A young acquaintance asked the following question. ” How is today’s climate in America any different than the 1960s when people were running around rioting, bombing buildings, shooting the president and other important figures as well as draft dodging and holding mass protest? There were Democrats and Republicans then that are just as divided over segregation, civil rights and the war in Vietnam. It to me seems the country was at way more of a tipping point then than now. Can you point out some of the differences?”
I was alive then, and AFAIK, still alive now.
The level of hate is sooooooo much worse now than it was then. Hate of what is good permeates every walk of American life, and people embrace what is bad and call it good.
What we fought against in the USSR/ Eastern Bloc during the Cold War (propaganda instead of truth, political correctness/toe the party line, persecution of Christians and Jews, etc.) is now here.
What happened?!!!
The biggest change between than and now is the level of Judeo-Christian faith and values. Then, they were reflected in every facet of American life… people attended church regularly, intact, functional families, and clergy and parents were respected/sought out for advice. Now, the faithful/observant are reviled, churches and synagogues are burned, Pastors are arrested for the content of their sermons, Christian students and teachers/professors cannot say/write what they really think in school, and greetings, such as “Merry Christmas” are prohibited by employers
I experienced the before and after of prayer being removed from schools. Huge difference, and not for the better.
People and society were not perfect then, but society now can only described as a cesspool.
The political strife in the 1960s was not the same from my perspective. We did think the country was coming apart, but we didn’t have the level of lies and fraud on the part of the media that we see today.
The media was much more impartial. It was not considered fake news. But it was the media that turned people against the Vietnam War. The media back in the 60’s was much more restrained and civil than it is today.
You had three national TV networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC). All highly respected and generally scrupulous on what was reported. You had 30 minutes of national news in the early evening. Followed by 30 minutes of local news, weather, and sports.
News on TV and in the print media focused on what the average Joe needed to know to be a good citizen. TV news especially was considered by the networks as a public duty. Ratings were secondary.
Just to set the record straight, the segregationists in the 1960s and early 1970s were the Democrats. The segregationists fought against the Equal Rights Amendment. When it was enacted, a larger percentage of Republicans voted for it than did Democrats. Bull Connor, George Wallace, and the other people demonized as segregationists were all Democrats. Martin Luther King was a Republican.
The protests against the war in Vietnam were originally against LBJ’s policies. That was transferred to Nixon when he took office. I was living in Chicago during the anti-war protests when Democrat mayor Richard “The Boss” Daley gave his infamous shoot-to-kill order against anti-war protesters during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. That really enraged people and helped get Richard Nixon elected.
I’m pretty sure little, if any of the truth is being taught in the schools today.
Well, I was on earth when JFK was killed by… I was 12 yrs old. Being a history buff, I have studied history for years. Love this post & your take on the 60s. This is not a boring blog!
Blessings to all. 2med