Hippies, Anarchists, and my Grandparents
I read an article over at Indymedia this morning.
They said, and I quote:
"Ok, only two CIA agents dead, but its something. With so much bad news in the headlines its nice to read some good news like this every once and awhile."
I think I understand a bit (though not by being the same place of course) of what my grandparents must have felt when their kids all started running off protesting this and that, burning flags, and raging against the American machine. There the older generation had fought, bled and died to provide, at least in principle, the very freedom of the younger generation to express what they perceived to be immature, disrespectful, and hateful views: civil rights notwithstanding.
As I've gotten older, I have a great deal respect for that generation of Americans who, in whatever fashion, both loved and were willing to sacrifice for our country. America isn't perfect, wasn't perfect, and odds are wont ever be perfect. But its still the hand God has dealt us.
Yet there exists many ultra-revolutionary groups, like the ones quoted above, who are claiming to be bringing back the spirit of the 60's, and I in some sense or another used to envy the idealistic craziness of that era. I still get teary eyed while watching Almost Famous. But if the 60's were anything like some of the poorly thought out, horribly insensitive, and occasionally downright hateful things that are being thrown around by so many today, maybe it wasnt' such an idealistic summer of love era.
Josiah Q. Roe | By Josiah Roe | 12:35 PM
Comments
I figure most of the ultra-revolutionaries are really just large children trying to buck responsibility. The problem with them is that they take their methods to such an extreme, that they not only bury their own message, but those of anyone else who would agree with them.
An example, since I realize my above paragraph makes little sense: I won't take part in any mass protests any more because of a small group of self-titled "anarchists" who use any protest as an excuse to go smash in windows. The problem is that at the end of the day, all the rest of the city sees is smashed windows. They never heard what I was peacefully protesting. Further, I am now lumped in as one of those ultra-childish-revolutionaries and nothing I say in the future is listened to.
Posted by: kevin at March 20, 2003 11:32 PM
Kevin, what you say makes alot of sense. I still read "revolutionist" and "anarchist" literature, because on occasion I might agree with one of their critiques of a situation. I do think there are alot of evils inherent to capitalism, and particularly, some of the things done by the CIA and our government during the cold war in third world nations was just horrible.
But like you said, its sad that all people see are the broken windows.
Posted by: JosiahQ at March 21, 2003 09:06 AM
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