Reply #74: It's the divisiveness that's objectionable. Personally, I think the OP doesn't have clue when it

[scarletwoman]

comes to "hippies" or "boomers" or the 60s or whatever else he's whinging about. He's just spouting off the same pre-digested rubbish that's gone around for years, thanks to the right wing media megaphone.

It's not impressive material in the first place, and it's certainly not some startling new and original thought on the part of the OP. Not to mention that broadbrush condemnations and wholly innaccurate generalizations do not make for a persuasive argument.

I'd even agree with the OP to some degree in regard to the Tom Joad part of his argument. But he's already slandered me and declared me his enemy, so why should I pay any attention to what he has to say?

And I also think you are wrong about how you're reading this:

. What the hell do my personal hurt feelings, or my emotional commitment to my social and cultural identity or personal preferences mean when compared to the life and death struggle that the working class has been forced into, and the serious work we have ahead of us?

Emotional attachment to "social and cultural identity" is a universal human trait; so of course, when your entire group is being attacked, there is an instinctive protective reaction.

However, I think it's something deeper and bigger than that. It is our hippie committment to truth. We, who experienced the history firsthand, have an obligation to hold the truth of those events clearly in our memories and teach our stories to our children and speak out against ALL attempts to distort or revise or refashion the truth of those days.

I don't feel his insults on a personal level, I just see more sad evidence of how pervasively the forces of the Right have infected our entire national consciousness with falsehoods that become accepted as "reality".

We old DU hippies are hard-working antibodies, rushing to dis-infect the body politic by speaking our truth. It's not personal, it's our duty.

Lastly, given a choice, I'd LOVE to see the younger generations get busy and change the world like we tried to do. More than anything, I'd LOVE to see them succeed. And I'd love to help, of course, 'cuz I ain't dead yet, and I've lived my whole life for changing the world.

But I'm sorry, children who swear at their grandmas and call them names and throw spitwads at them are rude, and I do not care to make common cause with rude people.

sw