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Sigaba · 10-11-2008, 20:23

CT--

From my perspective, things are holding steady at 'not so great.' I felt that things were much worse in the 1970s and the early 1980s.

When I was near your age back in the mid 1980s in college at Berkeley, some of the student protests were getting very heated. A few years before, protesters had burned down the hall housing the military, naval, and aerospace departments. Now, these folks had returned as a mob chanting "ROTC OFF CAMPUS" in front of the collection of double-wides that comprised Callahan Hall.

An ROTC cadet commented about how bad things were getting. The Soviets, the furor over Iran-contra, and the flatulent ravings of the radical left were on everyone's mind. The instructor, an Army officer in artillery, stopped his lecture and provided us with a corrective emotional experience.

He told us that, upon returning to the U.S. after one of his tours of duty in SE Asia (and this was a time when soldiers who wore their uniforms stateside risked, at best, hateful remarks and spittle) the men in his battery did some training and planning in case the on-going civil disturbances of the day got any worse. He let the ambiguity of that statement sink in. He then gave us one of his rare grins that said "this is nothing" and we all felt a lot better.

I agree with Richard. The 'lessons' of history have been co-opted by politicians, ad-men, and some of the folks responsible for network television programming. This country has been through intervals of worse turmoil.

I would add that part of what is happening is that we as a nation are using an interpretive lens built on sound bites, unrealistic expectations, pipe dreams of easy a la carte fixes, the desire for single-shot silver bullet solutions, really crappy journalism, poorly written instant messages, inarticulate posts in the blogosphere, too much caffeine, and narcissistic rage.

10-11-2008, 20:23	#5
Sigaba Area Commander Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Southern California Posts: 4,482	CT-- From my perspective, things are holding steady at 'not so great.' I felt that things were much worse in the 1970s and the early 1980s. When I was near your age back in the mid 1980s in college at Berkeley, some of the student protests were getting very heated. A few years before, protesters had burned down the hall housing the military, naval, and aerospace departments. Now, these folks had returned as a mob chanting "ROTC OFF CAMPUS" in front of the collection of double-wides that comprised Callahan Hall. An ROTC cadet commented about how bad things were getting. The Soviets, the furor over Iran-contra, and the flatulent ravings of the radical left were on everyone's mind. The instructor, an Army officer in artillery, stopped his lecture and provided us with a corrective emotional experience. He told us that, upon returning to the U.S. after one of his tours of duty in SE Asia (and this was a time when soldiers who wore their uniforms stateside risked, at best, hateful remarks and spittle) the men in his battery did some training and planning in case the on-going civil disturbances of the day got any worse. He let the ambiguity of that statement sink in. He then gave us one of his rare grins that said "this is nothing" and we all felt a lot better. I agree with Richard. The 'lessons' of history have been co-opted by politicians, ad-men, and some of the folks responsible for network television programming. This country has been through intervals of worse turmoil. I would add that part of what is happening is that we as a nation are using an interpretive lens built on sound bites, unrealistic expectations, pipe dreams of easy a la carte fixes, the desire for single-shot silver bullet solutions, really crappy journalism, poorly written instant messages, inarticulate posts in the blogosphere, too much caffeine, and narcissistic rage. Last edited by Sigaba; 10-11-2008 at 20:35. Reason: Trying too hard to write like William F. Buckley, Jr.
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