"Much of what we associate with the Aquarian sixties was in fact old hat,...but if the pattern was visible to those with a sense of history, it wasn’t to the New Left, which,...'imagined itself radical pioneers, discovering a new world of ideas that had eluded all who had lived until the present.' Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) founder Tom Hayden, like many of the members of MoveOn.org today, exulted in his dismissal of all that had come before. 'In formulating our vision and ideas,' explained Hayden, 'it was most important to draw lessons from that same experience instead of relying on the textbooks of others.' There was no past, just a glorious future. In short order, the New Left had created its own version of the Nazi-Stalin pact by embracing both the leather-clad fascist thuggery of the Black Panthers and the Maoist version of Stalinism.
The sixties ended with SDS’s morphing into the violent Weathermen, leftists with wealthy backgrounds who tried to 'smash monogamy' through group sex and 'smash capitalism' with pipe bombs. It was all very nineteenth-century,..."
-- From Fred Siegel's review of A Conservative History of the American Left, by Daniel J. Flynn, in City Journal.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
NewAge (Rhymes With Sewage)
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The Civil Rights Movement and the escalating war in Vietnam were the two great catalysts for social protest in the sixties. Since the end of the Civil War many organizations had been created to promote the goals of racial justice and equality in America, but progress was painfully slow.
ReplyDeleteIt was not until the sixties that a hundred years of effort would begin to garner the attention necessary to force a modicum of change. There was little consensus on how to promote equality on a national level.
Groups such as the NAACP, CORE, and Dr. Martin Luther King's SCLC, endorsed peaceful methods and believed change could be affected by working around the established system; other groups such as the Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Nationalist Movement advocated retaliatory violence and a separation of the races.
There were numerous marches, rallies, strikes, riots, and violent confrontations with the police. National leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X would be assassinated, violence would claim the lives of young and old, and rigged all-white juries mocked justice in cases involving crimes perpetrated by whites against African Americans.
Restaurants, hotels, night clubs, public facilities, and the school systems were still segregated during the early sixties, and educational and job opportunities for minorities were far below those available to the white majority. The African-American community, being in the minority, depended on the support of the white population, and at least in terms of sentiment, those caught up in the spirit of the hippie movement took the cause of racial justice and equality to heart, and often to the streets.
"motherfucker" has a certain ring to it. Here's another one of my favorite songs:
ReplyDelete(BTW, my favorite line is "Success is my only motherfucking option, failure's not" - ya gotta have FAITH, you ignorant little athiest.)
EMINEM LYRICS
"Lose Yourself"
Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted-One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy
There's vomit on his sweater already, mom's spaghetti
He's nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready
To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgettin
What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the words won't come out
He's choking, how everybody's joking now
The clock's run out, time's up over, bloah!
Snap back to reality, Oh there goes gravity
Oh, there goes Rabbit, he choked
He's so mad, but he won't give up that
Easy, no
He won't have it , he knows his whole back's to these ropes
It don't matter, he's dope
He knows that, but he's broke
He's so stagnant that he knows
When he goes back to his mobile home, that's when it's
Back to the lab again yo
This this whole rhapsody
He better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him
[Hook:]
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime yo
The soul's escaping, through this hole that it's gaping
This world is mine for the taking
Make me king, as we move toward a, new world order
A normal life is boring, but superstardom's close to post mortem
It only grows harder, only grows hotter
He blows us all over these hoes is all on him
Coast to coast shows, he's know as the globetrotter
Lonely roads, God only knows
He's grown farther from home, he's no father
He goes home and barely knows his own daughter
But hold your nose cause here goes the cold water
His hoes don't want him no mo, he's cold product
They moved on to the next schmoe who flows
He nose dove and sold nada
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
I suppose it's old partner', but the beat goes on
Da da dum da dum da da
[Hook]
No more games, I'ma change what you call rage
Tear this motherfucking roof off like 2 dogs caged
I was playing in the beginning, the mood all changed
I been chewed up and spit out and booed off stage
But I kept rhyming and stepwritin the next cypher
Best believe somebody's paying the pied piper
All the pain inside amplified by the fact
That I can't get by with my 9 to 5
And I can't provide the right type of life for my family
Cause man, these goddam food stamps don't buy diapers
And it's no movie, there's no Mekhi Phifer, this is my life
And these times are so hard and it's getting even harder
Trying to feed and water my seed, plus
Teeter totter caught up between being a father and a prima donna
Baby mama drama's screaming on and
Too much for me to wanna
Stay in one spot, another day of monotony
Has gotten me to the point, I'm like a snail
I've got to formulate a plot fore I end up in jail or shot
Success is my only motherfucking option, failure's not
Mom, I love you, but this trailer's got to go
I cannot grow old in Salem's lot
So here I go is my shot.
Feet fail me not cause maybe the only opportunity that I got
[Hook]
You can do anything you set your mind to, man
Yes, and where did it go, then? What did it do during the "Black Power" movement?
ReplyDeleteAnd what kind of world were blacks freed to? One where - when all they wanted was to be normal Americans - normal was out and abnormal was in. We've had to re-orient ourselves to a country we never desired. One that, if I follow the Leftist line you're throwing, still hasn't stopped racism, discrimination, or injustice for blacks - it's just made it more confusing.
And to not include the negative effects of rampant drug use, irresponsible sex, NewAge, cultism, political stances that always penalize the government or the country, family breakdown, radical feminisn and environmentalism, etc., could be taken to admit you don't want to discuss such things because you feel a little too comfortable trying to hide behind my black ass for cover.
No deal.
And what kind of world were blacks freed to? One where - when all they wanted was to be normal Americans - normal was out and abnormal was in. We've had to re-orient ourselves to a country we never desired.
ReplyDeleteTo quote Donald Rumsfeld, "Freedom is messy."
Yea, and if I remember correctly - not only did Rumsfeld lose his job for taking just that position, but it was people, like you, who demanded he be sent packing. So, now, the hippies can get the hell out of dodge as well. Thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteHypocrite:
You don't have a leg to stand on.