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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Jan-07
"Antiwar" rally in Washington fails to stir passions or crowds

Web Log - January, 2007

"Antiwar" rally in Washington fails to stir passions or crowds

Thousands of aging Boomers got together Saturday to commemorate the huge 1960s rallies, when several hundred thousand demonstrators would come to the Washington mall to hear fiery speeches by young Boomer antiwar protestors.

Sparse crowd at Saturday's "antiwar" rally in Washington <font face=Arial size=-2>(Source: CNN)</font>

Sparse crowd at Saturday's "antiwar" rally in Washington (Source: CNN)

The crowd on Saturday appeared to be sparse, and was estimated at "thousands" by some news stories, "tens of thousands" by others.

The crowd came on Saturday to listen to boring speeches by aging Boomer antiwar protesters. An old guy led the crowd chanting, "Hey, hey, Uncle Sam! We remember Vietnam!" A group called the Raging Grannies sang songs reminiscient of the 1960s.

Aging Boomer antiwar protester and activist, Jane Fonda <font face=Arial size=-2>(Source: CNN)</font>

Aging Boomer antiwar protester and activist, Jane Fonda (Source: CNN)

The star of Saturday's protest was Jane Fonda, the resuscitated antiwar activist from the 1960s. More about her in a minute.

Boomer journalists and pundits on Saturday were completely clueless as to why college students had little or no interest in joining the demonstrations, since they remembered fondly the fun and eroticism of the "summer of love," the women's lib parties where the guys burned their draft cards and the girls burned their bras, the weekly demonstrations on colleges across the country, and the huge crowds at the antiwar rallies in Washington and other major cities.

Commentary from Bill Schneider, CNN's senior political analyst, who has a doctorate in political science from Harvard University and has taught at several prestigious colleges, just couldn't figure it out. He gave two reasons why college students weren't participating the way they did in the 1960s:

"There's no draft." The theory here is that students demonstrated in the 1960s because they were being drafted into the army, but with today's volunteer army, there's no such motivation.
The problem with that explanation is that it doesn't account for all the other massive and repeated demonstrations -- the anti-racism demonstrations, the environmental demonstrations, the women's lib demonstrations, and so forth. Today, there are no large, frequent demonstrations of any type.

"Now they protest on the Internet." The theory here is that they now have Internet weblogs, so they don't have to go outdoors to protest. This argument is even weaker. A passionate anti-war activist just isn't going to be satisfied sitting in a chair typing into a computer. And anyway, the "Raging Grannies" and other Boomers have weblogs too, but some of them still demonstrate.

As I've been saying for years, a 1960s-style antiwar movement today is impossible, because there's no "generational gap" today, as there was in the 1960s. I wrote a lengthy analysis of this in June, 2006.

It was particularly distasteful to see Jane Fonda again.

In the 1960s and 1970s, antiwar protestors, led by the likes of Jane Fonda, would spit on soldiers, call them war criminals and baby killers, and even become violent with them. Fonda became known as "Hanoi Jane," because she went to have her picture taken with the North Vietnamese enemy.

Jane Fonda, back from Hanoi, wearing a necklace gift from the North Vietnamese. The necklace was made from the melted parts of a U.S. B-52 shot down by Hanoi.

Jane Fonda, back from Hanoi, wearing a necklace gift from the North Vietnamese. The necklace was made from the melted parts of a U.S. B-52 shot down by Hanoi.

Fonda gave a half-hearted, selective apology in 2004 for going to Hanoi, and she said she regretted the picture the moment it was taken. But it's obvious that Fonda was lying, because she later began wearing a necklace made from the melted parts of a U.S B-52 shot down by Hanoi, as shown in the adjoining picture.

As I've been saying for years, there is no antiwar movement to speak of today, and there won't be. But Jane Fonda's hatred of America is palpable, and having her lead an antiwar demonstration only turns a weird relic of past days into a disgusting relic. (28-Jan-07) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Jan-07 "Antiwar" rally in Washington fails to stir passions or crowds

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 28-Jan-07
"Antiwar" rally in Washington fails to stir passions or crowds