or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 03, 2008
Getting Past The Sixties
Rick Perlstein explains for the Washington Post why we're not about to "get past" the sixties:
It's easy to find hundreds of pictures of the national student strike that followed Nixon's announcement of the invasion of Cambodia in the spring of 1970. Plenty of pictures of the riots at Kent State that ended with four students shot dead by National Guardsmen. None I could find, however, of the counter-demonstrations by Kent, Ohio, townies -- and even Kent State parents. Flashing four fingers and chanting "The score is four/And next time more," they argued that the kids had it coming.The '60s were a trauma -- two sets of contending Americans, each believing they were fighting for the future of civilization, but whose left- and right-wing visions of redemption were opposite and irreconcilable. They were a trauma the way the war of brother against brother between 1861 and 1865 was a trauma and the way the Great Depression was a trauma. Tens of millions of Americans hated tens of millions of other Americans, sometimes murderously so. The effects of such traumas linger in a society for generations.
Perlstein's new book Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America is available for pre-order at Amazon.
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at February 3, 2008 01:29 PMUntil all the Viet Nam Vets are Gone???
Posted by: Mike Meyer at February 3, 2008 03:46 PMFascinating article, Jon. Thanks for pointing me to it. (And the comments are good, too.)
Posted by: Mike of Angle at February 3, 2008 04:01 PMAmerica is apparently the sole developed society that has turned into a fundamentalist one. And I mean in all forms, not just religiously.
Posted by: En Ming Hee at February 3, 2008 08:00 PMThe Spitting Citizen...
Is legend, as it refers to people greeting returning veterans.
It is reality, as it refers to assaults upon USer vets in VVAW, by the hard-hat, kill-four-more contingent of out citizens.
May 4, 1970, was a day of demonstrations all across the country. In Albuquerque, the State Atty General ordered (because both the Gov and Lt Gov were outta town) the NM National Guard to prevent or stop a big demonstration on the UNM campus. The Guard debarked from their Deuce-And-A-Halfs on Centrral Ave, just off campus, formed a line, fixed unsheathed bayonets, and advanced down the Mall. Student demonstrators waited in the space between the Admin bldg and the Student Union. I was a crowd marshall that day. All us VVAW guys were. We tried to maintain calm, and if not that, then we tried to maintain the lines...
But as the Guard got closer to the student lines, and the students seemed to show no inclination to disperse, the tension mounted. There was a clash. It happened to be near me. A Guardsman had freaked and bayonetted a student in the leg, opening his femoral artery.
Another vet and I got a tourniquet around it, and tried to lead the guy to an aid-tent. To get there, we had to pass close to police lines, behind which the redneck/hardhat contingent had set up to watch the fucking hippies get their/our asses kicked. As we passed, they showered us with spittle, death-wishes, and curses.
I shall never forget that day, and never forgive that treatment. NEVER...
My respect for the Average American did not survive that day.
Posted by: konopelli/wgg at February 4, 2008 12:13 PM
