Now vs. Vietnam

We live in very interesting times, this is a profound time in history many will argue the point and say its a time to look down upon but I disagree we live in a time were so many strongly believe their government is corrupt and the worlds going straight to hell one layer at a time. Because of peoples distrust in their government every one seems to have some kind of opinion on politics. Many seem to believe its the cool, or hip thing to be liberal and others think its the "American" thing to be a conservative.

There is no doubt about it there is a division line in America right now. It seems very similar to the Vietnam days were people preached Peace and happiness and other believed that war was necessary.

What I want to do is hear your thoughts on what time was more politically enlightening now or then. Were propel more out spoken then or are they more out spoken now. Which was worse which were you more against the Vietnam conflict or the Iraqi conflict? What are the similarities and differences between the societies? Were you considered "anti-American" for disagreeing with Vietnam or the government?, Was the news considered bias? was there tons of anti-war propaganda, did celiberties speak out about it? did people protest more?

I want to please hear this from someone who lived through the Vietnam era in the 1960's through 1970's. I am only 18 and know what this times like and I am really interested in seeing the similarities from now compared to Vietnam.

I personally think Iraq is beginning to resemble the Balkans what with all the sectarian violence going on.

Having been alive for both, I can honestly say that the american public are a bunch of whimps who are so focused on their own well being that they are not seeing their country crumble around them. The activists of the 60's were much more outspoken and more willing to risk it all to bring about change whereas today, nobody wants to get involved.

Lol you do relize just how fragmented our society is becoming right? Most people don't care anymore and millions thing voting is for saps because all politicians lie so what could we do about it attitude. The age of the Baby Boomers has passed and there will probably never be a generation like them again. Then again the Boomers didn't grow up being deluged by information 24/7 and life was simpler back then. Now we have sub sub sub cultures popping up and fading away in a matter of years rather then a decade or so. The largest youth culture atm is Hip-Hop which is instrinsicly Nilistic at it's very core. I see the start of a new counter culture movement but in your experience how long did it take for the last movement to reach critical mass? Years? Decades? Got allot of garbage to sort through before a large politically cohesive movement takes shape. There is strength in sheer numbers.

[edit on 21-9-2005 by sardion2000]

"What I want to do is hear your thoughts on what time was more politically enlightening now or then. Were propel more
out spoken then or are they more out spoken now. Which was worse which were you more against the Vietnam conflict
or the Iraqi conflict? What are the similarities and differences between the societies? Were you considered "anti-American"
for disagreeing with Vietnam or the government?, Was the news considered bias? was there tons of anti-war propaganda,
did celiberties speak out about it? did people protest more?
I want to please hear this from someone who lived through the Vietnam era in the 1960's through 1970's." == iksmodnad

Without saying more than I like about personal things, I qualify for the time frame you are talking about, but you have phrased
the paragraph I quoted to seek out one side of the equation. That is not the side I am on. I was "playing war since I was
three" as the song goes. One of my college roommates and several of my high school friends are on "The Wall". I joined
about 70 percent of the military back then who VOLUNTEERED for Vietnam. I have a gut feeling for how and why that
war was lost and how the war on terror will be also. Unfortunately for us, the consequences will be far worse. So you
will probably be better off drinking the kool-aid from the Jane Fonda/ Kerry types. This tends to be a Bush bashing board
with some forums that even debate the meaning of patriotism. You should have plenty of takers drunk on kool-aid.