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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>My finger was pointed first of all at myself, though I'll suppose that wasn't obvious.<br><br>I found Professor Boyle's view provocative because I had arrived at that perception myself just a few days earlier in a discussion of militarism wherein one party started bragging about what a war hero his dad had been in WWII and for the first time in all these decades it occurred to me to ask "Well, didn't your war hero dad ever tell you that war is hell? And why not?"<br><br>Why were the war heroes silent in the Vietnam controversy? Why was there no Smedley Butler of the 1960s to take General Eisenhower's warnings about the Military Industrial Complex and run with them, and stand with Martin Luther King when he denounced Imperialism in his Riverside speech in 1967? Of course we had the Winter Soldier hearings and the VVAW, but why did the Greatest Generation snub them?<br>As don't recall any effort to convince us that the war was right, but only the bald assertion that a communist Vietnam would be bad for America, and a lot of platitudes about duty and sacrifice and the price of freedom with no attempt at all to make a logical case for the war.<br><br>My rant about my deGeneration was born of my frustration at having accomplished nothing in almost ten years of full-time activism, which I attribute to a prevailing attitude of selfish, smug, and highly self-serving cynicism and apathy among those who have the skills and the resources to make a difference if they wanted to. They anger me because for twenty years I was one of them. I didn't even bother to vote most of the time, didn't even know Nader was running in 2000, didn't know about the mass mobe against the Iraq war until after it was over. It was because of my selfish apathy during those years, and the selfish apathy of a hundred million like me, that this country got so deep in Doo Doo Creek that we're starting to feel at home in it. So I come to my activism work out of obligation to take responsibility for the mess that I created.<br><br>Where did those 100,000 people go who demonstrated in San Francisco against the Iraq war? How come we could never get more than 1200 to lie down on the beach on a beautiful summer Sunday to demonstrate for impeachment? There was a time when I idealized Carol Brouillet as something like the Lone Cypress, standing in the gale with the waves crashing around, and I believed that by standing as an inspiration to resistance she could make a distance. I'm starting to feel that I've been swimming against the current in Doo Doo Creek for so long that I no longer even care that I'm getting nowhere.<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><div><hr id="stopSpelling">Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 11:26:26 -0800<br>From: eric@philosopherswheel.com<br>To: sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org<br>Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] The Greatest Generation?<br><br>
<div class="ecxmoz-cite-prefix">Good comments Sandy. I agree
generations blaming ewach other is useless. I do point the finger
at the people though; it is up to them not to be misled, and it
shouldn't be that difficult. McCarthyism could be cited correctly
for blame on the war policies, although it was also because the
military industrial complex responded habitually to communist
threats (Truman and Johnson were not followers of McCarthy, but
they did follow the complex's interests). Communism had some good
points about controlling runaway capitalist greed, but its
totalitarian methods and materialist values don't make it a viable
method at all. But a better balance between socialism and
capitalism that creates real rather than phony "freedom" and
unequal prosperity, is being proposed now, and in the next
decade-plus it will be put forward by Greens and others. <br>
<br>
The Green values and platforms are an excellent roadmap of where
we need to go. Green represents an advance on both democratic
capitalism and socialism, taking the best of both and creating a
new synthesis beyond the Marxist one. It respects the spiritual
and inherent values of life, and brings individual freedom and
collective responsibility into an ecology-like interaction and
inter-dependence, like the person and the environment nourishing
each other.<br>
<br>
Eric the Green<br>
<br>
On 11/11/2013 5:44 PM, <a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:perrysandy@aol.com">perrysandy@aol.com</a> wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote cite="mid:8D0AD5FDD1E39F6-EC0-3FCDE@webmail-m278.sysops.aol.com"><font color="black" face="arial" size="2">
<div><font style="background-color:transparent;" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think it is wrong and actually
divisive for generations to point the finger at each other
and cast blame. The blame lies with the corporate capitalist
system, not with the American people who have been misled by
politicians, the corporate media, and our
corporate-controlled education system. The "greatest
generation" WAS great - how many of us would leave our
families and communities for four or five years and risk our
lives to defend what they understood was democracy and
freedom?</font></div>
<div> </div>
<div>The greatest generation was ruined by McCarthyism pure and
simple. Political debate in America, which thrived from the
late 19th century (and earlier) up through the early 1940s,
was effectively ended. Communists, socialists, and their
"fellow-travelers" were hounded out of Hollywood, the print
media, radio, and every available means of communication, not
to mention unions, community organizations, cultural groups,
and even social clubs. When the left was shut out of the
debate - as surely as Jill Stein and Cheri Honkala were shut
out of the presidential debates - no wonder the result was war
and "mindless patriotism".</div>
<div> </div>
<div>We still suffer from McCarthyism today, where millions of
people continue to believe communism is a "criminal
conspiracy" as Nixon called it, rather than a viable and
idealistic alternative to our broken economy. It is up to us
to not be afraid to put forward radical solutions to society's
problems. I joined the Greens because they are not afraid to
be different - as they say, the color of courage is green. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>I think conditions today are actually more favorable than
ever for proposing a new economic paradigm. For most people in
the greatest generation, capitalism actually worked (see
"Capitalism - A Love Story"). Now it is broken, failing to
provide a living for millions and failing to protect the
environment. It is time for people like us to step forward and
change the world!</div>
<div> </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Sandy</div>
<div style="color:black;font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Brian <a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:snug.bug@hotmail.com"><snug.bug@hotmail.com></a><br>
To: sosfbay-discuss <a class="ecxmoz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org"><sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org></a><br>
Sent: Mon, Nov 11, 2013 10:05 am<br>
Subject: [GPSCC-chat] The Greatest Generation?<br>
<br>
<div id="ecxAOLMsgPart_2_24082a2d-1782-4bc5-81f0-ba46fa896e7f">
<div class="ecxhmmessage ecxaolReplacedBody">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">I was inclined to think so until
I recognized that they were not even <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">smart enough to put wheels and a
collapsible handle on their luggage</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">--why should they be when Red
Caps did all that for them? Of course <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">my disillusionment with the
Greatest doesn't change my evaluation of <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">the Shittiest, my deGeneration,
the one that climbed </span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">with
Martin <br>
</span></b></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">Luther King</span></b> out
of the abyss to peer from the ridgetop, and then
stepped</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">back from the brink of the
Promised Land to settle for cocaine and <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">luxury SUVs and McMansions
instead of making the dream true.</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br>
<b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">We did succeed in preventing the
war against Nicaragua, and probably <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">we aided the liberation of South
America such that US-backed torturers <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">can now be prosecuted in Chile
and Argentina, and victims of US -backed <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">torturers could become
presidents in Chile (Bachelet), Uruguay (Mujica) <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">and Brazil (da Silva and
Rouseff). But Hollywood wars in Grenada and <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">Panama and Kuwait enable the
propagandists to claim we accomplished <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">nothing, and that claim enabled
the current crop of corrupt wars that <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">continue today in Bush's fourth
term.</span></b></div>
<br>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br>
<b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;">Here's Professor Francis Boyle's
poetic rant:</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><br>
<b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"><br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">The Greatest Generation?</span></u></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Oh really?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">If they were so great</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Then why did they send</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Their Sons so willingly</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Off to die
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">In Vietnam</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">A war they started</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">While we suffered from</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">58,000 young men</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Of my generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Were murdered
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">By The Greatest Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Hundreds of Thousands</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Of our Lives were destroyed</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Plus</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">
</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> 3 million genocided Vietnamese</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Not that “gooks” mattered to The
Greatest Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Then neither did we their Sons
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Why didn’t The Greatest
Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Rise up as One</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">And tell the American Empire</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">That you will not have our Sons</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(31, 73, 125);font-size:12pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Over our dead bodies!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Hell no!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">They will not go!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Why did The Greatest Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Not fight for US their Sons
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Against the American Empire</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">As they did against the German</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">
</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> and Japanese Empires</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">We the Sons of the Greatest
Generation were not worth it</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">They said they were liberating
Peoples in Foreign Lands</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Then why did The Greatest
Generation send their Sons</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">To fight and die</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">In that God-forsaken Land?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:18pt;">And to murder millions living in
their own
</span></b><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">Land?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Was this some blood-sport</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">we had to play</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">With them as pony riders</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">and US as buzkashi goat
carcasses</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Was it reverse Freudian Oedipal
Complex</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Them killing us off</span></b><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"></span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">before we got to them</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">And took their place</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Were we blood-sacrifice to
Moloch</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">With them as Priests</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">And we as sacrificial lambs</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:12pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">Were they our Abrahams</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">Actually murdering US their
Isaacs</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">In a Holocaust</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">To their Genocidal Yahweh</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:20pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Hard to say</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">What was going on</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">In the Minds of The Greatest
Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:18pt;">If anything at all</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:18pt;">Mindless Patriotism
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:18pt;">The last refuge of them
Scoundrels!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">They knew all about War</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">then sent their Sons marching
off</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> Into the Valley of Death</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Charge of the Light Brigade</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(31, 73, 125);font-size:12pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">The result was predictable
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">A Decimated Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">A Shattered Generation</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">MY GENERATION!</span></u></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><u><span style="color:red;font-size:16pt;">BUT WE ENDED THEIR DAMN WAR!</span></u></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">The Greatest Generation?</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Hell no!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">A Pathetic Generation!</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:rgb(31, 73, 125);font-size:12pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">May they ever be tormented</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">By Their Own Son’s Souls</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:20pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="color:red;font-size:20pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:24pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-family:;font-size:16pt;">Professor Francis A. Boyle</span></u><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"> <br>
</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:;font-size:14pt;"> </span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;">Francis
A. Boyle</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;">Law
Building</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;">504
E. Pennsylvania Ave.</span></b></div>
<div class="ecxMsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12pt;">Champaign,
IL 61820 USA</span></b></div>
<b><span style="font-size:12pt;"></span></b> </div>
</div>
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