“[*Chapter 13 text begins:*] With these factors in mind, what have we experienced in the last two decades, as the Sixties Generation finally got its turn at the wheel?”
“We saw the beginnings of cultural enlightening & progress during Clinton’s term in the Nineties. In retrospect it was a colorful time; it was an enthusiastic time.”
“In comparison to today, [the Nineties] could even be considered peaceful. It was certainly naïve & childlike in many ways, as evidenced by the sitcoms, as, for example, *Seinfeld*.”
“The Nineties were bookmarked between the economic wreckage left by World War II Gen members, Reagan & G. H. W. Bush, & their voodoo economics throwing money at the rich leading to a huge recession…”
“…[their voodoo economics throwing money at the rich leading to a huge recession] & a financial scandal—the S & L Scandal—that involved, for that time, an extraordinary price tag for the country.”
“The other end was the assignment by the Supreme Court of the 2000 presidential election to George W. Bush over Al Gore—a battle of a Sixties Generation member against a WWII Generation paid-for concoction, the W.”
“In between those two markers a war was waged, a culture war, whose battles—economics, abortion, sexuality, cultural expression, war/peace, child abuse, spouse abuse;”
“& whose personalities—Clinton, Gingrich, Lewinsky, OJ Simpson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Brown, Ross Perot—were detailed & rehashed endlessly via the daily news mills.”
“At the end, the installment of the W represented a resurgence, in typical Culture War style, of the dominance of WWII-type oppression & manipulation of the masses.”
“It was the King propped up mechanically, robot-like carrying out the dictums of those who once lived but were no more. It was an abomination of the natural order.”
“Like the endings of horror flicks, which leave always a hint or part of the monster living on somehow, thus setting up a possible sequel, the WWII Gen left behind part of itself…
“…[the WWII Generation left behind part of itself] in the form of the Eighties Generation clones & the 50s Generation. & these folks aren’t going away any time soon! They are here in Trump & his MAGAts; they are here in Republicans;”
“they are here in the Tea Party; they are here in the wealthy Right; they are here in the ownership & guiding principles of the mainstream media, now become principal propagandists of the American patriarchy—the “filthy rich”.”
“Additionally, the Wisconsin-style anti-cutback, pro-union uprisings & the worldwide Occupy phenomenon brought the lingering issues into the open in a style not much different from the rebellious Sixties.”
“This set up a 4-year struggle in America, as Trump went about dismantling the democratic norms of our society & the simple rules of fairness in his subjugation to the will of Russia’s Putin.”
“[Trump] went so far as to steal nuclear codes & documents, & lists of our spies working in other countries, which for all we know,went into foreign hands, in exchange for some kind of financial or other benefit.
“…[For acts that in the past] have gotten him executed—treason, the stealing & selling of nuclear codes & documents, the stealing & selling of lists of US intelligence operatives to our enemies—Donald Trump,..”
“…[For acts that in the past would have gotten execution—treason, stealing/selling nuclear codes & docs, stealing/selling lists of our spies to our enemies—Trump,] with the assistance of a truly “Deep State,” continues to walk free.”
“Yet this incidence of a former president getting away with the highest crimes imaginable—one that could lead to worldwide nuclear destruction & [has led] to the murder of American spies—"
“—[Trump getting away w treason] has me clear-eyed at how pervasive is the control of the system...how ludicrous is the notion we are a nation of laws, not “men”...how silly is the statement that in the U.S. no one is above the law.”
“Though *Deep State* is a term used by Righties & directed at the normal institutions of our government—in the typical style of MAGAts calling out that others are doing what indeed they are doing—”
“—we see without question how some kind of *establishment* or *Deep State*, with a conservative-reactionary agenda benefiting the super-rich, is in place.”
“I prefer we use the term “vast right-wing conspiracy”—a term made famous by Hillary Clinton in the 90s—for it accurately indicates the perpetrators & methods of our continuing 21st Century unease.”
“In the second & third decades of the Twenty-First Century, it is the same old Culture War/Class War begun in the 60s, brought to furious & fiery life.”
“However much we cannot know the future, & despite the seeds of WWII Generation values left incubating in the minds of 80s & 50s Generation members & emerging under red MAGA & tea-bag hats,..”
“In the same way, we might hope that as our society turns more & more away from war-making, selfishness, race- & sexism, ecological destruction, misogyny—& all the other WWII Generation evils left behind—”
“[we might hope that as our society turns more & more away from war-making, selfishness, race- & sexism, ecological destruction, misogyny]—it will resist that much more strongly their reinstatement by reactionary forces.”
“We can hope that as we move more & more toward economic prosperity, peacekeeping, loving our children & having honest relationships, & the reclaiming of our natural environment & ecological balance, there will be fewer & fewer…”
“…[We can hope that as we move toward prosperity, peace, love & honest relationships, & ecological balance, there will be fewer & fewer] who will wish to turn back the times to the unreal black-and-white world of the “Blue Meanies.”“
“Earlier we observed it in the strong support for Bill Clinton even during the assassination attempts on his character throughout his terms. I might mention again that…”
“…though the media lambasted Clinton endlessly over a mere sexual act—note the difference between the two parties’ crimes, Republican treason on a massive scale versus a Democratic blowjob—still Clinton maintained his popularity.”
“In fact, polls at the time showed [Bill Clinton] increasing his job approval rating during the time of the impeachment & that 2/3rds of the population did not want him impeached.”
“It was clear that the entire brouhaha [about Bill Clinton] was another example of the Republican “Deep State”...“establishment”...“vast right-wing conspiracy”...punishing its liberal opponents for political reasons,..”
“…[the vast Republican right-wing conspiracy punishing its liberal opponents for political reasons,] thereby strengthening their hegemony over all major societal institutions. Yet, again, doing it against the will of the people.”
“We witnessed such progressive fervor in the phenomenal outpouring of support for Bernie Sanders in both 2016 & 2020. Indeed, polls at the time, in 2016, had Sanders winning in a hypothetical matchup with Trump.”
“We have witnessed “blue waves” in both the 2018 midterms & the 2020 presidential election. Which 2020 election, incidentally, saw the most votes ever for a Democratic candidate, Joe Biden.”
“The results of the referendum on abortion rights, which was won handily—by a whopping twenty percentage points—in red state Kansas by pro-choice forces, comes to mind.”
“We can conclude that the majority of Americans want to go forward into a better future, not regress into a sugar-coated version of a dismal 1950s past.”
“The approval ratings of these 60s-side-of-the-Culture-War Presidents—Bill Clinton, Barrack Obama, & Joe Biden—certainly is not composed only of Baby-Boomers.
“60s Gen values are infectious bc they offer so much hope.”
“African-Americans of all ages supported Clinton overwhelmingly; of course they support Obama; & we have witnessed that Black political power is what got Biden the nomination & sealed his win over Trump in 2020.”
“We witness Blacks continuing to flex their muscles in a phenomenal surge of African-American candidates in 2022 for the highest positions in Congress & government in general.”
“We can certainly deduce that African Americans & people of color in general would not wish a return to the black-and-white world that included discrimination & violence against them.”
“We can expect [women’s] opposition to the Supreme Court decision allowing the banning of abortion—the overturning of Roe V. Wade in July 2022—to continue undiminished.”
“Especially so, since the media will continue to report on abominations involving pregnant women being forced to carry to term babies resulting from rape & incest;”
“[the media will continue to report on abominations] involving murder charges being brought against abortion seekers, even if they do it in a state where it is legal;”
“[the media will continue to report on abominations] involving vigilantes being handsomely rewarded for turning in the names of women who have received abortions, who are then prosecuted as murderers;”
“& [the media will continue to report on abominations] involving medical complications & possibly the death of women who are denied medical care for nonviable pregnancies, which are then forced to continue.”
“Finally, the young will always be idealistic if they are shown any ideals, which is what we can expect the 60s Gen to be doing for them, as Boomers continue taking thr seats in Wise Elders section of the parliament of sociocultural creation.”
“We have seen examples of this change all around us. In fact the current frenzied attack from the Right—beginning with the Tea Party rebellion & continuing in the MAGAt support for treasonous Trump—
“[the current frenzied attack from the Right]—can be seen as a desperate last-ditch battle in a war they will, depending on the results of the 2022 midterms this year, likely & inevitably lose. That is the good news.”
“*How bad the aftermath, the devastation left behind*
"The bad news is that, similar to the way the GOP cleaned out the Treasury & left huge deficits & several wars on the desk of the incoming Democratic administration in 2009..”
“…thus hobbling [the Obama Administration] before it began, we have no idea how great will be the destruction left behind from these Culture-War waging, albeit waning, authoritarians in the current context.”
“With gains by the Filthy Rich in stealing from all classes of society below them in their last dying clingings of a dying old guard, a king who simply won’t die, the abominably wealthy are heavy with gold.”
“[the Filthy Rich] received trillion-dollar bailouts & subsidies under George W. Bush; under Barrack Obama, despite his opposition; & massively through the criminal largess of Donald Trump.”
“…& with the technology & science available now multiplying further their abilities, their capacity to control the minds of much of the population is magnified beyond anything previously & beyond anyone’s abilities to calculate or foresee.”
“…[we might witness a strange aberration—a “zombie apocalypse”] created of the thinking of a time long gone comprised of sick ghostly fantasies of a black-and-white golden age that never was. Such things have happened before;”
“cultures have indeed stagnated for hundreds & even thousands of years. The Middle Ages is one such example of stagnation beneath an oppressive deathly authority that would never renew, which lasted for hundreds of years.”
“Still, despite the scientific & technological monkey wrenches that might permanently upset a natural order of progression, it is more likely things will work out as they have most of the time than that we will see an aberrant development.”
“There is, after all, at least as much technology & science catalyzing progressive change as that being wielded by the Controllers to mesmerize & better control us.”
“The evidence for a natural development is there for all with eyes to see. With so much change needed, it is easy to forget how much has changed for the positive since the 60s.”
“What might be helpful, though, is to note some other analogies from the movie *Pleasantville* which can provide insight as to what may be on the horizon or at least be considered food for speculation:”
“Thus, with color and, by inference, imagination & thinking for oneself, Pleasantville has become part of a larger world, one in which Pleasantville citizens can participate & in which they can travel & take up residence.”
“This represents the global village, the coming together of the interests of all nations in a multicultural world, & the connection of all minds & hearts by means of the Internet & intercultural travel & tourism.”
“The global economy will play a positive role, too. Though on its downside, such international trade contributes to the exploitation of resource-providing nations & the decimation of the environment,..”
“…we see, as for example in the worldwide economic sanctions against Russia after its invasion of the Ukraine in 2022, that the global economy can also be used as a lever for good, for peace, & as a guard rail for wayward nations.”
“Perhaps most of all, this connection to a larger world represents those factors of modern telecommunications & travel that have made the world open to the eyes of all, which is the real reason the Iron Curtain fell,..”
“…the real reason apartheid was overthrown, the real reason democratic revolution arose to the Middle East & may yet be causative in bringing democracy to places like China & Iran.”
“And the most potent analogy of all: the World Wide Web, bringing together all peoples of the world into a collective consciousness sharing ideas & together shaping a world, not just a neighborhood, with true democratization of information.”
“While there are attempts by the wealthy—Elon Musk’s current bid to take over Twitter, for example—to control even the information flow on the internet, it is largely uncontrollable by any wealthy elite of any country or any generation.”
“Although it is a complete unknown what happens if Musk’s plan to allow paid trolls undeterredly to overwhelm the Internet with misinformation & conspiracy theories.”
“With the wealth on their side pushing such a flood of dark & hateful “journalism,” it is debatable what happens to the truth under those conditions. I confess this is one corner of it all into which I am completely unable to see.”
“Finally, the image at the end of *Pleasantville* is the most apt for what we might next expect: The only thing we know for sure is that what is coming will be different from anything we have known.
“We delve more deeply into the Class War that has been behind the Culture War as laid out in Parts 1, 2, & 3. We see the 50-year invisible “family” revealed—the “community” that surrounded all Americans & affected every aspect of their lives..”
[*Quotes/highlights:*] “…what happened to our country? We were supposed to be a country that valued human life, for example, but is now valuing contract law over that.” []
“The paramount theme in *Pleasantville*—which is that thinking for oneself & following one’s own unique path & being open to the change that comes with that brings “color,” truth,& aliveness to one’s life—is truly a 60s Generation idea.”
“Again, it is not that it has never been thought before. All great ideas have been thought before, but that does not mean they have been implemented on a sociocultural, macrocosmic level.”
[*Quotes/highlights:*] “You don’t know what I’m getting at. Yet this is the indicator of the gradual change in our country that would be missed by those younger than myself.” []
“It begins in then-current time against a backdrop of the usual violence, chaos, & turbulence that we are conditioned by the media to believe characterized the Nineties in America.”