Reply #63: Just an anecdote and reflection that might offer

[tomg]

some perspective. Not anti-Obama/ Hillary, pro-Obama/ Hillary/ pro Boomer/ anti boomer or any of it.

At Woodstock, Abby Hoffman got up in the middle of the Who's set and tried to get the crowd to get energized over Jon Sinclair. The exact event, whether it was Townsend knocking him upside the head or bumping into him accidentally, was a bit unclear ( I was pretty close and it looked - to my rather befuddled at the time mind - to be somewhere between but closer to ass kicked). But this is the point, here was Hoffman, a real vet of the movement, being apparently - and possibly correctly under the circumstances, I'm not drawing judgements on Hoffman or Townsend - being dismissed from the stage in favor of partying. Oh, and the crowd generally applauded it.

The great irony is that immediately after the Who came the Jefferson Airplane who opened with Volunteers. I didn't see too many "Volunteers for America" that morning. Well, Hoffman goes off, goes underground and keeps fighting the good fight, particularly in environmental issues, until his death in 1989.

Point of my anecdote - we, like most generations - have always been split. It is just that with our generation, the split was far more extreme. For me, there is very little difference between those who thought that the mantra should be "sex, drugs, and rock and roll" as an end in itself and what many of them evolved into, like, say, George Bush, or the blow-addled assholes of the 80s who supported Ronald Reagan where the mantra is "sex, drugs and stock portfolio." And they marched against the war because it was their asses about to get shot off. Likewise, there were always those who marched for Civil Rights, who helped in the fight for human rights( in all of its range), in the environmental movement for every other reason. Many of them are still marching, organizing and the like.

In fact, if you want a sense of our generation, in some ways look at the very divergent paths of Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin, his sidekick who became a business man and a entrepreneur. He, too, is dead - hit by a car while jaywalking.

Point of my stupid post - most of us are pretty much like Bill Clinton - we get some shit done, we blow other shit. We don't or didn't fuck up out of intention. We marched, but we kept our deferrments. Most of us covered our asses, but we'll push for gay rights ( and think don't ask don't tell is acceptable "for now" - that was our guy).

As to Obama and the generation gap: "Senator Clinton and others, they've been fighting some of the same fights since the '60's and it makes it very difficult for them to bring the country together to get things done."

Well, great, some people - say, Pete Seeger, has been fighting the same fight since the 30s. Others go on to other things. Maybe we keep fighting the same fights - or avoid fighting any - because the same shit is happening. If those coming after us have some better tactics, works for me. Let me know. I'll try them. Until you have some better tactics, I have to go with what I know.

Oh, yeah- generational divides are nothing new - Remember the fights between the Old Left and the New Left - and, to put the Hoffman/Townsend thing in perspective - Pete Seeger did unplug Dylans electric guitar at Newport and threaten to break it.

Sorry about the length. Just been doing some thinking about this for a long time.

edit: typo