It’s Their Fault

A great post from from the Daily Kos:

Perhaps…what I find most infuriating about pieces that call out Millenials for their perceived inaction [is] that there is no corresponding chastisement of the Baby Boomers or the millions of other Americans who also have the ability to engage in “real world” activism.

The post goes on to explain how the 60’s activism tool kit is outdated and that Millenials are indeed changing the political landscape, albeit subtly.

2 Things I would add to this post and some random thoughts after the jump.

• The idea that the in-your-face activism of the 60’s was “successful” is a bit of a dangerous myth. In fact, the well-documented excesses of these campus protests led to a backlash that almost directly led to the election of Reagan, and arguably, the hateful politics of today. Sure, there was progress on social issues, but that arguably would have happened anyway. Student protesters hastened this change and abandoned a whole class of would-be Democrats to the emerging conservative coalition. They rebranded politics as a confrontational tit-for-tat based on social standing and vendettas as opposed to a shared American effort to create a worthwhile state - in other words, they created boomer politics. So yes: in-your-face activism works; but at what cost?
• Who knows what protests would do anymore, anyway? With the internet and cable television, it is more easy than ever to tune out unwanted news. It’s much harder to pay attention to student gatherings when there’s a million other things on your newsfeed - or when Fox refuses to cover it. It is individuals that matter now–they will largely inform themselves how they want to be informed. The only way to affect change is through slow growing, person-to-person grassroots efforts (which is how some argue that the civil rights movement actually succeeded anyway). With facebook, blogs, etc. - the Millennials do the one-person-at-a-time thing very well. Arguably, it’s a more authentic way to force political change than the “look at me” style grandstanding that Boomers so fondly remember.

…It all comes down to a basic lesson that the Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test taught so well: the 60’s taught us how to be cool, but not how to engage politically (a.k.a. i totally dig the hippies but lets be honest, they were assholes). We love crazy activists, but they were really thinking only about themselves. After all, being a badass is a full-time job. The attitude works for arts and music (which is why the 60’s artistic legacy is great), but not so much for political activism. The activists-asshole paradigm alienated and confused should-be Dems into becoming social issue-oriented conservatives and sent liberals on a difficult, decades-long hunt for a new identity - which the Millennials are giving admirable voice to now.

(The links above include some great books that fill in this argument…they are all highly recommended.)