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An Antidote to Corporate Media
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EastCoastBubbleBoy
2009 Aug 16, 6:12am
It strikes me that at the rate we're going, we're quickly reaching that "1984"-ese reality that so many of our past literary masters have written about. The idea that technology, rather than empowering us, will sedate us into compliance with their ever-present message that all is good, that the government knows best, and will take care of us, if we only relent to its demands and dictates on how we should live our lives.
It pains me to think that we may see a revolution in our time. Historically they are often misguided, never easy, and rarely end up bringing forth the promise of a better day from which they were born. Yet, as I look at the lack of meaningful debate, the new ideology that if you are not for us (larger government) then you are an enemy who is against us. It's modern-day McCarthyism. Eventually the proverbial push will come to the proverbial shove. TBP, I think there's a sliver of our generation, those 27-35, that remember a day without the internet, that believe in a more drugged down version of their parents ideals, and are just now starting to come into our own.
It is time to roll back everything they did and return to an era of traditional values, small government, and personal responsibility.
You mean like the 1940s and 1950s, before those evil liberals took over? Brilliant!
elliemae
2009 Aug 20, 12:28am
OTS say:
"The liberal movement of the 60s was about drugs, sex, and destroying everything and everyone that made America great. “Love and freedom and helping our your neighbor†was pure propaganda."
You're right. That whole "helping your neighbor thing" is so over-rated. I realized that last night, and made my elderly neighbor carry in her own groceries. I also drank a glass of wine & sat with my feet up, critiquing her grocery carrying performance (I rated it a four). Then I went inside & helped myself to her food - that helping your neighbor thing "not good," but neighbor helping me "good."
I love our country.
I'll post this one in both forums, just for the heck of it.
I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday afternoon, he was sitting in traffic on the NYS Thruway. Tuns out traffic was heavier than nomral due to the large numbers going to the Bethel area this weekend. It got me thinking about the old adage that he more things change, the more they stay the same.
Each generation has a handful of defining moments, and for the baby boomers, certainly Woodstock was one. And yet, despite all of the talk of peace and love and changing the world for the better, here were are 40 years later, and we have made arguably little progress over that span. We are in the midst of two wars, corporate greed pushed the entire financial system to the brink, and despite the will of the people, our congress is still considering overhauling healthcare, no matter what the cost, potential adding to a deficit already in the trillions.
With all of their talk at the time about "leaving the world a better place" how much have they achieved. Certainly the efforts in the environmental arena have been the most successful, with the clean water act, the clean air act, the fact that people are generally more environmentally conscious than in the past. Heck, being "green" is the new in thing, and more likely than not the next bubble. Other than that, where else has significant progress been made?
The children of the Woodstock generation, are they better off than their parents were? Not the ones I meet. The demographic reality is that many of those who were against "the man" back then, are the same people so entrenched in the establishment today; so much so that they limit the possibility of advancement for those of us in the next generation. At every place I've ever worked in a professional capacity, I've eventually been forced to move on due to lack of advancement opportunity.
Even something as simple as having a good job and being able to buy a home got all screwed up along the way. And we all suffer because of it, no matter how old you are. No need to rehash that debacle... we all know the long and short of it.
So as I sit here, and listen to Jimi Hendrix's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, I wonder to myself, what will be the defining moment for my generation? In this day an age, we wouldn't be able to pull off a gathering anywhere close to that of Woodstock. Not that we need to or want to, but it seems to me that the internet being what it is, there are many of us, from varying walks of life and differing shades of the political spectrum, who all agree that that we are not heading in the right direction, that the world needs to be changed for the better; even if we disagree on how to change it, or what changes will have the best chance of future success.
For all of their ideals and youthful enthusiasm, the Woodstock generation has left us mostly empty promises. And so even though Richie Havens sung of Freedom 40 years ago yesterday, we sit here subject to the Patriot Act, etc.
It's a shame really. The sentiment, powerful as it still remains, the idea that love and freedom and helping out your neighbor can lead to peace and happiness, that hundreds of thousands of youth can assemble without any riots breaking out. Heck when the corporate sponsored "Woodstock 99" happened, it ended in violence and mayhem. I suppose today's youth could learn a few things from their parents after all.
The spirit of the event certainly transcended the attendees, and it still lingers, even if it was never implemented in a palatable, sustaining way.
#environment