"Anti-Nationalist Civics"....What?

[JasonBlack]

(07-11-2022, 01:37 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: I experienced it; you did not. So quoting some stats does not erase the real friendliness and open trust that was created in all the love-ins and get togethers in the psychedelic sixties. The clicks and ranks of our 50s youth disappeared, and we were all one. The love shared among us could not be greater. Commentators described the Bay Area as an intimate community. I could stick out my thumb and go anywhere. The luminous feelings of the time lived on, as many testified. Inhibitions disappeared and people everywhere became much more authentic and open. Tolerance and respect for differences increased, and this continued to grow. The year 1966 was the great psychedelic awakening year; psychedelic art of many kinds and an amazing explosion of music and garage bands proliferated. Yes, it deserves great credit. Knocking this era impoverishes us greatly. It was a new native and contemporary culture that I treasure, and it should be treasured. It was vast and infinitely rich and manifold.

I have no doubt that was your experience. My point is that that was the experience specifically of left wing boomers (and, to a lesser extent, left wing Silent Gen and more centrist boomers), while Gen X was over here like "where are all the adults?", the Silent played peacekeeping middle child and the GI and remaining Lost just looked at each other like "....huh?" .

In fairness to you, you did answer my question. You just did so with a more specific, niche answer to a broader question.

Quote:But, Generation X was cynical. They blamed their cynicism on neglect in childhood, and they complained on this forum about it a lot (the original version). So of course we know all about that. There was neglect. And in some ways trust declined. This does not cancel what was created-- and is now lost. Trust in government and institutions did decline in the 2T, as is typical of 2Ts. But 2Ts also typically have romantic and bohemian movements; previous 2Ts were similar. It's a combination of cultural awakening, social movements, romantic feeling, breaking down social barriers, and questioning of authority. It is natural for a nomad generation to follow up after prophets with some practical abilities to make ideals work better and to restore awareness of efficient attention to basic needs and self-reliance that tend to be neglected by idealists. But their resentment against Boomers destroyed some of the potential to apply, make workable and develop what their older siblings started.

There was a lot created during the 2T. My only point with this is that broader collective trust was not one of them.

Quote:The Consciousness Revolution was quite typical, and more intense in the consciousness-awakening field than ever before; but also too disorganized, and the culture created in circa 1966 was not further developed very well, since it seems to have receded; but it did re-appear in the circa 1989-1993 era in what was called the rave or cyber-punk era, a fine Generation X echo of the psychedelic culture that had been created in the sixties by the Silents and the early-mid Boomers, and the multi-media art and techno-ambient music created then was as fine as the poster and pastel psychedelic art and music of the 1966-1970 era. And in the visionary art, new age and human potential movements that began in the sixties and became popularized in the years ever since, the new culture also had some fine results in helping people discover themselves and their potential to overcome repressive programming and improve relationships, compassion and trust, and discover what lies beyond materialism. Most young people today probably have no inkling that these cultural gems ever even existed.

no argument there

Quote:But no doubt, questioning authority and drug use had some bad echoes in poor communities, where drugs became a basis for crime and gangs; thus the rising crime rate. And the experimentation in relationships in the sixties and the liberation movements also had an impact on family breakdowns.

Exactly, this is the thrust of my point. Any era in which the family unit breaks down cannot be considered an era where trust on the whole increases rather than decreases.

Quote:But no doubt also, the questioning of authority over the great mistake in Vietnam, a magnificent movement for peace that became the first ever peoples' movement to stop a war, left its mark in rising mistrust of institutions. Watergate didn't help either in 1973, nor did revelations of CIA misconduct in 1975. Breakdown in respect for authority and the ghetto riots in the cities set the stage for the rising crime rate, which at the time I saw as an extension of the riots, and it peaked in about 1990. 1966 was the year of the first of the modern mass shootings too. The assassinations in 1968 ignited the gun control movement, and also immediately the reaction against it. And 1966 was also the year that our conspiracy theory culture was born in the questions about the JFK assassination and the Warren Commission, and this was magnified by other theories such as chemtrails in the late 1990s and the 9-11 "inside job" theory in 2001. This too is all based on distrust in authority.

To clarify, I never said all loss of trust was boomer's fault. During the 2T, many of the GIs moved from collectivistic and team oriented to more selfish: finally cashing in their societal chips, taking what they felt they deserved and stepping out of public life and leadership roles.

Quote:Our society has been increasingly polarized since the mid-sixties between those dedicated to the ideals of awareness, liberation, social and economic equity and ecology/consumer rights that blossomed in the sixties, and those dedicated to the reaction by authoritarian religion and the business-culture against these movements. In many ways this "psychedelic" liberation unleashed idealism and creativity and mutual friendliness, and also unleashed the dark sides and repressed and tormented impulses that had been locked inside us too.

I think it's more apt to say the 60s are when the current political parties adopted their modern combination of issues. For example, it used to be the progressives who were more religious and socially conservative. The modern right really is more of a patchwork than the Democrats believe. What most of us have in common is a preference for focusing on smaller social units rather than broad, collective strokes (whether that smaller unit by the family, the church, one's race, etc), and a general focus on self-regulation rather than societal revolution. By all rights, we shouldn't have much power even by this broader definition, we are a minority in the United States, but unlike the many factions of the Democrats, we play nicer with each other (which, unfortunately does also lead to a bit more lack of accountability, but it has the plus of avoiding ridiculous fiascos like the liberal's cancelling of JK Rowling, whom, for liberal millennials at least, gave them like half their values haha).

Quote:So it is best to see the 2T as a mixed bag.

yes. all seasons of history are mixed bags, bringing both necessary solutions to problems, as well as their own fresh problems brought about by over-correction. I have to admit that, as a young person, I'm still trying coming to terms with this.

Quote:You sure do seem to elicit some long essays from me, Mr. Black   I don't know if they make any impression on you though.

Some of them do at least. I'm not afraid of long texts.