Why aren't we seeing the massive, visible protests of the 1960's?

When the government lied its way into a corrupt war in the 1960's, a massive, powerful, rollicking movement changed the culture and our nation by protesting and fighting back.

Today, our government has again lied its way into a corrupt war. However, this time the government has catapulted itself way beyond the lines that it crossed in the 1960's. We have our "Vietnam" (Iraq), but our government is positioning itself to attack beyond the border of one country. We've set our sights on major regions. During his inauguration speech, Bush warned the entire world that we were coming after any country that didn't meet the New America standards.

We've imprisoned "the enemy" in secret prisons, beyond US borders. Every prisoner released from Gitmo has said we tortured them. We hold these people (who all hail from the same religion) for years--without charging them with crimes, without due process and without access to attorneys or communication with anyone in the outside world.

The world didn't hate us during Vietnam. Now, a dire, planet-wide hatred for America and Americans exists. Bush's war has turned the Middle East into a petri dish, where anti-American terrorists feed on and flourish from the words and actions of our own leaders. The European community is now distancing itself from the United States. We can't even seem to get along with Canada and Mexico anymore.

What's happening now, is well beyond Vietnam-status. It's downright dangerous and a threat to our safety, our status in the world, to our Constitution and to our entire future.

So, I'm wondering what's going on? Why don't we have the revolution and the visible, massive protests that we saw in the 1960's?

Where is everyone?

The protests in the 60's didn't really start until some of the draft exceptions were removed by congress.

but as we run out of bodies, they run out of optiions

Colleges will explode the day the draft returns, and it is only getting closer

As with most other wars, we had a war tax, but Bush doesn't have the integrity to call for one. I've often wondered what the Right Wing would have done if Bush had the balls to have this generation pay for this war rather than future generations.

Tax breaks for the rich, low interest rates so everyone else can borrow like crazy, and more borrowing at the federal level.

An orgy of consumerism...and death.

Dan (Seattle too)
www.libertywhistle.us

I lived through that era.

The draft was the defining issue.....you could be forced to go to a jungle and kill people who had not attacked america and had no intention of attacking america all for the purpose of allowing the military industrial complex to get bigger and play with its new toys.

When your very own personal ass is on the line, you get pretty motivated.

NGU.

and start marching on the streets of DC

:kick:

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I was in a lot of protests in the 60's and 70's over the Vietnam thing. Things did get violent, property was destroyed, protesters were killed. We came close to have massive civil insurrection and believe me, those in power fear that over all other fears. It worked. WE finally got the idiots to 'declare victory and come home'

If the protestors hadn't done there thing we would STILL be in fucking Viet Nam

We had Uncle Walter Cronkite giving the body count on the evening news every night (no Internet, so Uncle Walter had clout), and we saw the coffins and the dead on TV.

The most brilliant move by Fuckface and his fellow squatters in the White House was to conceal the returning coffins and make them fly into Dover under cover of darkness.

http://tinyurl.com/2x7sk

What people don't see, they don't believe.

BEFORE this war started. What you have NOT seen is the REVOLT. There was a visible REVOLT in the 60's in addition to the protests and I think RobSeattle is correct...with no draft people don't quite have the investment in it...BUT also, we were not attacked prior to Viet Nam so 9/11 created a surge of nationalism that had died down by the time VIet Nam had gotten going though it was very present in the 50's.

So the nationalism and jingoism have been suppressing the revolt but one can feel it boiling under the surface.

You can almost taste it... small acts, such as blood poured on Poppy's statue....

The rage is there, but the misery index has not hit most people either YET

states, low rent compensates for higher prices elsewhere...and..heck...people are USED to being poor...as the funding dries up...it will be felt.

who hasn't drank the koolaid...even if they don't know it yet. they know something is wrong.
strange tho...it blows my mind that people in my dorm can go about their daily lives, play video games, study mindless and pointless subjects, and not think about the greater world. there are some people who actually pay attention and realize that there is trouble, but i'd say a larger population don't really know at all. time to get the message out!

for a while...they know..ignorance isn't all THAT bliss..hell...look at the farmers who supported Bush and found themselves and their subsidies on the chopping block...everyone will figure it out soon enough

to being a doofus. i'm just saying that from many of the people i know, i'd be very surprised if they were informed and opinionated about politics and the world.

i know, i know. flame away. please. it's just an opinion, people. my own personal observations.

on edit: incidentally, i game too when i have time. but i also spend time here, and looking at news sites. it's my experience that people don't really want to believe that the world is as bad as it seems.

And I know you weren't saying gamers were dopes ..and I agree many people don't get the details we do because we are actively seeking the info.

US service personel.

Three vital factors...

and they have a much tighter reign on the media. We're not seeing raw war footage like we did then.

it's as simple as that. Americans have their tax cuts, they have their SUVs. that's all that matters.

The affluence isn't really there. Wages are stagnant, prices are rising, and people are scared. Went into the local mall for the first time in a year or so the other day. Every store was listing massive discounts, except for the real high-end stores. 50% off. They aren't moving their merchandise. And I didn't see a single 'help wanted' sign in the place. Not one. The sorry, minimum wage mall clerk jobs that go begging in a good economy are all taken. When was the last time we heard what the real unemployment figures are?

Low interest and easy credit can take us only so far. We are mortgaged to the hilt and something's going to give, sooner than later.

I think they're counting on the economy tanking, to make enlistment seem reasonable and desirable -- without voluntary enlistment, there will have to be a draft. And, as noted above, we know what will happen then.

and who'll get blamed for the whole sorry mess.

We are having HUGE protests. They get either no coverage, or coverage that does it's utmost to play down the actual numbers involved.

I attended one protest before the opening of the Iraq war. I'm no expert, but I estimated to crowd at about 100,000. i did this by get a high vantage point and comparing what I saw to what I saw at minor league baseball games. I estimated at more than 10 times that number, which puts it around 100,000.

Papers reported it as 10,000. I know what 10,000 looks like, and this was NOT 10,000.

I saw pictures of another march, and talked with friends who participated. The photos were impressive. My friends were VERY enthusiastic, and I thought they were over estimated attendance. I put this one at 200,000. Papers reported 15-20,000.

The size of these protests is being deliberately downsized in media accounts. I've taken to multiplying numbers by 10 to get a real idea of the crowd sizes for progressive events.

BTW, I've taken to dividing reported numbers for conservative events by 100, for much the same reason. At the first event I mentioned I saw 1 (one) conservative counter protester. Papers reported about 1,000.

The protests exist -- but they get jack squat in terms of coverage outside of "Oh, look at the cute little fringe lefties! Aren't they just adooooorable, out there talkin' about rights and all that stuff."

See how condescending that sounded? That's what I hear from the MSM, every time they talk about protests. That or "those anarcho-terrorist hippies" or something equally both non-sensical and insulting.

A lot of people are willing to cut the government some slack on issues like terrorism and military intelligence given what happened to us on September 11th.

Plus, there is no draft.

not with wide distribution anyway.

been MASS DEMONSTRATIONs like the 60's. But there's little coverage and little or actually NO discussion about what they mean for America.

It's a very different time...There will never again be a 1960's. It's OUR TIME now to make it what it is..:shrug: Write your Congresspeople and the FCC..support Rep. Louise Slaughter with her upcoming bill to reinstitute the "Fairness Doctrine."

Without a media which discusses and fairly reports...we don't exist, except in our "networks," of others like us.

The 60s protests were far fewer in number. The media is completely ignoring them in Bush Fantasyland.

250,000 people is more than the VietNam protests. Where were you?

considering the internet makes the organization of protests so much easier.

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First, the anti-war protests (stateside and world wide) were MASSIVE... and under reported. I think they are bigger than in the sixties and more diverse demographically speaking. (I personally went to every march in San Francisco from 2001 on. I never marched in the 60's)
Second, Bush is in a bubble of protection. He never sees these protests. He is routed around protests, whether it be in Europe, England or the US. He is in Camp David when the protests hit Washington. He doesn't read. He doesn't watch TV--not that it matters because MSM doesn't cover or accurately report the protests. (Park services no longer estimate crowds.)
Third, financially, it still hasn't hit middle America.
Fourth, we don't yet have an official draft. I suspect that is coming this year.
Fifth, (and back to number one) the media no longer reports the truth, whether it be number of protesters or number of coffins.

Ther are more factors, but you get the idea just from those listed above.

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You young whippersnappers ready for that? Now it's your turn.

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and the Michael Jackson trial and sitting on your dead asses and whining and expecting other people to do all the work? Some of us old farts are still activists. What have you done lately?

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my "lazy old ass" is up to? I'll be more impressed with the whiny little body-pierced gen-Xers when they put down their beer bongs and pull their iPods out of their ears and do something besides dis the people who actually had the guts to put their butts where their big mouths were.

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weird Boomer friends if they are hounding you with their 60's exploits.

And, you are so rude, why would anyone tell you what they are doing?

Maybe you'd like some links to organizations you can get active with? If you'd like it, you can PM me...:shrug:

Lots of people just refuse to look at the situation and see trouble there. They think it'll all just clear up somehow...without their help or participation.

Observers were there since the early 60s (or even before?).
Anti-Iraq protests started BEFORE the invasion. Also, the violence/casualty rate in iraq is much lower than was true in vietnam. Also, as others have said, no draft.


However, similarities include Russia/terrorist threat and invasion on false/wrong pretenses.

Wait 3-5 years; if casualties pick up and there's a draft, we'll have some serious protesting.

Full scale anti-war protests didn't take off till '68, because we thought the election could change things. They didn't.

Sound familiar?

And 3000 channels on the TV-

Why should anyone give a shit?

Protests are so 60's.

Action is so 00's.



What DO they call this Decade anyways?

The zeros? or the Oh's?

No one knows.

This ain't the 60s.

when the weather gets warm. I have a feeling...

We ARE having massive protests. Of course they would be bigger if so many Democrats weren't so wimpy about looking mainstream, and divisive about the sponsors of protests being too extreme. Moderates are the problem here.