We are living through interesting times right now ? aren't we ?

[UndertheOcean]

Did the sixties feel like that only bigger ?

That phrase might be a worn out cliche , but I don't know : it fits this time around.

And I have a small suspicion that we have not peaked yet.

end of musings.

[monmouth]

1. There was a sign at one of the OWS .."This is just the beginning." I

think you are right...

[OffWithTheirHeads]

2. As someone who was there I can tell you this is different than the 60's

This is bigger. The demographics are far more diverse but this is definatly a Woodstock moment in history.

[sam11111]

3. historians say 1930's were bigger but..so was the suffering. i too hope OWS grows big eno to change

things to match Sweden's Golden Age.. Not just our G. A. ...(1945 - 1964 )..Some date the end at Nixon or at 1972. Oddly few here know the term Golden Age is used by most economists...not just me.

See a big idea fm a LW think tank

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010041625/13-ways-90-percent-top-tax-rate-fixes-economy

[Poll_Blind]

6. Thank you for that observation. I was too young to have experienced the 60's but...

...I have been thinking about this and come to the same conclusion you have. Without having been there and lived through it, though, I really didn't have a genuine frame of reference.

PB

[Raksha]

11. I was there too, and I agree with you. This is MUCH bigger than the 60s.

I never thought it would happen, but I'm starting to think of the 60s as a dress rehearsal for what's happening right now. "A Woodstock moment in history" is a good way of putting it. My daughter who is a committed activist calls it the Great Turning.

[Downwinder]

13. Much bigger and wider, too.

Spanning more age groups. More simultaneous events. More issues.

The '60s left too much unfinished.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. I was in my diapers

But as a historian this is somewhere between 1848 big to...specifically the us... 1930s and New Deal big.

Much bigger, as you saId, than the 1960s.

[starroute]

14. The 60's were slower getting going and more fragmented

The key trends of the 60's began in 1964 but were slow to accumulate momentum. It wasn't until 1967 that both the hippies and the anti-war movement became major forces and gained widespread notice. Even then, they were limited to a relatively small minority -- with a somewhat larger minority participating in the occasional demonstration or putting on love beads and a dashiki for the weekend.

The real peak of the 60's lasted roughly from the flower power spring of 1967 to Woodstock in August 1969. And then it all fell apart into violence and factionalism.

So what we're seeing now is extraordinary. It's gone from zero to sixty in no time at all. It has the sympathy of a much larger chunk of the population. It's pulling together all the scattered dissident subcultures -- hackers, Makers, DIYers, environmentalists, guerrilla gardeners, radical farmers, even the neo-hobo travelers. And it's working on forging alliances with the hardhats -- who in the 60's were bitterly anti-hippie and pro-war -- and with ethnic minority and anti-poverty groups.

Quite frankly, it seems more like a religious revival than like a mere political movement -- both in its intensely moral character and in its ability to sweep people up and offer them a glimpse of something better. It's certainly like nothing I know of in my lifetime, or even in recent history.

[applegrove]

4. I sense that Americans are looking for answers and are curious about real information again.

That bodes well for the democrats. The only real weapon the GOP have has been the incuriousness of some parts of the USA.

[roguevalley]

5. Agreed, undertheocean. it feels the same, like the entire world

has opened their eyes after a long sleep and a great deal of agreement was reached while sleeping. :-D

[Fire Walk With Me]

7. This is the beginning of immense possibilities. The rules have changed, can you feel it?

:)

[Dover]

8. These times feel much more sober, pragmatic and informed than

the 60's. The U.S. is shedding some of its self-centered isolationist mindset and is beginning to understand and participate in relationship with its global family.
I hope we recognize that we still are, for many people around the world, the standard bearers for freedom of expression in the world. We may, at last, be ready to step up to this responsibility not with our egos but with compassion that comes from embracing our collective humanity.
We are also more aware of the negative effects and impressions we have had in the eyes of our extended global family. This is valuable, especially since the media
has made such an effort to insulate us from any realistic self-awareness of how we are experienced by our neighbors. I am very moved by this evolving sense of global connection and cooperation, despite what our governments are up to. The people are not buying into those influences that wish to separate and divide. This is new.
So what many in the 60's longed for and elevated as an ideal we now seem to have begun to ground in the immediacy of real experience. That's very exciting.
And I think many have a sense that this is a major turning point for our planet and humanity that requires us to be present as never before in our lifetimes and to choose....

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. The Chinese curse

And it's global

[LadyHawkAZ]

10. Please remember that the "interesting times" thing...

is a curse.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

15. When the people rise up against the establishment it usually does get interesting.

[Karenina]

16. and violent. n/t

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

18. The violence of the '60s was usually perpetrated by the defenders of the establishment.

[Karenina]

20. Indeed! I was on the street then and saw it firsthand.

I also witnessed the CIA recruitment of journalism students.

[NNN0LHI]

17. In 1968 civil unrest affected 110 U.S. cities including Washington, Chicago and Baltimore

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968_Washington,_D.C._riots

1968 Washington, D.C. riots

Five days of race riots erupted in Washington, D.C. following the April 4, 1968 assassination of Civil Rights Movement-leader Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil unrest affected at least 110 U.S. cities; Washington, along with Chicago and Baltimore, were among the most affected. snip

Crowds of as many as 20,000 overwhelmed the District's 3,100-member police force, and Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey dispatched some 13,600 federal troops, including 1,750 federalized D.C. National Guard troops to assist them. Marines mounted machine guns on the steps of the Capitol and Army troops from the 3rd Infantry guarded the White House. At one point, on April 5, rioting reached within two blocks of the White House before rioters retreated. The occupation of Washington was the largest of any American city since the Civil War. By the time the city was considered pacified on Sunday, April 8, twelve had been killed (mostly in burning homes), 1,097 injured, and over 6,100 arrested. Additionally, some 1,200 buildings had been burned, including over 900 stores. Damages reached $27 million. This can be estimated to be equivalent to over $156 million today.

[Marrah_G]

19. Scary more then interesting

for those of us near the bottom already it is downright terrifying times. And I agree.... shit has not hit the fan yet.