The 36th President Lyndon B. Johnson was in office when I graduated from high school. I turned 18 in May graduated in June and 5 day later received my draft notice.
LBJ was going to change the world. Since we have had several changes in Presidents. Nixon, Ford, Carter, then the people of the United States wanted a big change so Ronald Reagan was elected.
Then came Bush, Clinton, Bush and now President elect Obama. All of them where or are out to make change.
In the mid to late 60’s and early 70’s many protest songs where written and recorded. One which comes to mind is “Eve of Destruction”. This song is a protest song about political issues of the '60s, this song was banned from many radio stations for its antigovernment lyrics, but still managed to hit #1 in the US. The song takes on racism, hypocrisy and injustice.
Imagine that, racism, hypocrisy and injustice, look around, its 2008 where is the change.
I believe it’s time people, politicians in particular, add the word “hope” or “pray” in front the word “change” every time they use it!
Some feel the song Eve of Destruction was written “before it’s time”. Please listen to the song and you decide, where’s our change.
More about the song can be seen at Eve of Destruction.
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14 comments:
SER, I remember those days well. It was a very different time. I remember my brother going off for jungle training. I was so frightened...he was drafted when he was six foot five...when it came time to ship him out, he had grown another inch...the powers that be changed his orders and shipped him to Germany. I cried for joy. I was so sure if he hit Nam, he was dead. He is alive and well and now tops out at about six foot seven or eight.
What a target he would have made.
Eve of Destruction brings back such memories to those days...some good, some not so good.
Nothing never really changes.....it's just put in a different wrapper.
I, too, remember those days. Some people say that I'm stuck in them.
I read some of the stuff on the Eve of Destruction webpage. Wow. I didn't realize that PF Sloan, the songwriter, was persecuted because of it. It stirs up so much outrage in me when the media use their constitutional powers to suppress others' right to speak out. Reminds me again why I'm posting here and not on another site, run by "journalists" who censor, ban, and squelch dissent, the truth, and anything else that doesn't fit their agenda. Remember all the underground newspapers that sprang up back then to give voice to alternative views? You're reading one of the 21st century versions...
Back in '72 my mother's friend belonged to a church that believed the end was near. They sold all their stuff and waited. It took years for them to recover! I remember during the Cold War Nostrodamus was quoted all over the place! Gone. Remember how people thought the world would end in 2001? Now people are saying 2012. My point is, the more things change, the more they stay the same!
Anyone who thinks Rumsfield was bad should have seen McNamara. Remember Billy Joel's lyric: We didn't start the fire, It's been burnin' since the world's been turnin'
In 72, I was more interested in sex, drugs and rock and roll than in politics and war.... It is only now that I am mature enough to fight the good fight.
One of the main reasons I supported Obama was his willingness to look at getting us out of a war I feel we shouldn't have gotten into in the first place. Yes, I support the troops who are there. I support getting them home alive.
And orbs, yes! Thank goodness for the ability to be able to speak our minds without censorship. I do not take this lightly. I appreciate this website where our thoughts are not banned nor censored.
Every year my husband and I do 2-3 partys for the KAAV (Kenosha Area Vietnam Vets.) I have never met a group of people of all different backgrounds come together where you can feel the bond between them. I know there are those of us that remember Kent state, The riots in Chicago, the marches, the sit ins, the day Martin Luther King and John F. Kennedy where killed... Some things may never change, but you can only HOPE that they will.
Very good song,SER. I never heard it before.
My attitude is towards war is one middle finger towards the polictians and world leaders who are harboring the war machine. Death and destruction in the name of what? Religion? A piece of land? Oil? Is the price of human life worth it? Too me it's senseless.
The only thing I could support a war is freedom from opression.
I support our troops out there and I pray they all come home safely.
Change,you say. There is some,yet there is none. Racism-we've gone a long way. Since the 60's we've gone from apartheid to interracial
marriages,but there is still much work to do. Take a look at RTJ newsblogs after a shooting.Prejustice is still there.
Society,in general, has become more cynical. Lies and backstabbing are more common. Greed and selfishness has taken place.
I hope Obama can stand by his word to bring change. Otherwise,it's just like that song,meet the new boss,same as the old boss.
It's funny you cite that song, Drew. Many thought this was about LBJ/Nixon, but in interviews, Roger Daltry stated that it was about the anti-war crowd. The basic message was that the radicals wanted to take over, but it would be the same as the current establishment, maybe worse.
There is no doubt in my mind we could have won the Viet Nam war. The only reason (my opinion) we did not was we had non-military politicians telling the military what they could or could not do. Today it is the same; the wrong people telling the right people what to do.
I agree with KK, I support the troops 100%, but if we are not going to let the do their job, bring them home and bring the home now!
As for banning guns, that is pure stupidity. Guns do not kill, people kill, so do knifes, baseball bats, automobiles...and the argument can go on and on. HOWEVER, there is one thing for sure, “If guns are outlawed; only outlaws will have guns”!
SER, you and KK have it right...either let them do their job over there or bring them home....
I've often wondered about the wisdom of having a non-military person as the commander-in-chief of our armed forces. Of course, that may or may not change with each administration. I would feel better about going to war if it were ordered by someone who has personal experience with it. Maybe that would avoid gaffes like the celebration of "Mission Accomplished" while our boys are still dying. I admit that I do not understand what "winning" in Iraq would mean. It becomes the 51st state? It is in an extremely unstable part of the world. Are we going to build a protective bubble around it to insulate it from its neighbors?
Always the young men go off to die because the old men make war. Let the declarers fight first. If any cause is so worthy that we must kill or be killed for it, then let our leaders be the first into the breech. Don't leaders lead? Lead us into battle then, or shut up.
Btw, the above applies to all leaders, including mayors who do not live by the same rules that they dictate to others.
Orbs...that's why the call them Dick-Tators...
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