[Marxism] Re: [njgreentalk] unpleasant trends with today's youth -- not true

["bob" <bobo926@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The situation today is actually an improvement. During the Vietnam War era,
folks took polls of Americans (not just HS students) regarding the 1st
amendment, and more than 50% thought it should be illegal. So the results of
this poll are better, not worse, than what they had been and to talk about
creeping fascism is just one more excuse for voting for Democrats rather
than doing the actual political work that's necessary.

A quote from the study "the John S. and James C. Knight Foundation reports
fast shrinking respect for bedrock constitutional freedoms of speech, press
and assembly." That is simply a lie. In order to even claim that anything is
shrinking, you must first show what occurred at an earlier time and compare
it with what occurs at a later time and there must be a decrease. They
didn't do that at all, for the simple reason that it would show the exact
opposite of what they are trying to claim.

Beware of Democrats hiding behind statistics or writers who would rather
take cheap shots than contribute meaningful analysis.

The writer claims "Even at its worst, the paranoid patriotism of the 1950s
existed uneasily alongside a respect for and knowledge of American history
and the Constitution." Obviously, the writer was not alive during the 1950s.
If he were, he would never have made such a stupid claim. During the 1950s
people active in alternative parties were fired from their jobs, kicked out
of unions, jailed and 2 were murdered (executed) for their beliefs.
Something as simple as a concert was broken up by armed thugs. A popular
slogan was "The only good communist is a dead communist." During the 1950s,
communists and socialists were the people in the alternative parties of the
time.

The concept of 'protected free speech' meant that one portion of the
population thought that it was perfectly okay to make derogatory racist
remarks, in public, without any fear of being thought to be engaging in
unacceptable behavior. One portion of the population could legally be
prevented from going to certain schools, or sitting in certain seats, or
even using a certain water fountain. When people talked of 'gay bashing'
they weren't talking metaphorically. They meant violently attacking gays
just for being gay.

The writer is seemingly not aware of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement of
the mid-1960s and how revolutionary and liberatory it was. Nor is he aware
of how the earliest anti-war demonstrators were treated by the press,
politicians and other Americans. As late as the early 1970s, the Vice
President of the US was regularly on the nightly news denouncing anyone who
disagreed with the war against the Vietnamese people for being traitors or
dupes. Nothing similar happened when massive protests occurred against the
attack on Iraq. Similarly, even when rights were respected for white,
heterosexual Americans, that was not the case for those who didn't fit into
'accepted' society. Blacks were met with violence when they marched for
freedom. That means they were physically attacked with weapons, dogs, and
fists. Today civil rights are an accepted part of American culture. Gays
were met with regular violence even when they did nothing provocative. Today
an act of violence against a gay person is national news and school systems
punish acts of sexual harassment.

Throughout the 1950s, and later, even sex was repressed. As late as 1975, a
person appearing in a porn movie could be prosecuted and put in jail. Laws
against 'sexual deviance' included private acts between a man and a wife. IN
about a dozen states the government prohibited the marriage of a white and a
black person. Abortion was illegal everywhere. There was no such thing as
parental warnings regarding content of CDs -- all music simply conformed to
the desires of the religious fanatics. In the 1960s, a song with references
to a popular masterpiece of children's literature and another that was a
modern children's classic were castigated for supposedly leading America's
children to drug abuse.

Life is not perfect in 21st century America, but to make claims that fascism
is on the rise or that there is less tolerance for dissenting views and
lifestyles  today compared with the 1950s is pure b___.


bob

----- Original Message -----
From: <DBachmozart@xxxxxxx>
To: <marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; <greenallianceus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
<njgreentalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, February 13, 2005 11:18 AM
Subject: [njgreentalk] unpleasant trends with today's youth


>
> If the children are the future, we're screwed:
>
> Last  week was a busy one on the creeping-fascism index. So busy, in fact,
> that I  finally accepted there is even such a thing as a creeping-fascism
index.
> http://www.nypress.com/18/6/news&columns/AlexanderZaitchik.cfm
>
> http://tinyurl.com/4rkm4
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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