pearl9999

I grew up during the 1960's. It was a time that promised change. Though many deny our countercultural impact, we actually succeeded in affecting worldwide culture in many ways. Much awareness was raised regarding civil rights, peace vs war, the environment, etc via marches, sitins and protests. Unfortunately,our greater objectives of political, and social change were derailed by powerful conservative government agencies, Madison Avenue and plain old apathy that took over. Commercialism stole symbols of freedom, such as rock and roll, long hair and blue jeans and turned them into fashion commodities and status symbols. What began as back- to- nature movement was stripped away by designer driven materialism. Yippies became Wall Street yuppies. Idealism reverted to a pre 1950s world -black and white uninspired blandness in which three piece suite mentality reclaimed the reigns of mass awareness. The social need for change that urged young minds in the 1960s hybernated for too many decades now. It should not be permitted to sleep again. The worldwide protesting that is currently taking place hopefully indicates that spirit has reawakened and will stay awake this time. Most importantly the young of today are refusing to let corporate greed steam roll them. These are no longer ideological or civil struggles, but human struggles which affect every age group. Sanity, truth and freedom has dawned on large masses who are dissatisfied with simply rolling their eyes at lies Fox and conservatives report. this time the massive social lethargy that has kept the 99% at bay for some time will be overcome.

However, leadership is needed. I fully understand we are no longer living in the times of flower power, and that the keys of the past will not open the doors of the future. However, the sixties are a bluepreing. We need unification. There is too much in-fighting and disagreement going on in these forums. I proudly recall my generation being intertwined by music and shared ideas. Yes it was perhaps too idealistic, because we were pubescent having just left childhood behind when we were hit by social issues and the need for humanity to change. I do not see unification in any of these threads I'm reading. Today the main unifying factor is technology since musical tastes are so fragmented. There is no one Bob Dylan figure who hammer out truth. The magical entity of the Beatles has long been absent and unreplaced. This lack of having a common ground poses a giant problem for the survival of this movement. Yes. All agree that the 1% are corrupt, but why can we not take a common approach to how to bring them down. The forums indicate too much argumentation. Few agree on anything--not even demands or how this movement is going to go about succeeding. The revolution in Egypt succeeded because the majority of protesters had a common experience of repression. Our repression by the Wall Street greed is only just beginning.

In spite of our differences, Americans have freedoms that do not exist anywhere else in the world. We have the freedom to speak homophobically and in racist ways. We have the freedom to be as stupid and as ignorant as we please whether we are rich or poor. This freedom blinds us into believing everything's going to be alright. Now that so many have lost jobs and homes, we cannot sit back until we all are homeless. What I see in these forums is people clashing idealogically. This movement needs leaders to bring us together and keep us together. In the sixties we had very charismatic people leading the various causes, the black panthers, the yippies, the civil rights movements, women's lib--all stood under the same umbrella of the counter culture. Most were assasinated or died or commited suicide. Hippiedom which culminated in Woodstock was a loud wide expression of how youth felt about the world. We all wore clothes and listened to music that identified us with one another Without planning, we had a uniform. If this movement doesn't begin to gel in ways that we can recognize each others' thinking, I'm not sure we can succeed. There is no JFK. no RFK or MLK. We need cohesive leadership like MLK, or Abbie Hoffman or Daniel Ellseberg--Leaders who speak for the people. Anarchy is a great statement, but there must be a spokesman... Abbie Hoffman wrote a book "We Are the People Our Parents Warned US About" and we were. A Michael Moore or someone who knows what they are saying and doing and how to get others to affect it beyond the limited gates of a park near Wall Street is needed. The powers that be should not be dissuaded into thinking that winter weather has dispersed the thinking and dissatidfaction of the dissatisfied 99%.

Joined Oct. 16, 2011