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subplotkudzu) wrote2008-04-17 03:25 pm
Another out of character comment
That is to say, politics. I have a question: what will it take to stop the American political process from placing a center of gravity in 1968? I had hoped that having a candidate that wasn't even in double digits of age in 1968 would be sufficient, but people are now arduously tracking down those of the requisite age who he has had contact with, lest anyone forget how important the late 60's were.
At this point I'm beginning to suspect it might take the death of everyone born prior to 1953. In future years, I might have to raise that date, but it's possible that even when there is no one alive who knew anyone who was alive in 1968 that we'll still be asking whether their great grandparents had a student deferment to the Vietnam war and what that meant.
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Remember, the media does not really exist to inform or entertain. It exists to sell advertising, which means they benefit more from gotcha and drama than an honest contest of contrasting ideas. Throw in the fact that last night, on the ideas, was a case of "you, too, eh?" and something needed to be done.
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In both parties it's not about what's happening now - it's about what's happening now in the context of what happened in the late 60's. Everything, in the end, revolves around trhe late 60's. And it's getting pretty old.
I'm not blaming the media.
Additionally, politics is a negative feed-back loop. With so many lawyers, they operate on precedent -- if side "a" thinks they're even, then side "b" thinks their one behind; when side "b" does their thing, the poles reverse, with side "a" casting about for a place to stick the knife. Like the French Army, the American political establishment is armed to the teeth in preparation for the last great conflict.
The problem is that the mid sixties to the early seventies *WAS* that last great political watershed and is, for good or for ill, the schwerpunkt for the current campaign. It was the last time that everything changed, traumatically in some cases. Like a pulled tooth, they keep coming back to it.
Re: I'm not blaming the media.
But for how long, Spock! For how...long?
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(Anonymous) 2008-04-18 01:10 pm (UTC)(link)As to the 1968 fetish's origins, well -- if you were a Baby Boomer activist, wouldn't you rather reminisce about ending the war in Vietnam rather than, say, the subsequent "boat people" exodus or the "killing fields" of Cambodia? Or hearken back to the fun of Woodstock rather than the cocaine-fueled 1970s? Bobby Kennedy instead of Jimmy Carter?
Sadly, for Baby Boomers, 1968 was their peak. It's been downhill for them since then. Obama's birth-date was certainly a selling point for me -- except that it seems he's bought heavily into Boomer attitudes himself.
As to the future, I kind of think we're living in the new center of gravity already. Consider how much of the political campaigning of the past 8 years has centered on the Florida vote tally of 2000, or the Iraq war authorization vote of 2003. I expect (alas) that the next several election cycles will be cast as referendums on those two issues, again and again and again.
JLC
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The whole thing is just silly.
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