted and some of us died. And I wouldn't change a thing other than I wish it wasn't necessary. There was an enormous amount of hope that once we matured and took the reins of power from the old that a new wave of thinking would sweep the across the world.
Maybe it was the drugs? But we were wrong. Maybe because those drugs aren't as available today is why we're faced with materialistic mindsets of today, which is much of what my generation rebelled against.
Whatever it is or was, we have blown it. And maybe in the back of the minds of whatever generation this one calls itself, they see that. Forty-odd years ago I was aware that if we didn't change our ways soon we were screwed. Among one of the things I did back then was helped start The Institute for Environmental Alternatives when Ecology was a new word.
Well I'm here to tell you we haven't been good stewards. Not only did we not do any of the things we should have done, we did exactly the opposite. We were really stupid.
So I'm thinking maybe the kids today know all this. Maybe they look upon my generation the same way we looked upon our former generations. That they too had blown it. But today's kids? I don't know if it's a combination of Generation X thinking, lack of good drugs and a state of denial in knowing that we have blown it that seems to make appear to be aloof and as vacant as Paris Hilton.
Maybe, just maybe they figure, what the hell. Have fun. Buy the iPod. Who gives a shit? Believe me, they'll learn about the failure of my generation and the failure of theirs soon enough. But it makes it no less sad that we may not ride into the night lances spearing the killers of the light.
We could of won. We still might but the hill is much, much steeper now. And we need help coming from places I can't envision.
by
Mr M (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 12 diaries, 1442 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:47:32 PM
They are out there but who would know since protests are kept out of the news. Unless it's about immigrants and the police try to start a riot and it fissels. One reason so many were active in the 60'and 70's was because they could be drafted or their friends where drafted. They have been dumbed down by the schools that cannot teach them how to read or think because a goodly group of the teachers never learned how to teach properly. They were not supposed to know. Parents who worked so hard to give their children everything, failed to give them a conscience and free will. I am not condemning all parents, but you know who you are. I get off easy because I do not have children. Look who they are given as role models. Not real heroes or even real people .Just Over paid jocks and rich non achievers. We are all guilty of letting the best and the brightest slip away,but you do have the 50 students who gave the President a letter about their grievances. That is a start and they are all over the Internet. We promise youth we will take care of them now lets do it.
by
cluelessfl (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 184 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 10:50:22 PM
This morning I received in the mail my Ron Paul bumper stickers, I just ran off over a hundred Ron Paul for President 2008 flyers that I’ll be spreading around town. This Presidential election that is coming up is not about a choice between the worse of the two evils anymore. It’s all about a choice between GOOD OR EVIL.. Educate yourself, and Join the Ron Paul revolution, if we all contribute what ever we can to help in our cause for a free and prosperous America and so fourth, in the end we will overcome.
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Donald R Bromley (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Saturday, June 30, 2007 at 11:01:24 PM
This morning I received in the mail my Ron Paul bumper stickers,
This is how repression begins, people think that laisez-faire, liberatarianism or objectivism will get government off their backs and give them freedom.
Just as in the natural world nature abhors a vacuum in the political world if we do not form and enforce a social contract through transparent, accountable and enforceable means we suffer under tyranny.
The agency of the social contract is government. It is the only way we can protect our rights.
Individuals engaged in actions like supporting Ron Paul are merely removing the barriers that restrain the malefactors of great wealth.
That is why 27 years after the Reagan Revolution, the American Right is reduced to naked force to hold onto power.
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Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 1:43:36 PM
Youth is what it is. Blame the cry for freedom, freedom to profit and deny other priorities in the process.
I first blame corporations, for always trying to squeeze every last dollar while minimizing the value of what might be perceived as fair or right.
I then blame the unions, for when they battled the corporate giants, they ONLY looked out for their own union members and NEVER looked out for the consumer.
Perhaps I even blame Ralph Nader, for not being enough of an icon to impassion our system of democracy and capitalism to keep a third seat at the negotiating table, reserved for what's best for the consumer.
Fourthly, I blame non-disclosure of lobbyists and what they do behind the scenes to ruin the world so they can feed their own family.
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Alessandro Machi (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 174 comments)
on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 8:18:15 AM
As a child of the '60's what I see in the youth generation is a focus on "me" and not the other.
Perhaps we did indeed overindulge them and filled them with a sense of entitlement when we gave up our visions of changing the world and went for the money and accumulating stuff.
Do not look to the young to change the world;
Look within!!!
"Imagine All the People Sharing All the World." John Lennon
IMAGINE YOU CAN DO SOMETHING and HOPE!
"HOPE has two children. The first is ANGER at the way things are. The second is COURAGE to DO SOMETHING about it."-St. Augustine
while there are many ...many many many.. young activists out there, there's also a creeping despair, cynicism and fatalism among many young people. It's not their fault. I'd blame the mass media which has become so bellicose and corrupt as the politicians we have... what are they (the young) supposed to perceive?
Unlike the 60's generation... which if you compare, started out as a generation of boy and girl scouts.... them being from the post WWII generation that recoiled in disgust at the atrocities of the nazis. They were taught a version of america and had their naiveté cruelly ripped away by the JFK, RFK and Martin Luther King assassinations... they saw tens of thousands of their school companion sent off to die in Vietnam knowing any day that their number could come up next ...they saw civil rights freedom riders bitten by dogs, beaten by deputized kkk'ers and waterhosed for simply standing on principle that all american citizens have equal rights ...they saw the Chicago police in 1968 set violently and viciously upon them by Mayor Daley while peaceably demonstrating.
In the Watergate hearings many americans saw the lies that built this house of lies ripped away and found out what had been done in the name of protecting american interests... COINTELPRO and all its domestic abuses, a lying president.
This generation was born in an era of scepticism and cynicism... entirely different than previous generations... so you'll forgive them if the zeitgeist hasn't lent itself to erupting into a culture of rebellion ...just yet. The pill and its sexual revolution are long old news The CIA hasn't been testing LSD on the population for some time now... consequently good acid is hard to find. All the factors that were ripe for a culture as well as a political rebellion are now mute. There are new reasons to rebel... most definitely ...don't rule today's youth out anymore than ruling out those that were once in their shoes. When the time is right those who'll need to be there will be....
Exraordinary situations bring out the extraordinary in people;
by
chariotdrvr14 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 125 comments)
on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 1:10:33 PM
I ask my students that question every semester, and I consistently get the answer that they are afraid.
They know that if they are seen protesting that the fact will be recorded and used against them on everything from job applications, to mortgage applications to credit card applications, to applications for grad school.
They see the numerous cameras in public spaces and they know that their movements and actions are being recorded, and that they will be used against them.
It may only be here in Central New York, but my sense is that American youth have a much smaller horizon of freedom now than they did in the 60s or 70s.
Can there be any connection between youth's shrunken vista of liberty and the 27 years of conservative domination that began in the Reagan Revolution?
by
Robert Chapman (28 articles, 0 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 556 comments)
on Sunday, July 1, 2007 at 1:30:38 PM
I don't agree. We are in a war, made up by our president using a volunteer army. In the past, without the draft, all of those youngsters wouldn't have gone to Vietnam either. I spent time, each of my 5 years at college at the draft offices. That's not the way to go. What you get, in a draft, is Murphy's law in the military. The worst military people will be manning the draft offices, lying to the kids, trying to scare them, and laughing at the kids' physical makeup. I'm a professional when it comes to having knowledge how the draft system worked.
This is a war of unimportance. Once announced, it only took them a few months to get our soldiers over there. Kids are smarter than that. The only way to win a boxing match is to score more hits and smother the other fighter into submission. Get that? "Smother Brothers" the country into submission. Kids are smarter these days and they don't buy into this patriotism=Iraq. The Military idiots fired 200 Arabic Speaking homosexuals, who volunteered, which the Military invested about a half million in each one. Not too bright, wouldn't you say? Had we sent them in, we may well have helped us gain the psychi of the people in Iraq. One dumb decision that has tainted our military since.
Our kids would be signing up, if they thought that our nation really was at risk of being invaded by a country which had its goal as taking over our government. It was Bush's administration that wouldn't look at or take advice from the former administration. Bush has the short-man's psychological personality. I disagree with those who think Bush has guts. What guts does it take to send others out to a war which you've drubbed up and were not ready for? Moron Decisions.
Twin Towers? I got into a lot of fights in grade school and high school. I refused to fight any kid who had mental problems. Even if you win, you'll lose with a hammer in your head as he comes up behind you to get even.
We should have taken our lumps and "Think Different" about dealing with the Crazy Islamists who wants to cause terror in our system of government and society. We have succeeded so far, after 9/11, at not having another successful attempt at terror. I don't believe that the Iraq War
