Comparing the sixties to today

[upaloopa]

I grew up in the 50's and 60's. If you were a white male like I was you could do almost anything when you got older. You could get a job that paid decent or go to school trade or college or join the military.
But we did not like to be told what our place was or what we were to think or who we were to oppress. We had our music and underground press and a media that told it like it really was. The news departments back then were independent and not profit centers. When civil rights and women's rights and the anti war movement demanded attention they got it. Both positive and mostly negative. I was drafted and went to Vietnam.
When I got back in '68 the country was very different then when I left. The drug culture was in full bloom tune in turn on and drop out.
What held us together was our music and the underground press. We met in coffee houses and on the street. We identified each other by our dress and habits. Smoking Cools and eating Clark bars and trying out what ever came along.
So today life will be tougher on young people than it was on us.
What's going to happen? I am 68 and won't be around much longer so I'm wondering what it will be like when I'm gone for young people.
If you want to blame me for your life choices that's ok I've heard it before and have nothing I need to say but that I do care about younger people and what happens to them.

[TBF]

1. I was born in the 60s -

My dad was probably in Vietnam just a little earlier (he enlisted and was out by 68). My parents were small town, high school grads who were able to work factory jobs and support a family that way. VA loans secured houses for returning Vets, some finished college with the GI bill.

My own kids will likely be better off (spouse's family is wealthier) and are prepared for our technological society - as are many wealthier kids worldwide. But we are not 1%ers so who knows - the bottom could still drop out as it has for many here already.

And I think you are right to ask the question - how are we doing for today's youth? What kind of country are they inheriting? At least many will have a chance to get health care thanks to Obamacare. But can they afford it with the dwindling jobs in our service sector? Besides supporting the increase of the minimum wage it seems like there is much we should be doing to shore up our economy and the environment.

[frazzled]

2. I disagree with a few of your statements

1. "If you were a white male ... you could do almost anything when you got older." While I appreciate your recognition that non-white males and women did not have those opportunities, I don't even think it was entirely true for white males. Class and even geographic limitations were certainly in place even for these populations.

2. "Life will be tougher on young people than it was on us." Don't sell yourself short: Being drafted to go to Vietnam (or to World War II for my father's generation) was a tremendous burden--many times paid for with one's life--that today's young people don't universally face with a volunteer military.

3. "I am 68 and won't be around much longer." Hogwash! You've probably got at least another twenty or more years.

[upaloopa]

3. Well it seems no matter what is said on DU lately

there will be those who disagree.
I was speaking about those who I grew up with in a factory town.
I would take being drafted and going to Vietnam back then over graduating and owing 10s of thousands of dollars with no job prospects today.
I don't know how long I'll live but my age insulates me from some of what young people will have to face.

[RebelOne]

4. Yeah, I have to disagree with the poster's "I am 68 and won't be around much longer".

I am 75 and plan to be around for a lot longer. That kind of negative thinking is why many die. If your health is reasonably good, you may live into your 90s. At least, I hope to.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. "Young wolves, show us your teeth." John Steinbeck

The first half of the '60s I was in the Marine Crotch. The second half I was in college and working. And, participating in demos against the war and for civil rights.

It was the best of times and the worst of times. Charles Dickens

[GeorgeGist]

6. I hope they put an end to the Reagan Revulsion.