Humanities & Classics 3270
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Sixties Forum
Humanities & Classics 3270 |
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There seems to be a sort of consensus among everyone of the opinion that the sixties were times of fabulous change. Sure there were problems, but society is an imperfect creation and that's only to be expected. But one can say, apart from a distinct style of music and dress, were there any more pressing problems than ever before? I mean, why does today's society regard the sixties as so influential rather than the times of Julius Caesar or the Industrial Revolution? Surely the social revolutions of the 1800s affected more people's lives. The movement of peasants of the farm and into the cities changed the social structure and economy of all Europe. The Russians changed their entire political systems, thus affecting a nation. Do the sixties mottos of "Peace" and "free love" really compare? It's not only these moments of ancient history that are pertinent. Society of the forties and fifties staged rebellions equally important. The youth fought to make America great and let everyone in society prosper. It wasz during this period that the happy family of Middle America rose to the fore. The punks of the fifties brought a certain amount of open-mindedness to the people that allowed the sixties to develope.
Billy Joel summarized this all beautifully in the goofy little dotty "We Didn't Start the Fire":
'49 Harry Truman, Doris Day, Red China,
Johnnie Ray
South Pacific, Walter Winchell, Joe
DiMaggio
'50 Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon,
Studebaker, Television
North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn
Monroe
'51 Rosenbergs, H-bomb, Sugar Ray
Panmunjom
Brando, The King and I and The
Catcher In the Rye
'52 Eisenhower, Vaccine, England's got a
new queen
Marciano, Liberace, Santayana
goodbye
Chorus: We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it
'53 Joseph Stalin, Malenkov, Nasser and
Prokofiev
Rockefeller, Campenella, Communist
Bloc
'54 Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini,
Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls, Rock Around
The Clock
'55 Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got
a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis
Presley, Disneyland
'56 Bardot, Budapest, Alabama,
Krushchev
Princess Grace, Peyton Place,
Trouble in the Suez
Chorus
'57 Little Rock, Pasternak, Mickey
Mantle, Kerouac
Sputnik, Chou En-Lai, Bridge On The
River Kwai
'58 Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle,
California baseball
Starkweather, Homicide, Children of
Thalidomide
'59 Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space
Monkey, Mafia
Hula Hoops, Castro, Edsel is a
no-go
'60 U-2, Syngman Rhee, payola and
Kennedy
Chubby Checker, Pschyo, Belgians
in the Congo
Chorus
'61 Hemingway, Eichmann, Stranger In A
Strange Land
Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs Invasion
'62 Lawrence of Arabia, British
Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson
'63 Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British
Politician Sex
JFK blown away, what else do I
have to say
Chorus
'64-'89
Birth Control, Ho Chi Minh, Richard
Nixon back again
Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate,
Punk Rock
Ayatollah's in Iran, Russians in
Afghanistan
Wheel Of Fortune, Sally Ride, Heavy
Metal, Suicide
Foreign debts, Homeless Vets, AIDS,
Crack, Bernie Goetz
Hyperdermics on the shores, China's
under martial law
Rock and Roller Cola Wars, I can't
take it anymore
Chorus
The mystique of the sixties experience is derived from the fringes of society. Most of the individuals were probably more interested in education, family, or religion than protesting Vietnam. The Vietnam War is a much upheld figure of American youth standing up for what right, but what about Korea and the World Wars? Free love may have been great, but did it lead to irresponsibility in today's society? The "widespread" use of drugs had already been done. Ancient tribes have used natural drugs to achieve different mental states. Yet I don't see people raving about the Jivaro and their contribution to the world.
It may sound like nothing but a round of sixties-bashing, that's not quite right. I like the aura of the sixties as much as the next person - but let's give credit where credit is due. For reading the above in all its pompousnes and snotty demeanor (it is my goal in life to be as pompous as possible) here I'll lapse into utter absurdity. This is a sad, sad limerick but amusing. I don't know but I find the stupider something is the more amusing:
--EED
There once was a man with an overwhelming need
Everything started with that one simple deed.
A magnificent flora erupted from that "special" seed
To his country's rules and regulations he paid no heed
He was taken downtown and his rights they did read.
Rivulets down his forehead then began to bead.
When "the man" gave him a cup, he reluctantly peed.
After anticipated failure, to a cess the guard did lead.
There lurked Bubba, a hefty man with a sexual need.
The poor mans buttocks Bubba began to "knead" (need)
Claiming anal rape, the man was promptly free.
"You are the source of all evil," he cursed his weed
From now on, I'll stick to my new wonder drug - SPEED"