Sixties and Oldies

[Chris Stolz]

Notes on the '60s---

1)  we are freer, wealthier, more liberated now than then.

2)  important to distinguish between symbolic importance of a
period and what actually happened

3)  '60s were only made possible by the massive conservatism of
the times.

4)  it is ironic-- and Pynchon knows this well-- that the same
decade that produced the most important social movements in
canada and the u.s. which have fundamentally transformed society
was also the decade that saw the birth of the
counter-counterforce.  the '60s' symbolic excesses were fuel for
conservative americans in the '80s.  in the sixties, the process
of media agglomeration began.  this would eventually make it
impossible for the left to get heard in the u.s., one of the
reasons why the right has done so well considering the stupidity
of many of theiur ideas.  viet nam in a strange way paved the way
for an american military renaissance under reagan, and, as
chomsky points out, taught th americans to really listen to
roosevelt by walkign much more softly in the carribean and
carrying a much bigger stick-- witness the covert wars fought in
latin america by the americans scared of getting mired in another
viet nam.  



-- 
chris stolz		16 oakview pl. sw calgary ab canada t2v-3z9
cstolz at acs.ucalgary.ca	(403) 281-6794


"But you must admit that our ignorance is manifestly of a very rich 
and varied sort?" said Ulrich.


			Robert Musil, _The Man Without Qualities_