What's (Still) Going On?
Submitted by Big Al on Sat, 11/19/2016 - 11:34pm
What's that saying? "The more things change, the more they stay the same".
1970/71. It was a time of confusion for many, a time of protest. A time when people were wondering where society was heading. A time of divides and alliances. I was a teenager prior to enlisting near the end of the Vietnam war, as a teenager. They send the teenagers. "Go teenagers, go die for your country, you'll be rewarded with 72 Virgins and a case of Budweiser".
What has really changed?
[video:https://youtu.be/EbZYRZpNc64]
[video:https://youtu.be/-iwLvmPUEo4]
Comments
Just saying. On a Saturday night.
I remember writing a "diary" of quotes from Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, listing a bunch of quotes about democracy and wealth inequality and war, etc., that you could just as easily apply to today. I wrote an article recently about the Weather Underground of the 70's and how they were trying to overthrow the capitalist system, aligning with the Black Panthers. The message wasn't about the violence, it was about the continued failed struggle against the power that accumulates at the top of the food chain.
Really, this Trump thing to me is no different. The names have been changed but the story remains the same.
Why don't you wait until Trump takes office before you
start using phrases like "Trump thing". The press has gotten NONE of his cabinet right in their rush to panic people so don't resort to the same prejudiced phrases also. It's not cool to Trump bash, it shows you are a MSM lemming and the MSM represents the corporatocracy.
"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." - Groucho
Not cool to Trump bash?
He's a republican president with a republican majority of a corrupt political system.
Good grief man. I'm not giving Trump or his cabinet any respect or time. You can if you want, your choice.
Al, this seems appropriate for your essay
As appropriate today as it was when it was written.
[video:https://youtu.be/ntLsElbW9Xo]
BARRY MCGUIRE LYRICS
"Eve Of Destruction"
The eastern world it is exploding
Violence flarin', bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill but not for votin'
You don't believe in war but whats that gun you're totin'?
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'
But you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Don't you understand what I'm tryin' to say
Can't you feel the fears I'm feelin' today?
If the button is pushed, there's no runnin' away
There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave
Take a look around you boy, it's bound to scare you boy
And you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Yeah my blood's so mad feels like coagulating
I'm sitting here just contemplatin'
I can't twist the truth it knows no regulation
Handful of senators don't pass legislation
And marches alone can't bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin'
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin'
And you tell me
Over and over and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Think of all the hate there is in Red China
Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama
You may leave here for four days in space
But when you return it's the same old place
The pounding of the drums, the pride and disgrace
You can bury your dead but don't leave a trace
Hate your next door neighbor but don't forget to say grace
And tell me
Over and over and over and over again my friend
You don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
Mmm, no, no, you don't believe
We're on the eve of destruction
“Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
George W. Bush
Think back 100 years
they put you in jail if you criticized the government, people marched to organize unions, fought for a 40 hour work week, ended child labor and started public schools....
Throughout my youth there was the civil rights struggle here in Alabama (and it continues today).
So I'm in total agreement, Al, the struggle is forever and it is nothing new. There will always be greed and evil that people of good will must challenge. Only the names change.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
How about
200 years?
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jR_HzJLXZzE]
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
yes...
and all of time.
I guess there is always a war somewhere...sadly we have been the ones propagating world conflict.
Enjoyed Pete's song...thanks Bisbonian
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
thanks for this
i cried through the whole thing...
but what's true can't be told often enough
I think that what changed is that back then and since we have
had hope. Hope that all those hippies had actually changed things, permanently. Hope that now we are the leaders, things would be different. Hope that we were a more advanced society, that most of us embraced diversity and community, that love was truly trumping hate.
Hope is not dead, but it is flat on its back, on a respirator, fighting for its life.
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