The Internet: Opiate of the People?

[MichaelHarris]

In 1965 the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) held rallies and marches all over America. Over the next 2 years the anti-war movement challenged the world. Celebrities and musicians like Abbie Hoffman, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Fonda, Jefferson Airplane, and countless others took up the Anti-war cause and waved Anti-war banners. Their speeches and their music reflected the anger and hopelessness that Americans felt over the Vietnam war. Even the GI’s stationed overseas began supporting the Anti-war movement in whatever capacity they could, from wearing peace symbols to refusing to obey orders. All of this without the aid of the internet, has the internet weakened the voices of Americans?

" Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds —
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come."

Certainly, in one respect the internet has given voice to many that may have never used it though blogs and personal websites but has that made us "lazy" when it comes to really changing the world? What action incites rebellion in you more, the images from Kent State or words in an electronic atmosphere?



Words are powerful, musicians throughout the 60's used them to fuel a revolution. In one way you could say it was their blog.

"The eastern world, it is explodin’.
Violence flarin’, bullets loadin’
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin’ "

At some point it will require more than words, when the actions of a country are so wrong that typing words is not enough.

"Yeah, my blood’s so mad feels like coagulatin’
I’m sitting here just contemplatin’
I can’t twist the truth, it knows no regulation.
Handful of senators don’t pass legislation
And marches alone can’t bring integration
When human respect is disintegratin’
This whole crazy world is just too frustratin"

Website unite us in a common cause, just as the music of the 60's did, a call for volunteers if you will.

"Look what’s happening out in the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Hey I’m dancing down the streets
Got a revolution got to revolution
Ain’t it amazing all the people I meet
Got a revolution got to revolution
One generation got old
One generation got soul
This generation got no destination to hold
Pick up the cry
Hey now it’s time for you and me
Got a revolution got to revolution
Come on now we’re marching to the sea
Got a revolution got to revolution
Who will take it from you
We will and who are we
We are volunteers of america"

At some point the internet will not be enough, when the call for volunteers comes will you answer? The last generation did and changed a country, can we accomplish that with the tools they did not have? They had a voice, shoe leather, and banners made from sheets, can we meet their accomplishments?







Michael Harris

[gnofg]

1. Gandhi and King

It was a special time. When we looked up to activists who seemed to be sent by God. We believed we could change the world and in many ways we did. Music was an intellectual movement and we believed we could do anything. My Aunt says that only happens every fifty years. I hope it happens again soon.

[MichaelHarris]

2. I agree, it was a special time

I'm glad I lived through it, 58,000 did not though. I just hope it's not going to take 58,000 more for this new generations "special time" to begin.

[knowbody0]

3. this "movement" includes all generations

when compared with the 60's and 70's so it should be way more powerful. we were inspired by the deaths and injuries in the beginning, but when we saw the carnage we reaped in vietnam we went balistic. these days, revolution and anarchy get no press, and so much is wrong, crowd control has been perfected almost to an art form, and we really have no direction. in algiers, the people went on a 1 week strike which set the battle in full speed ahead. we need the most effective absolutely collective idea. got one? im thinkin that monday the 13th will inspire us.

[MichaelHarris]

4. Awww but they do

Have you ever noticed threads where someone says, "Hey DU made the news"? I see them from time to time and we get pretty excited. The point here is to go out into the streets and become the news, be so bold they have to cover it, organize, march, scream at the top of your lungs, they will hear you.

Idea? I'm old skool protestor-boy, here's one. On inauguration day shut down a college, block administration buildings, and parking lots.

[H2O Man]

5. Good post!

And it's true: the internet has been used in a positive way as far as spreading information and getting responses to calls for e-mails and even fund-raising. But it keeps people in their homes in front of a screen.

[MichaelHarris]

7. thank you

for the reply, I sure hope we don't just sit at the screens during this one.

[prairierose]

6. Thanks for the reminder MichaelHarris...I have been wondering

much the same thing. Right now, I can't do much besides write letters but soon, I will be looking for a protest to join. I sure hope there will be one to join where I live. I lived in a much smaller town then and there were speeches & protests. I went to the university near that town & there were protests with speakers regularly. I don't think it is just the internet, I think it is the sense of complacency that enfolds so many of our fellow citizens. I think that the children of today have never faced much hardship. Granted, we were/are a special cohort but we were better educated & we had access to a media that tried to tell the truth. More people ,in general, were interested in what was happening in this country & the world. The use of language was much less Orwellian and even the most corrupt politician, seems in hindsight, more honest than many we see today.

Let's look at Nixon. I never thought I would live to see the day that Nixon would become an example of a good Republican President but I have. He may have been crooked and mean but he was a piker compared to contemporary rethuglicans. He still believed in progressive ideas. The Republican party of that time was not in absolute lockstep as now. Republican Congress people could vote their conscience and speak their minds as Howard Baker did. And it has been at least 2 years since John Dean tried to tell us what type of pResident * was becoming.

I think I have completely lost my train of thought or the train has left the station but I know that I will be looking for more active involvement soon. I hope there will be people here I can get involved with.

:hippie:

[MichaelHarris]

8. Your very welcome

I hope you find that movement your looking for, it's out there waiting for your voice. There is one thing to consider though, have you ever wondered what it was like to be the first black person to sit at the lunch counter? How did Richard Burdine feel when in 1959 he sat at the front of the bus and the driver said, "If you don't move, I'm calling the law"? The point here is, it's OK to be the first, that feeling has to be wonderful.

[knight_of_the_star]

9. I think I'll be doing that too

If not, I'll try to organize one, but I'll see if I can get a bunch of people involved in an upcoming protest so it isn't dominated by ANSWER and marginalized by the local media because of that. Marching in San Diego is hard to do because of how conservative this county is.

[MichaelHarris]

10. thats the best place for coverage

Find students with your same concerns, find anyone with those concerns, organize, march. When the wacko right shows up to protest you with hate and violence let them become the news, show the media where the violence in America really comes from, the wacko right.

[disillusioned1]

11. Religion is still and always be the opiate of the masses

"Religion is what keeps the poor from slaughtering the rich." Napoleon

[catzies]

12. Internet no, TV yes.

I know some people who exhaust their conversational inventory when they're done talking about their shows. I don't have any of that in common with them. I watch next-to-zero television these days, and it feels pretty good.