"God is on our Side"

[question everything]

Is a Bob Dylan song that can be relevant today.

We read the lyrics of this and other of his songs at the Bob Dylan's American Journey Exhibit at the Weisman Art Museum.

There were several booths with their own clips of Dylan's career, and others with many of his songs that one could select by hitting a button.

Another wall where one could select from several performances, in different languages, of "Blowin' in the Wind" (I selected Marlena Dietrich).

A brief history of the progressive movement in this country and the roles of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the Weavers and others.

A large photo, taken from the March in Washington with MLK, I think, with all of them holding hands together: Dylan and Segeer and Baez, and Peter Paul and Mary and others.

As we left my spouse commented on how sad it was to realize all the waste of all the talent and good intentions since then and asked: "what happened?"

What happened, I think, is the ruling class realized that the Civil Rights and Women's Rights movements were a real threat to shattering the class order. All those who believed in class order, who believed that some are "born" to be the rulers and to determine the world order, and the rest were destined to serve them, to do what were told and know their place in the class structure.

And they needed to handle it. Especially white men, high school dropout who, all of a sudden, did not have anyone to look down on. So they vented on "talk radio." And then the oil embargo and stagflation made the money industry - mergers and aquisitions - more profitable than any manufacturing one.

And the stability of many middle class families - job security with access to health care and a promise of a pension - went, indeed, "blowin' in the wind."

And just marching in protests, and writing songs, and even traveling the country via rails were no longer enough to provide some food and shelter.

And we became more crowded with fierce competition for unskilled jobs. We became interested in career building and purchasing.. perhaps just the baby boomers settled down and the priorities changed.

Last, I could not help it - we banned smoking everywhere. No, I am not a smoker, never have been. But... when we see photos of so many philosophers, and poets, and revolutionaries with cigarettes dangling from the corner of their mouths... can we imagine their contributions without them?

Anyway, if anyone is visiting Minneapolis, that exhibit is through April 29, admission is free (but parking is not) and the museum is on the U of MN Minneapolis campus.

[jobycom]

1. Maybe all of our philosophers and poets and revolutionaries

died of lung cancer? :rofl:

Seriously, things will go one way, then the other, over and over. We haven't lost anything. We made incredible gains through unions in labor, we made stunning advancements in Civil Rights and Equal Rights. Then the other side rose up and won a few of their own.

It's a constant fight. We'll win some more, and lose a little more. The trick is to take what we can while we are on top, and give up as little as possible while we are on the bottom. It's the song of history.

Then civilization crashes and the next great world empire gets to try its vision of Utopia.

[OneBlueSky]

2. here's the photo you mention . . .

it's very famous photo from the 1963 Newport Folk Festival of Peter, Paul and Mary, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, among others, singing We Shall Overcome . . . MLK was not in there . . .

[question everything]

3. Yes, beautiful. Thank you

I was not sure when it was taken. It was part of the Civil Rights movement story.