Saturday, October 6, 2012

Saturday Entertainment: Volunteers

It's one of those songs that define the 1960s, and I love this video:
There's what was good and bad about the '60s there, the protests, the war, the Moon walks. I'm not sure where the VW Bus fits in, but it could probably be either.

What strikes me as I watch it is that the people in those photos, the teenagers and young adults at least, are now the leaders. Back in those days, they protested useless wars, pollution, racism, and poverty. Now some of that same generation, in turn, are sending our kids into useless wars, and letting the polluters, the financiers, and pretty much anyone else with a big campaign contribution bleed us dry. Many more are happy to tell us that we should shut up and accept what's done, because that's the best we can do. Just like our parents did.

It's as though every generation needs to be reminded of how things were when they were young. (h/t Taylor Marsh)

9 comments:

One Fly said...

It's a favorite of mine as well and I do know this - I did not change they did. Sell out bastards.

I think the whole VW thing may have been about freedom if that makes any sense. If I was a rich fuck I'd have me a brand spanking new one.

Cujo359 said...

It's hard for successful people to remember that their success is at least partly based on luck, and that there are plenty of people out there who are just as worthy, but weren't successful. That's why I try to remind them once in a while.

As for the bus, yes, I suspect that's what it was. Mine was more of an artistic viewpoint. Some bus art was rather clever, but most was pretty bad and mainly useful as rust prevention.

One Fly said...

There was not much bus art in the cornfield that I remember. College towns mostly. it was looking for trouble if you did that. Long hair was just as bad as you know.

going three times

Expat said...

The bus, was it not the hippy version of beat generation's Kerouac's "On the Road"? Too many moves and lost books later don't know where the book is but Tom Wolfe's "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" would be close. Memory has Ken Kesey involved. Suppose one should google these things but that takes the fun out of memories and the changes that happen to memories over time. And long hair? It was all a commie conspiracy, don' cha know.

Expat said...

Oh! and another thing, those indignatos of the 60's, they had their future purloined, stolen by the silent majority of RM Nixon and the moral majority of Reagan. They were supplanted by ignorance and rednecks, by cheaters and liars who bested honesty at every turn for every position. Today's leaders had nothing to do with or connection with those from the 60's (and 70's too) so rest that accusation on the proper shoulders to bear that weight please.

2nd attempt

Cujo359 said...

As I replied to One Fly, Expat, my view on where the VW bus fits in the good/bad dichotomy was more of an aesthetic one. I'm all for freedom. Decorate your bus however you want - it's your right. It's my my right to think that a chartreuse is a color best used in certain classes of oil painting.

I tend to think of us Boomers as being a unit, despite all evidence to the contrary. As a unit, we disregarded what we should have learned about sending kids to useless wars from our own early experiences. See Kerry, John, for an example. Rubin and Hoffman weren't in Congress at the start of the Iraq War, and it's sad they weren't, at least on that day. And there do seem to be a great many "progressives", like the aforementioned Senator Kerry, who think that all this is somehow different enough from Vietnam that we can forget what happened there.

History doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it usually rhymes.

So, yes, I think there is some reason to say what I wrote, even though you're right, too. We let ourselves be anesthetized by the television and the good times, at least as a unit. Some of us were aware of the foolishness all along, of course, but quite a few just switched off their minds before they hit middle age.

I guess that means you really shouldn't trust anyone over thirty, huh?

Expat said...

Now including US, huh! ;-(


now for an attempt #1, dyslexia and macula non-withstanding.

Expat said...

In my travels about the virtual universe, the following appeared that is George Carlin at his priceless best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8PhoyDIRRk&feature=player_embedded

particularly towards the end. Enjoy

P.S. the JA above is a favorite of mine also. More!

Cujo359 said...

Thanks for the video link, I enjoyed it. Carlin has always had a gift for finding the irony and humor in the words we use.