What is DU's collective opinion on the Weather Underground?

[underpants]

I remembered posting on this back when Mark Felt was revealed to be "Deepthroat" after I heard one of the former Weathermen on Amy Goodman's show. I found these THREE threads (last one is mine) and the responses there are remarkably consistent: the WU was right in what they were after but they went about it in a completely wrong way. Also there is some mention in here that WU may have been CIA run, that seems a bit far fetched to me but the suggestion that COINTELPRO either goaded them on or directed some of their activities (splinter groups?) seem reasonable to me.

There are some other threads on the Weather Underground but these seem to be the most representative-I say that because I don't want anyone to think I only found "nice" threads. This is, I feel, a good representation.

Good for you DU'ers :thumbsup: :patriot:

UpsideDownFlag
Sun Sep-26-04 11:51 PM
Original message
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2416841

fencesitter
Tue Mar-15-05 11:37 AM
Original message
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3276068#top


underpants
Thu Jun-02-05 09:17 AM
Original message
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3769191

[ThomWV]

1. Well over half of the people here weren't alive when it was active

And at the time it was active there were many who were unaware of its existence. So why would anyone now know much about it? Just another make-believe demon to try to use as a wedge.

[underpants]

2. Around the time of these threads there was a documentary out on the WU

I found that in my search too

So to say that there is no knowledge about this seems a bit unfair to me. There is the documentary, the interview on Pacifica radio that I mentioned both of which caused me to read into them a little more. Read a couple of sources opinions or history of the WU. I was alive but just a kid at the time. My take on them was not first hand but had the advantage/disadvantage of time to reassess as well as taking a, hopefully, somewhat objective look at it from the outside.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. They and the Black Muslims both got a bad rap

Two mostly misunderstood groups from the 60s.

[Zynx]

19. I don't know what is to misunderstand about bombings and shootouts.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. You illustrate my point all too well

These organizations did many many good things that you don't even know about.

[Zynx]

24. Even if they did, a few violent actions wipe out the good they did.

I'm sorry, but sometimes the deontological approach to ethics has its place. The result doesn't matter in many cases if the actions used to get there are immoral.

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. And some us us remember the good

Imagine that.

[Zynx]

32. No amount of good, because it obviously was not much, was worth what they did.

[yardwork]

4. If you're asking if any DUers agree with violent overthrow of the U.S. government

I doubt that you're going to get many takers.

[Breeze54]

5. I remember them blowing things up, including themselves

I remember it being on the news a lot, police stand offs, searches
at neighborhood houses in SF and Boston and other cities etc.

[SoCalDem]

26. They were a "sign of the times"..like the FALN & the Panthers and SDS

Not all that relevant these days..and unfortunately, many of the things they "warned" us about, did come to pass..

Their tactics were bad, but their philosphies were not that far off from our own..

[floridablue]

6. They were the most scary of protest movements at the time.

Using violence at random, which resulted in murder with the purpose of overthrowing the Government made them no more than bananna republic minorities. Innocents were assinated just for being employed in a Military or Government building.

[NewJeffCT]

7. Nowadays, it's the right-wingers who do that -

Timothy McVeigh, the abortion clinic bombings, etc.

[yardwork]

30. That is incorrect. The Weather Underground killed only themselves.

Nobody was injured or killed in their attacks. Three of them died when bombs they were making accidentally blew up.

If they were scary, it was because the media told you to be scared of them. They were actually very harmless. Except to themselves.

In contrast, the U.S. government has murdered millions in our name. That is scary.

[texshelters]

8. It's a waste of time

to talk about it unless you know your history and talk to people from that era. Stephanopoulos is ignorant and doesn't seem to really care about anything than getting Obama and ratings.

Tex Shelters

[VWolf]

9. Cooler & damper than the Weather on the Surface

bada-bing

Thank you, I'll be here all week. Please tip your waiter.

[annabanana]

10. I was living at NYU ( a couple of blocks from the famous explosion)

I remember that we were all virulently anti-war at the time.. but when the bomb went off it was kind of "whoa...".
We were sorry there were deaths, and most of us were not unhappy that it didn't reach it's intended targets. Most of us were not bloodthirsty.

[bowens43]

11. 'YOu don't need a watherman to know which way the wind blows'.....

[Winterblues]

12. They were similar to Code Pink in their day

They wanted change and did everything within their power to make it happen. They were effective in that the Government learned fear of the people..SDS was another group at the time as well as the Diggers and Black Panthers...All were part of the great shift of the sixties...I suspect the term "Underground" that DU took on originated from the weathermen...

[splat]

14. No, they were violent, unlike Code Pink; they tarred the peace movement irrevocably

They scared away normal people who were just protesting to end the war, and gave Nixon ammunition to terrify the rest of the country (the Silent Majority). They ended the carefully built and growing mainstream power of peaceful protests built by both the civil rights and antiwar movements.

[Winterblues]

16. In those days we considered what was going on to be a Revolution

People were committed to their cause unlike today with a few exceptions such as Code Pink. Granted they considered some violent measures but that was at the end of their time. They were responsible for many Marches and other Peaceful assemblies as well. They were considered heroes at the time because they had the guts to confront the establishment. There is no such courage in America today..

[splat]

27. True, but the movement came from sncc, sds and national mobe

Weather Underground were bombers.

[Bake]

15. Except for that bombing part

I don't think Code Pink blows shit up ...

Bake

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Not yet anyway

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Yes good comparison

Very much like Code Pink. :)

[Winterblues]

22. I guess you had to be there..

:shrug: In 1966 I lived four blocks off Haight at the corner of Fell and Divisidero..I remember very well the Weathermen..

[tinymontgomery]

13. You don't need a weather man

Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blowss

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

17. Good cause. Bad tactics.

Like many of us in those days, they wanted to make a revolution. To overturn a corrupt and murderous system.

They turned to the very tactics used by that system to sustain it's power.

It failed.

[kineneb]

28. they became the monster they sought to fight

as in Nietzsche: Whoever battles with monsters, must take care that he thereby does not become a monster.

[Zynx]

18. Entirely negative. The "cause" doesn't matter when their methods were so violent.

[kestrel91316]

29. I was just a kid back then. I don't know anything about them

other than that they were a radical activist group in the 60s and 70s.

Why on earth would you think DU would have a "collective" opinion of them??? LOL

[Fox Mulder]

31. It's a great website.

It gives me live results of the weather in my area. :)