We are being told something happened on Saturday that was not only important, but will define a generation. The New Yorker made this triumphant statement: “It is, at least, a generation that has now defined itself. Regardless of its long-term effects, the March for Our Lives is the first major statement by Americans born after 1999, who have presented a new template for protest.” Such statements are nonsense, and history shows us why.
The Parkland student-fronted anti-gun-rights movement is not the first time teenagers have been painted as a progressive and powerful force that will overturn the legacy of their terrible predecessors. The Baby Boomers, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, resemble these protesters in myriad ways. They were a big generation absolutely dedicated to social and political change. Or so it seemed.
In 1968, the media was awash in flower power, peace and love, and the kids who were destined to change the world by rejecting the conservative ideas of their parents and grandparents. Corporate America was quick to cash in on their music, style, and attitude, and cash in they did. Once that generation took power and established its leaders, everything was going to change. Let’s review how all of that worked out.
The Hippie Track Record
Twelve years after the summer of love, in 1980, when these would-be transformers of society were in their early 30s, Ronald Reagan, arguably the most conservative president in modern history, was elected. Fourteen years later, while the Boomers were in their 40s, Republicans took over the House of Representatives for the first time in almost five decades.
The Boomer generation gave us three presidents. The first was Bill Clinton, whose entire political program was based on moving the Democratic Party back toward the Right to erase the gains Reagan had made among conservative “Reagan Democrats.” The second was George W. Bush, who launched the biggest and longest wars in American history since Vietnam, Boomers’ signature point of protest in the late ’60s. The third is Donald Trump, who ran a successful campaign using a new brand of white identity politics.
To put it bluntly, the long-term results of the hippie generation that was meant to transform America and its politics was basically more of the same. It was the same slow progress towards greater rights and inclusion in American society that we have been slogging through since the Revolution. In some areas, like gay rights and the empowerment of women, there was slow, steady progress. In other areas, like the economic condition of black Americans and ending war, people on all political sides will readily admit progress has been slim.
Casting Matters
It has been interesting to watch the Left investigate itself regarding the fact that mostly white kids from Parkland have sparked a nationwide movement with fawning coverage while Black Lives Matter and protestors from Ferguson were not able to break through. Time magazine has a cover with kids, including white boys from Parkland, exclaiming “Enough!” Teen Vogue, in an editorial effort to redress historical imbalance, has a few similar covers that eschew the presence of white boys.
In a way, many on the Left are basically saying, “Yes, we get it. These well-spoken white kids with the advantage of a good school district are more marketable.” They don’t like this unfortunate truth, which they have convinced themselves of, but for the greater good they are willing to look past it, or at least tolerate it. At least these kids are using their privilege for good. We used to call that noblesse oblige.
This phenomenon of pretty white people being great on TV was also seminal to the American protest experience of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Black Panthers were scary; Jane Fonda and John Kerry were just like us, only better. Of course people welcomed them into their homes through the TV screen and felt sympathetic. And of course both Fonda and Kerry wandered into middle age and beyond as purveyors of moderate politics who were too busy being successful to man the barricades and lead the revolution.
Who Really Defines Generations?
In a documentary about Jack Kerouac, the poet Gregory Corso discusses the Beat Generation, of which he was a part. He basically says it was a handful of guys. And a handful of guys a generation does not make. Kerouac was born in 1922. He is actually part of what we now speak of as the Greatest Generation, and his slightly younger cohorts were part of the Silent Generation. But dig it: neither of these generations, and in fact no generation at all, is defined by artists, thinkers, or media-hyped paradigms of what they think and do.
Each generation, to the extent they even exist, is defined by the same people — the people who become cops, fireman, construction workers, plumbers, nurses, and office managers. The people who have kids and raise families define generations. The people more worried about putting food on the table and ensuring opportunities for their kids define generations. And these so-called generations aren’t as unique or different from each other as we all like to believe.
Twenty-five years from now, these kids will be 40, and there will be documentaries about their powerful star turn in 2018. Their kids will quietly nod and say, “Okay, dad,” when regaled with the tales, just as I did when my parents told me about the Sixties. John Lennon, one of the great heroes of the hippie ’60s, said, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” It was meant as a warning, one the Boomers did not heed.
But it’s not a warning, it’s just a fact. For decades, the rest of the Western world has been taking guns from their citizens. In America, we haven’t, in part because we are constitutionally resistant to having the state take away our rights. But it’s also because the angry, young, loud voices always become the stewards of the republic, and eventually blush at their youthful ideas.
Nothing changed on Saturday. It was another in a long line of manufactured moments playing at being transformative. It was, as Shakespeare put it, “A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” A miniscule number of teenagers grabbed our attention, as has happened before. But the story of the future will be made by the millions more, outside the spotlight, who will continue to be Americans desirous of their rights.
Ahhh...that tingling feeling of demonstrating against "the establishment" or in this case the NRA. So many are reliving those turbulent days once again!
Nope, it's their time and their cause.
Whether or not it defines their generation, they and History will decide.
I agree. It's too soon to see if it's defining their generation, but it's up to them and history to see. I will say they have a good start on it though. Not as a single cause, but as the beginning of a real powerful movement. This group of kids seem special to me.
The peace movement in the 80's slowly built and in fact, did define that generation. Even the "Occupy" movement had a bit of a shelf life. That can't be said of the current protests. These demonstrations were obviously and blatantly organized and financed by the left wing anti-gun and anti-Trump crazies...and intentionally exploited upset and vulnerable kids. No common sense solutions were offered, only personal attacks, like Hogg's and others senseless diatribes against Senator Rubio. No criticism of the inept performance of the FBI and local law enforcement was offered, only the vague calls for more "sensible" gun laws and restrictions. Any talk of making schools more secure was laughed off by the left. And the reality of criminals being able to easily obtain any type of weapons they want, regardless of existing laws, was of course ignored.
So no, this not the start of a new movement among young people as a whole. Some, like Hogg, are simply not letting a tragedy go to waste and are promoting themselves more than worrying about other students welfare and safety. But a large percentage of todays young people are not conned as easily as the left wingers think they are.
Out of curiosity I did a search for "the peace movement of the 80's'. As I suspected, there wasn't one. Perhaps double check your posts before you hit the reply button Greg.
The peace movement in the 80's - Bing
Peace movement - Wikipedia
Peace movement. A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war (or all wars), minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, and is often linked to the goal of achieving world peace.
Peace Movement since 1945 - Oxford Research Encyclopedia ...
Peace activism in the United States between 1945 and the 2010s focused mostly on opposition to U.S. foreign policy, efforts to strengthen and foster international ...
Images of the peace movement in the 80's
12. how effective are peace movements ? | CivilResistance.info
Click here to open as pdf On 10 July 1997 Bob Overy made a presentation about the effectiveness - or otherwise - of peace movements . It was based on a booklet he had ...
The 60s Peace Movement & the Slump | Battle of Hippy ...
Similarly the African-American Civil Rights Movement took place during the boom which resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1968, a culmination of progress for equality throughout the boom period. In the 1970s, a period of economic uncertainty, the peace movement faded away along with the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Peace Movement - The Canadian Encyclopedia
By the late 1960s, the peace movement in Canada had coalesced around criticism of the VIETNAM WAR and a perceived failure on the part of Canada to distance itself from American policies. By comparison, and despite the fact that it was a period when there was a significant nuclear arms build-up by the USSR, the 1970s were relatively quiet.
The Peace Movement in the USA » pa - politicalaffairs.net
The Peace Movement in the USA. ... Judith speaks about the peace movement and the significance of Obama’s election. ... as nearly 80 percent of the Afghan people, ...
U.S. GIs and the German Peace Movement in the 1980s ...
Confrontational peace movement actions, such as efforts to sabotage maneuvers in the Fulda Gap or blockades of U.S. bases, tended to polarize relations between GIs and the German peace …
The Australian Nuclear Disarmament Movement in the 1980s ...
By Jonathan Strauss* In the 1980s, a large, diverse and vibrant nuclear disarmament movement arose in Australia. This paper uses findings from archival research and ...
Glossary of Events: Pe - Marxists Internet Archive
Pe Peace Movement (1950s/60s) The Peace Movement of the post-World War Two period was the first of the modern social movements in Europe and America.
The Antiwar Movement [ ushistory.org ]
Peace movement leaders opposed the war on moral and ... About 80 percent of American ground troops in Vietnam came ... Despite the growing antiwar movement , ...
A lot of useless and irrelevant info ya got there. All the flower children and "make love, not war" crowd were from that era. They wanted us out of Vietnam....and wanted, like, ya know, "peace". And yes it was a large and lasting movement. You can't prove me wrong by simply playing word games.
Then let's see some articles you have found about "the peace movement in the 80's".
The Vietnam peace accord was signed in the spring of 1973 and the war was officially over in the spring of 1975 when Saigon fell (I was in the Air Force at the time, even though I never served in Vietnam, which is why I'm considered a Vietnam Era Veteran). With the war over there was no peace or anti-war movement of any kind because there was nothing to protest any longer until the build up to the war in Iraq in March of 2003. Yes there were a lot of of former hippies and peace activists left over from the peace movement of the late 1960's and early 1970's, but they were no longer active in any peace movement of any kind since they had nothing to demand peace for. That was long over by the 1980s. Most of them were married and having children and had become Yuppies instead. Hence the sudden rise in the sale of mini-vans.
Not for nothing but we pulled out of Vietnam in the mid-seventies. Granted I am getting long in the tooth but I recollect no major peace movements in the eighties or beyond.
You've already got that movement, born in the late 60's it infected all our institutions and eventually won the White House in 2008
Having read all of the responses made thus far on this article I find myself amused that everybody here is actually right though a couple of important factors are being overlooked.
Take a good hard look at the "revolution" of the 60's. History books say that it began because of the Viet Nam War. Partially correct. The war was a trigger, the catalyst so to speak. The real beginning was the "Civil Rights Movement". Black people stood up. Stood up strong and showed that changes were possible. Their spirit was contagious.
We of the 60's generation benefited from what was the best educational system in the world from top to bottom right here in the U.S. An education based on learning to think, not memorization.
An educational system that was destroyed by those that hijacked the "Revolution" as well as the "Establishment" that provided that education and then regretted doing so.
Gay rights, women's rights, race rights, gun rights all were a part of the rise up of young people in the 60's. All got hijacked by socialist influences within the country though primarily supported by foreign anti-American antagonists.
There is a complete reversal of situation when you compare today's "Movement" (?) to that of the 60's. A reversal that I believe the young people are going to realize and capitalize on for the better of our country. Do you see it? It is right under your nose in plain sight. Here is a clue. The media is playing a huge roll.
Dirty filthy scumbags. Unwashed, long hair, druggies. Bottom of the barrel ignorant lazy children. All included under the label of "Hippies". The media of the 60's did everything they could to trash the grass roots movement of the time.This opened the door and made it easier for "special interest" groups to infiltrate and agitate young people who were resentful of being treated like dirt.
Our movement was hijacked and virtually destroyed.
What we saw on Saturday and have seen since the Parkland shooting isn't really a movement. Yet. What we have are demonstrations organized by politically motivated adults using young people as cannon fodder, the same way as the media and left wingers used the "Flower Children" of the 60's. Flower children were not hippies. They were party animals happy to have an excuse to get out of classes, socialize with their friends, engaging in "Free Sex" and drug influenced partying. They were the ones who became "Yuppies". They are the ones who followed the more acceptable and common changes in life through marriage and starting families. It wasn't a changing of political thinking, most of them weren't political to begin with.
In recent years, the left's heyday is coming to a halt. The majority of people over thirty regardless of political affiliation are sick and tired of the dissension and constant attacks on our way of life.
The left wing radicals are desperate, time to bring on the kids.
Full media support. All of these kids are little darlings wanting to make the world a better place. Stage big marches and rallies and point to the level of participation, use them the same way the flower children were used. Getting the numbers isn't hard. How many kids will pass up the opportunity to walk out of class, roam the streets with their friends, disrupt the lives of others and be called good people for doing so. Cheer for the speakers not really listening jst taking advantage of the fact that the more speeches being made means more time out of school or paying attention to other responsibilities. Normal behavior being used to paint a false picture.
Despite a lack of well rounded education, today's youth are very intelligent and have the advantage of being exposed to the internet throughout most of their lives. They are very much aware of the social manipulations of the politically minded.
Need a clue as to how smart they are? If I have been reading correctly, young people are telling social media to take a hike much faster than older people are. Seems like being told what to do and how to think by a bunch of faceless voices on a computer isn't sitting to well with them.
The left is counting heavily on a bunch of nostalgic old timers getting a childish regeneration of down with the establishment and supporting these kids just because they are kids like they once were. That is not going to work. We may not be as smart as today's kids but we are smarter than we were when we were kids and we can see right through that one like looking at dead meat wrapped in Saran Wrap.
What I expect and am hoping to see is a backlash against the false movement being portrayed and a triggering of a real movement by young people to distance themselves from political associations and a push for more people to think for themselves.
The left, the right and the establishment are trying to herd and manipulate today's youth. The same mistake that the parents and grandparents of the 60's generation made.
Where we failed, may the youth of today prevail.
I couldnt have said it better!
I hope your'e right.
I have reason to believe that William F Buckley thought all was lost in his final years. I try not to think that way.
Thinking that way is why though I admire the man's intelligence and persistence, I found him to be a bore, one of the architects of our political "Establishment". Smart guy with some great ideas and as mopey as they come.
It's too late! The sky has already fallen, the end has already passed us by.
'I don't see how this next generation can possibly survive and preserve our way of life.' A common musing had by millions of people spanning thousands of generations brought on by the advent of age and periods of frustration and depression. That's part of the price we pay for being human:)
Yup, he was an acquired taste. On a quiet Sunday afternoon, I would secretly watch "Firing Line". I'll never forget some of those one of a kind comments of his - like when he said "the only people he ever feared were those with College degrees".
A common musing had by millions of people spanning thousands of generations brought on by the advent of age and periods of frustration and depression.
Yes, It just might be all relative. One thing you said earlier, I've never really thought about - that the 60's movement might have been hijacked. Food for thought.
The "Women's March" and "March For Our Lives" were the two biggest protests in American history.
There were worldwide marches for both of these protests in solidarity by countries around the world who agree with the premise of women's rights and taking a stand against violence.
The victims of gun violence are not asking for more than to ban assault military style weapons, better background checks, to do something about mental illness in the process, and to deny convicted serial abusers access to weapons.
Many of the mothers, fathers and children who have been affected by numerous mass shootings are saying they have had enough with the inaction of our elected officials.
No one is taking guns away, the same right wing BS that circulated during the Obama years about taking guns away is total garbage.
I thought the most powerful thing that happened was covered in the news, but has been long forgotten; and that was the murder of John Lennon. Paul McCartney joined in the march to bring some focus back how long this has been going on and that no one is immune, not even our music icons.
Considering that Reagan is the patron saint of Republicans and the right, things have gotten so out of control that the right wing is actually attacking positions that Reagan himself held on the gun issue. Reagan himself was shot.
Bush allowed the previous assault weapon ban to remain in place and Republicans only let the ban expire out of spite toward Obama.
Why were there no protests by the right against Bush? Why didn't the right wing Bush supporters ask to remove the assault weapon ban?
The Republican assault weapon ban was put in place in conjunction with appeals from law enforcement who feared these weapons could be used against our law enforcement officers.
Fox News of all places took a poll of their viewers and the majority agree on changes to gun rules.
The majority of Americans in every major polling outlet besides Fox show wide support for changes to our current system for licensing weapons.