We were gonna change the world...what happened?

many positive changes occurred. When I was a kid, being a vegetarian or doing Yoga or meditation was seen as insane. Now it is common place. That alone is a HUGE societal shift..

Women's rights has advanced powerfully. Gay rights have advanced powerfully. Apartheid ended in South Africa.

When I was a kid in NJ, you never saw white folks having African-American friends. Now, so so so much more common.

So, I do think there have been many positive changes even if the main thread of society is still, well..uh, less than we have hoped...

 

I agree. It seems as though the demonstrations we held in the 60s really did effect some changes. No one so much as lifts an eyebrow when an interracial couple passes them on the street, and that was a big deal when I was a kid!
I think there I think many changes are for the better.

 

Sadly there are many who hate the changes and want things the way they were before, Trump took advantage of this and they elected him President. And now they won't accept the fact that he's gone and want him re-elected so he can complete his wall, restrict immigration and take away rights from minorities. They see the American dream as an exclusive club restricted to white people. We may have to march in the streets again.

 

Too true. I hope he loses again, although he and his mindless followers think he won.
None of them can accept that he's a loser! My husband says he is still President: the rest of us are just "fooling ourselves". We'll find out, he assures me. Just wait and see!
Meanwhile, Biden is 'pretending' he won...
The people against Trump are just fooling themselves, he tells me. Okay...

 

I think that’s the brutal truth about change. It’s not a one-time accomplishment; it’s a never ending process of maintaining. A lot like physical health, you don’t just workout once and call yourself healthy, you have to keep exercising til the day you die.

On a sociological scale, this means EVERY GENERATION has to maintain and further the changes that were begun before. The 60s wave accomplished so much, pushing the racists & misogynists back into their caves, but subsequent generations eased up, perhaps thinking racism was gone forever, but like herpes the racists and women haters were just temporarily hiding and waiting for an excuse to flare up again.

I can’t F’ing believe that the cavemen gained enough traction that they are now dismantling laws that the original hippies fought so hard for, Roe v Wade, Civil Rights, freedom of religion, not to mention decades of environmental cleanup. But if nothing else maybe this teaches us a lesson that every generation needs to keep up the fight. Each individual needs to fiercely maintain the gains we’ve made. Because the sad truth is that ignorant humans keep breeding and teaching their offspring to be ignorant. Change isn’t a one time thing, it’s an ongoing commitment. That message was lost on a generation or two, but I’m actually impressed at the teenagers of today who are taking the initiative where their parents failed.

 

What if I told you many of us are from America.

 

Dunno if that was directed at me, but I'm an American, I've been fighting to change this country all my adult life. My post wasn't meant to hate; it was meant to inspire. But it's funny how words of inspiration elicit defensiveness from certain people. Tell a crowd "we aren't doing enough" and half will agree & fight harder, while the other half will get all butthurt and pouty.

 

We in the UK have a right wing government headed by that fucker Johnson who is quite happy to put through laws that restrict our rights as citizens, restrict immigration, disallow peaceful protest etc. I am from Scotland and we did not vote for him but in England many many see him as some kind of saviour that will protect the insular, white, racist way of life that they want.

 

True, I noticed all over the world there was a hard right nationalistic frenzy that grabbed power. BJ in UK, that psychopath neo-hitler Duterte in the Philippines, and of course the Great American Orange. I feel awful for Scots who were forced to accept the UK's insanity. I hope you get your sovereignty back.

 

This sounds oddly familiar...

 

The indendence movement is huge but there seems to be an unwillingness by the incumbent government to set in motion the legal requirements to have a referendum. How is it possible that the first minister, who was elected on an independence "ticket" by the way, is saying that the time is not right due to the pandemic but was quite happy to hold local elctions during said pandemic? Party politics is dividing the nation unfortunately.

 

Worrying times. Why do people not see through the bullshit? Why do people not think for themselves? Why do people chose to believe anything and everything spouted by those in charge? Rhetorical questions but I do despair at the inability of some people to see the real scenario. Spiral into fascism? Got it in one, man!

 

I have been fighting for a just (and Socialist) government all my adult life, I've participated in marches and demonstrations even from an early age - I was at the first Aldermaston march against Nuclear weapons aged 8. I was with Danny Cohn-Bendit in Paris when the students demonstrated and rioted. Later that Spring I was in Prague with the supporters of Dubcek in trying to bring 'Socialism with a human face'. I was at the battle of Grosvenor Square campaigning against the war in Vietnam, I joined Arthur Scargill and the miners in the first Miners Strike in 1973 and took part in the battle of Saltley Coke depot. I was in the demonstration subsequent to the Police murder of Blair Peach. I joined the Print workers on the picket lines outside Wapping when Murdoch moved the newspaper printing from Fleet Street to Wapping.

I was a co-founder of a neighbourhood legal advice centre which later became a Law Centre and I represented many hundreds of Claimants at Social Security, Disability, and Employment Tribunals. When the Council pulled the plug on our funding literally overnight, all the case-work I was personally undertaking I took away from the Law centre and continued to work on them from home. That was in 1995. I only 'retired' from undertaking case-work in 2017

I have been and persist in being a 'rebel' all my life !!!

 

Me too! Unfortunately there are no longer enough people who care enough to get off their arse and act. Just look at what's happening in the UK. I cannot believe that people are just sitting back and letting this happen. Selfishness and I suppose self-preservation are the order of the day.

 

Don't lose heart darlin' we've been here many times before. If you and those around you with like minds keep plugging away and fighting for what you believe, eventually some of those who are currently ignorant will become enlightened. !!!

 

One can but dream. Too many talk the talk but are very unwilling to walk the walk.

 

As you've already seen darlin' - I didn't just walk it, but run at full tilt, or at least I used to until arthritis struck, now its all I can do to hobble.