The 1960s were not so different when looking at the current decade http://www.jg-tc.com/articles/2009/04/07/opinion/columns/doc49dc0c0cec867223510889.txt
By BILL LAIR, Managing Editor [email protected] Twice in staff meetings over the last week I have been reminded of my advancing years. Younger staff members raised eyebrows when I mentioned the names Arlo Guthrie and Joie Chitwood in conversations. I might as well have been referring to some pioneers of the Old West rather than two celebrities of the 1960s. Arlo Guthrie, of course, probably is most famous for recording "The City of New Orleans." But when I hear his name I always think of his anti-war song "Alice's Restaurant." It's an 18-minute monologue with a little singing mixed in about Guthrie being rejected for the military draft because he once was arrested for littering. I was no 1960s anti-war protester but "Alice's Restaurant" is hilarious. I still like to get out my old 33 rpm vinyl record and listen to it! I know. Some of you have no idea what a 33 rpm vinyl record is. It's like a compact disc, only about three times larger. Chitwood was a race driver who also starred in the "Joie Chitwood Thrill Show," an exhibition of auto stunt driving. According to Wikipedia, Chitwood's show was so popular that in January 1967, the "Thrill Show" performance at the Islip, N.Y., Speedway was broadcast on ABC television's Wide World of Sports. Evel Knievel has said Chitwood was his inspiration to become a daredevil. Chitwood and his sons also did stunts in several movies. He was a stunt coordinator for the James Bond movie "Live and Let Die." That's some information about the 1960s for you younger readers! There's an old saying that goes something like, "If you remember the '60s then you didn't really participate in the '60s." I don't know about that. I had a lot of fun in the 1960s when I was age 12 to 21. And I think that our current decade has much in common with the 1960s. Think about it: n John F. Kennedy was 43 when he was elected president in 1960. Barack Obama was 47. Kennedy was the first president born in the 20th century and the first Catholic elected president. Obama, of course, is the first African American elected president. Obama graduated from Harvard Law School. JFK received his bachelor's degree from Harvard. n Rock music exploded in the 1960s. Elvis was still big but the Beatles, Beach Boys and Motown, among others, had huge success. Rock music was a big gap between teens and their parents. Today's parent-teen gap isn't music so much as it is new technology Facebook, MySpace, youtube, Twitter, cell phones. Doesn't it seem like every college student is on a cell phone as soon as they get out of bed and out of class? n JFK was our first TV president. He used it to his advantage in the 1960 election. Obama is our first Internet president. He used it to his advantage in the campaign and even had an Internet town meeting recently. n The first mass shooting I remember was at the University of Texas in 1964 when a student went up in one of the towers and shot 46 people, killing 14 and wounding 32 before he was shot and killed. In this decade, pick a mass shooting: Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois University, and other school shootings. Just this week a guy in New York fired on recent immigrants, killing more than a dozen. We even had a mass shooting right here in Coles County in the '60s. A young man named Charles Fuller shot and killed five children near Mattoon in 1967. n Drugs. In the '60s it was marijuana and a new drug called LSD. Today, it's cocaine and methamphetamine, relatively new in popularity. n In recent years, the nation has been waging two wars one in Afghanistan and one in Iraq. In the '60s, the U.S. also fought two wars one in Vietnam and the Cold War, which was a tug-of-war against the Soviet Union and Communism. n The underground press and counterculture publications grew in the 1960s. Rolling Stone magazine, founded in 1967, is perhaps the most famous. It began by reporting on the hippie culture and the rock music scene. Today, the Internet with all of the various Web sites and blogs has replaced the underground press. Just as small fringe groups started their own newspapers and magazines in the '60s, today any group can launch a Web site to provide news, blogs and other information for a niche audience. n The civil rights movement really came to the forefront in the 1960s. Laws were passed, individuals like the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King emerged as spokesmen for the civil rights movement, seeking equality for African Americans. Today, I see the gay rights movement as being similar to the civil rights movement of the '60s. We see more laws passed granting gays written rights that heterosexuals enjoy. Just as black people became more visible in TV and movies in the '60s, more TV shows and movies have openly gay characters and themes in the first decade of 2000. One aspect of the 1960s, thankfully, has not been repeated: Assassinations. John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy and Malcolm X are the most notable names who were gunned down by an assassin in the turbulent '60s. The "good old days" were not always so good. I can remember that. One other thing that remains the same in the 2000s as it was in the 1960s my Cubs still haven't won a World Series! . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. 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