stone savage

zeitgeist: the 1960s through 2004
ortgeist : the (un)trustworthy in the United States

“Never trust anyone over the age of 30″ was a popular phrase with the young people of the 1960s and 70s. Was it Bob Dylan or Abbie Hoffman who said it? I can never remember which dissident said what.

In any case, many of the Woodstock Generation wore that phrase like a badge of honor during the 1960s and 1970s. Later, they swapped the word “over” with “under” as they hit their 30s.

I think they were right - both times.

[More:]

If you’re under the age of 30, and you hear those of us who are older than 30 say things like “I don’t pay attention to politics!” in their annoyance while they go on to talk about the latest fashion trend (like a member of my family, age 36, did just a couple of weeks ago), then you know not to trust us. If we, those you consider to be “adults” are that unaware - or is it unconcerned - with our own times, motives, and reasonings for policy decisions within our collective government, then what in the world makes you think we have your best interests at heart when we go to the voting booth?

If you over the age of 30 and you hear young people saying things like “who should I vote for?” (like a young friend of mine, age 23, did just last week), then you know not to give young people the credibility they so desperately seek. If they, those we consider to be young adults, are that malleable and unable - or is it unwilling - to think for themselves, then what in the world makes us think they have any sort of understanding about what is right for the population of this country when they head for the voting booth?

Yep, the dissidents were right on both counts. While I don’t expect anyone to find C-SPAN as “must see T.V.", I cannot comprehend the mindset that says “I’ll let someone else worry about my future". For that, in effect, is exactly what is being said every time someone sits home on election day wallowing in his or her voter ignorance or voter apathy.

A favorite saying of mine, a paraphrase of William Butler Yeats goes as follows: “The worst of us are filled with passionate intensity, while the best of us are filled with apathetic indifference.” I love that quote… both because it’s obvious, and because it’s ominous.

I had a college professor who was fond of saying things like “Silence equals death” and “The personal is the political". At the time I was taking her classes, I filed her away under “just a wee bit too extreme” in my brain… but as I get older I think back to the things she used to say and I find myself thinking that maybe she wasn’t so extreme… maybe she just had the gift, or misfortune, of acute foresight. But, then again, I was young and certainly had no business trusting anyone of her age…

Now that I’m older, and I look back on our nation’s history, I realize why what that professor had to say was so important. During the 1960s, a decade following what was, perhaps, the most oppressive decade on the planet, the young adults of this nation had good reason not to “trust” the rest of the adults in this country - we’d just scared the bejesus out of everyone with our own modernized version of the Salem witch-trials as Arthur Miller showed, and we moved right into scaring the bejesus out of everyone, again, with the “duck and cover” practice. So it’s no surprise that when we littered the 1960s with assassinations, riots, police-state suppressions, and fodder for all manner of conspiracy theories that what we ended up with was the most rebellious decade in modern American history.

We’re seeing the seeds laid today for a resurgence of the 1960s - but we don’t have to let it get that far. Will it really come as any wonder if political unrest sweeps across this country in the next few years? Do we really not understand that we can’t simply sit back and say “someone else will make sure that doesn’t happen"?

Whether you are over 30 or under 30, whether you vote or not, being aware and active is imperative. It’s easy to say “it doesn’t matter” or “I don’t pay attention” when it comes to politics in the United States… but since when has anything “easy” resulted in something good? At least read the news - both liberal and conservative, learn what it is that candidates are saying, decide for yourself whether or not they “make sense". It is not only your right, but your responsibility, to ensure that what happens in this country tomorrow was because you cared enough today about how you decided to exercise your right to vote.

No, you can’t trust anyone - no matter the age - except for yourself. Afterall, you’re the only one who can hand in your own ballot.

————————————————————————–