Baby Boomers - Anti-War Protesters and Soldiers

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   Billie Kelpinposted 8 years ago

   November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and I'm trying to finish up a novel I'm writing about the moral decision making that went on for most Baby Boomers in the 60s.  I need to know what you were thinking and feeling about going to the war or protesting the war.  What were the discussions with your friends?  For me, I ended up at parties with a group of Catholic seminarians and we discussed Aristotle and other philosophers views of a just war, etc.  We sang anti-war songs, but were faced, when the time came, to making the decision of enlisting or not, being involved with someone who enlisted or not.  What were the moral decisions you thought of at the time?  How in depth did you think about war and its meaning?  Did your parents' views of serving in World War II affect you?  Were you a conscientious objector or did you choose another route?  Any information will help shape my characters' decision making in this novel. Any conversations that you can remember that impacted you at the time will help. THANK YOU!!!

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      Credence2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      I was a kid during the late 1960s. I was in JROTC and in preparation to attend the Air Force Academy during the early 1970's. I had few if any established political beliefs as I was just coming of age by the time the Vietnam draft ended. Pop served in Korea, and never had much of an opinion either way. I got political during Wounded Knee and Watergate.
      
      Sounds like an interesting bit of research in any case.

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         gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         As a young teen in the very late 1960s, I was totally oblivious to the Vietnam war & the anti-war protesters.  I even was oblivious to the feminist movement but ALL THAT changed when I was 16.  I started to think independently & my views changed from oblivion/blind acceptance to a more liberal viewpoint regarding the Vietnam war, sexual liberation, & the feminist movement.   I also started to become increasingly anti-religion.

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            Billie Kelpinposted 8 years agoin reply to this

            gmwilliams, that was my journey too - only it took me until I was about 22 in '67

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            Credence2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            I had no idea that you were such a 'troublemaker'.

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               gmwilliamsposted 8 years agoin reply to this

               Well, I am very headstrong.  My late father called it stubbornness.  He told me once I believed in something, THAT'S IT.    I was never one to follow the crowd.  I did things MY WAY.  My late mother told me that it was either my way or no way!   I am very self-contained.  I also refuse to be defined by categorizations.   Although I am a Liberal in the traditional sense, I believe in socioeconomic independence i.e. people ought to do for selves & not be dependent upon others & the government.   That is why I am very discontent w/Obama's sociopolitical policies.   To me, Liberalism as defined today is veering to the left.

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                  Credence2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

                  sense, I believe in socioeconomic independence i.e. people ought to do for selves & not be dependent upon others & the government.   That is why I am very discontent w/Obama's sociopolitical policies
                  
                  I don't disagree with that concept, the issue is to what extend does society get involved promoting that rather than discussing the ideal without practical ways to get there. People are more likely to be able to be independent when there is equality of opportunity, eliminating as much disparity in this area as possible recognizing that it is impossible to remove completely. We have to remove more impediments from those who want to succeed, free or very inexpensive availability of education is part of that. After that, those that contine to be lazy and unproductive can be discarded.
                  
                  I don't see this society functioning indefinitely under circumstances of ever greater differences in wealth and opportunity among varied segments of the population.
                  
                  I don't consider that socialist, but in fact, a lifeline to save capitalism and the relatively cohesive society that we have experienced from disruption

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         Billie Kelpinposted 8 years agoin reply to this

         Credence2 Ah, you missed it, you young kid   We read that book, "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," for our book club, I think in '74.  That would be a great hub considering today's protest re: the Missouri River.  I forgot what state.  But it's very timely - a comparison of the two maybe ?

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            Credence2posted 8 years agoin reply to this

            You're the lucky one, having your heart and mind occupied during one the greatest and. most contentious decades ever. You were alive and participatory in all the major events. What did you think of San Francisco, the summer of love? I asked my dad if I could go to the Woodstock concert in 1969, he told me in reply, 'Woodstick'?   I suppose that it was not a yes....
            
            This Wounded Knee standoff thing was in South Dakota, near Rapid City. I was told by Pop when I wanted to bus to the area from CSU in Northern COLORADO, why I was school and told that this was not my affair. But, I was hung up on the film 'Billy Jack' released 1 to 2 years before. So, it's not that I didn't try. I was busy being 'good', I promised Mom that I would stay away from that "LDS", while a freshman. The times, they are a changing, differing approaches and styles of protest over almost 45 years, amazing.

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