“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”
The ‘60s + 50
Ah, the turbulent ‘60s. The epigram above says it all, and at the same time says absolutely nothing about one of the most memorable, yet most quickly forgotten decades in U.S. history. Not a week went by that some segment of society wasn’t rocked to its core by upheaval. The military; government policy; social groups; arts and entertainment; the university itself.
No segment of society was immune from disruption, dissolution and dissection. It was the best and most generous of times; it was the worst of navel-gazing, introspective and self-absorptive times. Americans slogged through the mud in the hostile terrain of Southeast Asia; Americans stepped onto the hostile terrain of the moon. In between, democracy shuddered forward, with voting rights, women’s rights and human rights initiatives, while blacks were still assessed a poll tax, women could still be legally raped by their husbands, and gays and lesbians were still beaten and killed with impunity.
Looking forward, we hoped for a saner society to emerge, with lasting peace following war, government beneficence, social harmony, a renaissance in the arts and a return to academic excellence as a model for all. We even had a name for this looming utopian vision: We called it the coming age of Aquarius, the perfection of society.
1969: The military — Vietnam and its attendant disruptions on the home front. Crossing the Oval wearing a ROTC uniform was nearly as fraught with danger as slogging through rice paddies south of Saigon. Our mantra of free expression and open dialogue sounded majestic and heartfelt on our lips, but it did not extend to those who chose a more traditional path.
Foreign policy — Rumors of CIA meddling in various foreign governments proved true time and again. It was a decade of intrigue, offshore threats real and perceived, and an attendant mistrust at the highest levels of our own government.
Social change — In the ‘60, women were in the crosshairs, as they demanded basic rights. What women wanted even Freud could have known: the simple right to be taken seriously as full human beings and full citizens.
Music and the Arts — The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan were all the proof adults needed that the world they knew was going straight to hell in a shopping cart. And they were the people who brought us the likes of Elvis Presley, a fellow who was shown on early ‘60s (black and white) TV only from the waist up, to limit the immoral impact of his lewd, hip-swinging pelvic thrusting. Those adults were right: All the upheaval — free love, peace symbols, marijuana and TV shows such as “Laugh-In” did seem to usher in Vietnam, Watergate, race riots and assassinations.
The university — students rioted on campus, taking over the admin building, demanding concessions in the way Ohio State interacted with various corporations and the military. Tendrils of tear gas wafted across the Oval, and a police presence there made academic life seem like something out of Kafka or Kandahar.
2009: Flash forward. The military — We’re now engaged in not one but two foreign entanglements, neither of which we perhaps ought to be involved in. Aquarius gives way to Scorpio; the limitations of individual ego.
Foreign policy — The CIA still seems to be dropping the ball here and there, otherwise we would not perhaps feel a need to be entangled in Iraq or Afghanistan, either one.
Social change — Now it’s gays in the crosshairs demanding equal rights. And once again Dr. Freud would have been able to state with clarity what they want: the basic right to be taken seriously as human beings and full citizens. Except with LGBT people, there’s a difference. They’re demanding the right to marry the person they love. Outrageous!
Music and the Arts — OK, no one could have predicted Britney Spears. Still, in the intervening years we’ve seen a healthy trend to decentralize once-monolithic arts industries such as music, where so-called “house concerts” are emerging as viable alternatives to large-venue presentations. YouTube streams 7 billion (yes, billion) videos per month, so now, regardless of quality considerations, we’re our own producers. Thanks to Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, if a friend is about to eat a tuna sandwich with tomatoes in Tulsa, we know in a timely fashion. What a relief, I know!
The university — Going to semester hours after all the years of quaint, homely adherence to 10-week quarters. The upheaval may or may not affect you — stay tuned. The good news? No riots; no tear gas; no threatening fellow students for wearing ROTC uniforms, so call this progress. Unless the war(s) drone on and on… Then who knows? Tough economic times always present us an opportunity to make a choice: either come together or divide along certain social lines. We’re all in this leaky little boat together, unless some group stirs our fears and punches our uncertainty buttons for personal advantage and profit. Then we could capsize readily. Sarah Palin, are you listening?
2060: Flash way forward. Afghanistan is finally subdued — by China. In an economic move, the CIA is now The Google Inc. Search Corporation, which makes perfect sense, and saves the Guv’mint a bundle. LGBT people are celebrating wedding anniversaries, some as many as 50 years, just like everyone else. Jumping into Mirror Lake in November is yet more treacherous, because of the histoplasmosis. At the Al Gore Memorial Golf Tournament, in balmy Minot, N.D., on Feb. 14, Tiger Woods III prevails. Mr. Gore’s old bumper sticker, “There is no Planet ‘B’,” finally starts to make sense.
Plus ça change… We have learned this: We’re not as fragile as we once believed. If we weathered Vietnam, the Beatles, women’s rights, racial upheaval, Britney Spears, Sept. 11, Sarah Palin, the ’08 financial meltdown and George W. Bush, we can handle anything, even the ‘60s plus 50 + 50 more.
