U.S. And International Politics

[Royell Storing]

I actually do think we're in a situation far, far worse. I lived through the sixties as a high school (1964-1968) and college (1968-72) student, but it was fundamentally different from today IHO. As much as I hate AI, I asked it to distinguish the two eras and it actually did quite a good job:

Both the 1960s and today have experienced significant violence, but the nature, primary drivers, and public perception differ substantially. While the 1960s saw widespread street violence, assassinations, and organized protests often related to civil rights and the Vietnam War, violence today is characterized by political polarization amplified by social media and an increased prevalence of gun violence.

It produced a lengthy comparison chart that I apparently can't reproduce here, but the emphasis was on the effects of technology, social media and the widespread availability of guns. Here is some of what it said about today:

Increasingly fueled by conspiracy theories, anger, and distrust amplified on social media. Political violence is more decentralized, and while perpetrators may have mental health concerns, they are also shaped by the current polarized climate.

Social media plays a powerful and often negative role, allowing extremist views to spread widely and rapidly. It also provides unfiltered information, which can lead to misinformation and confusion.

The easy availability of guns is now a major factor in political and interpersonal violence, making it easier for individuals to act on hatred. Mass shootings are a significant feature of modern-day violence.

Aggressive and dehumanizing political rhetoric is now used more frequently by mainstream political figures, contributing to a more inflamed and polarized atmosphere.

In the sixties, I don't think anyone thought the very soul of America was at risk. There was certainly a great divide over the Vietnam War, and over racial issues, but I don't think anyone on either side thought the America we had always known was at risk. Now, I believe that fear does exist. Those under 40 have been educated in and indoctrinated by a Marxist/Leftist educational system and simply do not view America the same way the older generations do. It is far more of a genuine cultural war than existed in the sixties. The internet and social media allow people, especially young people, to live in echo chambers and they thus exacerbate the divide and ratchet up the loonies.

I just finished a scholarly book by a Notre Dame professor and sociologist who traces the decline in traditional religion from the Boomers to Gen X to the Millennials to Gen Z and beyond. He argues that, for Gen Z and beyond, traditional religion is simply irrelevant and effectively dead - replaced, if at all, by "spirituality" and "enchantment." I think much of the situation today is likewise generational. Those under 40 predominantly want a more Marxist/Leftist America because that's what they've been indoctrinated to want. I saw the election of Trump as a last-gasp effort to stem the tide. Perhaps that effort will be successful, and I hope it is, but I'm not optimistic because it's like trying to turn around a battleship and those with traditional values aren't getting younger.

All of this is painting with too broad of a brush, of course, but I do think the situation today involves a far deeper divide than was the case in the sixties - basically two entirely different visions of America - and that the potential for something akin to a civil war or collapse is very real.

   In the 60's it was still more like "West Side Story" with kids in high school fighting with knives. Today, anybody in public school around 14 has a gun or hangs with someone that does own a gun. Comparing the 60's to Now? No comparison. Not even close.

[Jack Nessan]

The race riots of 1968 following the assassination of Dr. King:

"Following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., a leading African-American civil rights activist, on April 4, 1968, Washington, D.C., experienced a four-day period of violent civil unrest and rioting. Part of the broader riots that affected at least 110 U.S. cities, those in Washington, D.C.—along with those in Chicago and in Baltimore—were among those with the greatest numbers of participants. President Lyndon B. Johnson called in the National Guard to the city on April 5, 1968, to assist the police department in quelling the unrest. Ultimately, 13 people were killed, with approximately 1,000 people injured and over 6,100 arrested."

There were violent riots and protests in over 100 US cities. Washington was shutdown for four days. LBJ had to call the National Guard out to restore order.

If you think we're in a situation worse than that then well you need to turn off the computer.

A few years ago, I was sent a little film clip entitled the “Good Old Days” about the Sixties from a good friend as kind of a joke. They weren’t the good old days. I was surprised how bad they were. A lot of it you tend to forget but they seemed way worse than today. I do think we tend to forget the bad times for no other reason than who wants to remember. Different political problems but just as bad if not worse. The 30's depression for our grandparents had to be far worse, no need to revisit that.

[Lance Payette]

A few years ago, I was sent a little film clip entitled the “Good Old Days” about the Sixties from a good friend as kind of a joke. They weren’t the good old days. I was surprised how bad they were. A lot of it you tend to forget but they seemed way worse than today. I do think we tend to forget the bad times for no other reason than who wants to remember. Different political problems but just as bad if not worse. The 30's depression for our grandparents had to be far worse, no need to revisit that.

We got started down the path with the term "worse" and stayed with that, but I really don't think "worse" is the right term. With all the turmoil of the sixties and seventies, I never felt America itself was at risk. I never felt I was seeing or participating in a war of culture and ideology that had the potential to turn America into something the Founding Fathers never would have recognized and would have abhorred. "Existential threat" is an overused term these days, but it comes closer to capturing what I think the difference is. Nothing in the sixties was an existential threat to the America we had always known, but today (I believe) we are in a genuine war of culture and ideology that is existentially threatening (which some people, of course, think is a good thing). There is a reason Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" resonates with so many people.

[Tom Graves]

There is a reason Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" resonates with so many people.

Dear Lance,

Because the "Godless Snowflake Libtard Socialist-Communist Globalist" Dems dragged it down so far?

-- Tom

[Lance Payette]

Dear Lance,

Because the "Godless Snowflake Libtard Socialist-Communist Globalist" Dems dragged it down so far?

-- Tom

I tend to see the existential threat as coming mostly from JFKA conspiracy theorists.

Surely the primary villain would have to be the educational system. There has always been some "democratic socialist" ideology within America, and that's probably a good thing since it does temper the excesses of unbridled capitalism, but something changed in the 1980's or early 90's. Most of my Trump-hating friends have precisely the same view of Reagan, so perhaps it started back then with Reagan being the catalyst. I'm no great student of the phenomenon - I merely know what I've lived through and observed. It does bear an uncanny resemblance to the "Long March through the institutions" of Marxist ideology (not to mention Alinsky's "Rules for Radicals"), but exactly how it occurred and how it was allowed to happen I have no idea since I was too busy working on my golf swing. My point about "Make America Great Again" was simply that many people, including me, had a strong sense that "This lunacy has gone too far, is starting to look like a genuine existential threat, and we need somebody strong enough to turn the ship around as quickly as possible." I don't agree with everything The Donald has done, but by God he is shaking things up - and that needed to be done, IMO.

[Tom Graves]

I don't agree with everything The Donald has done, but by God he is shaking things up - and that needed to be done, IMO.

But evidently you do agree most of the things he's done.

Pity that.

I'm afraid "former" KGB officer Vladimir Putin cherishes both of you.

[Jack Nessan]

We got started down the path with the term "worse" and stayed with that, but I really don't think "worse" is the right term. With all the turmoil of the sixties and seventies, I never felt America itself was at risk. I never felt I was seeing or participating in a war of culture and ideology that had the potential to turn America into something the Founding Fathers never would have recognized and would have abhorred. "Existential threat" is an overused term these days, but it comes closer to capturing what I think the difference is. Nothing in the sixties was an existential threat to the America we had always known, but today (I believe) we are in a genuine war of culture and ideology that is existentially threatening (which some people, of course, think is a good thing). There is a reason Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" resonates with so many people.

You are absolutely correct. If it is better or worse is just perspective. Today though we are very fractionated and turning on each other. I thought it all could come apart during the previous election cycle when the two extremist groups fighting in Portland were shooting paintball guns at each other. It would not have taken much to set if off for real. It is definitely closer than we want to believe. 

In the 60’s the common belief was it was just the youth wanting a change and there was no need to worry about the unrest until older people were protesting. Today it is not so much the youth but the older people protesting.

I would hope we do not come apart. I have warned my children that they do not ever want that to happen. Sometimes I think we just lack an external villain to keep us focused like after Pearl Harbor or 9/11.