General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 1968 (Your Help, Please!) [View all]ancianita
(35,950 posts)through college. Yes, it was revolutionary. 1968 forever changed me and how I thought about our country and government. Because of that year I've always been a vigilant observer of national events.
When I turned 21 in 1969, I realized that no more major battles would ever be won the same way The People had won them. I knew that our government had separated itself from being of, by and for The People, and that a Deep State was being born.
No amount of any "power of positivity" cultural hoohah after that could make me turn a blind eye to any subsequent events that there were or were not reported by "official" stories from media. I looked to alternative anything beyond TV and mainstream print. Half of my generation went on to business school and became all the old corporate assholes I despise today. This hippy wanted to be like Jesus, so I went into teaching. (Years later I showed "1968" of this series to my high school students to give them context for understanding modern American lit we were reading.)
Abbie Hoffman, John Lennon and Daniel Ellsberg were my living heroes after that. Hallucinogens opened me to how insignificant it all was in the universe. The Whole Earth Catalog and Foxfire series informed my rejection of consumer capitalism. My inner hippy lost her trust that public effort would get results.
That's why I've not felt at all surprised by the fascist surveillance state we live under. 1968 shocked us who chose to see its larger meaning. It was the fatal rip in the hull of this democratic ship that I could feel was sinking slowly while a few more skirmishes played out on deck (e.g., the silly too-little, too late Weather Underground that came later.) Whole families had split over the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement.
What I saw was that it's not as if millions of us who witnessed 1968 didn't try to patch that breach, or sabotage the PTB at every turn, and with some success after that. But, among other reasons, the technology wasn't there to amplify the power and influence that now I only can dream we might have used to break the power of the military over civilian command.
Anyway, I'm feeling maudlin. The series is the best historical video document of that time, and your presenting its importance here means a lot to me. Thank you, H2O Man.
Edit: The following year, this song, along with the birth of my daughter, helped me a little to get over those events.