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VN Ain't to Blame
Ray B
Member Posts: 11,822
In some research that I am doing I've noticed a common thread: that being the decrease in respect for authority, societal values, and perceived obligation to one's "group"; combined with an increase in individual importance, personal liberties bordering on and including license to violate social mores and enumerated laws. Some have blamed this "breakdown" of society's fabric on "the war".
While the war, newscoverage of it, and demonstrated responses to it may have contributed to the changes, it is clear that such changes in society were well entrenched prior to the first booby trap exploding.
Change occurred when one person noticed that things weren't as he/she thought they should be and in talking about it learned that others were coming to the same conclusion.
In existence well prior to and long after "the war" was the civil rights movement (legislated in the CRA 1964 & others), legal action by such entities as the ACLU, and several organizations (including governmental agencies) whose specified reason for existence is to promote an individual or minority group's benefit at the expense of society.
So while it provided a catalyst for those being asked to do as their fathers had done and risking life and limb in support of their country; whether or not the war had come along, it is clear that the trend toward individualism and self before country would have continued, uninhibited by requests to the contrary by JFK (what you can do for your country) and others.
While the war, newscoverage of it, and demonstrated responses to it may have contributed to the changes, it is clear that such changes in society were well entrenched prior to the first booby trap exploding.
Change occurred when one person noticed that things weren't as he/she thought they should be and in talking about it learned that others were coming to the same conclusion.
In existence well prior to and long after "the war" was the civil rights movement (legislated in the CRA 1964 & others), legal action by such entities as the ACLU, and several organizations (including governmental agencies) whose specified reason for existence is to promote an individual or minority group's benefit at the expense of society.
So while it provided a catalyst for those being asked to do as their fathers had done and risking life and limb in support of their country; whether or not the war had come along, it is clear that the trend toward individualism and self before country would have continued, uninhibited by requests to the contrary by JFK (what you can do for your country) and others.
Comments
The United States has always been about rugged individualism and NEVER about subsuming the concerns of the individual for the "greater good" of society and the nation.
That it has gone horribly awry is a side effect not of the civil rights movement, but rather, the discovery that such movements, like any other endeavor, can be turned into big bucks.
If I were you, I'd blame the marketers, the lawyers, and the crooked politicians.