In the 60's there were constant demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Today, it's rare to see this. Why

Question

Lot's of people are against the war today, but it' rare to see the demonstrations we saw in the 1960s.

Answer 1

In the 1960's there was still a free press. When thousands come out to a demonstration, the press barely reports it. I watched cameramen actually frame the shots so that the majority of the demonstrators were not in the shots.

Police are also cagier about demonstrations now, using many tricks to suppress demonstrations or force them to places where nobody sees them.

If the demonstrators break out of the rules that make them ineffective the police are a lot more violent than they were when they knew that the press would report their behavior. Though there were many outrages in the past, most were heavily reported and the police were criticized, today they are cheered by the GOP press if reported at all.

No tactic can be employed forever as the other side can always come up with a defense to negate it. When Television was new, and still free, the Goons did not imagine the National reaction to what they had been doing for many years but not shown on TV before. Now they are more sophisticated so new tactics need to be employed.

Before the only way to make a story national was to make it something the Press would report on. Now with the Internet any blogger can report what is happening and if it is important, the old MSM gatekeepers are no longer the last word.

Answer 2

There was a draft in the 1960s: a very real, direct, compelling reason for young people to oppose the war.

Also, demonstrations were more fashionable and popular 40 years ago than today. Back then, there was a saying: "Girls say yes to boys who say no." Now, news media regard protestors as some kind of wrongdoers, and at least one major news network (Fox) harasses people who speak out against the war -- they call it 'spotlighting.'

In addition, by the late 1960s, the Vietnam War had been going on for longer than the Iraq war has today, and it had killed and injured a lot more people on both sides.

Finally, I think that a lot of people today are simply resigned to the fact that this president will not pull troops out of Iraq no matter what the people think. Demonstrations are thus seen as unnecessary. Vote in 2008 instead!

Answer 3

I'm astounded at some of these answers. Because people realize Bush is right?!? I don't think so. Because people oppose Bush but not the war?!? Not from what I hear on the streets.

It is a different world today. In Vietnam we learned all we needed to know about how to stage a protest march from the blacks in this country. They showed us how to stage peaceful demonstrations and to make our voices heard. I don't think it's because kids are lazy, I think it's because they are so inundated with Fox News and Rush Limbaugh that they have learned that to disagree is to be labeled a terrorist sympathizer or unpatriotic and no one in this country wants to be labeled that.

Instead, people use the internet because it is faceless. You can say what you like and no one can burn a cross on your lawn or paint a swastika on your garage for daring to oppose the war, which is exactly what would happen if you dared to be vocal about it.

Has anyone here actually READ the Patriot Act in it's entirety? There's a scary document. There's a very good reason for not staging a public protest - I don't want to be put on a terrorist watch list or have an airline refuse to let me get on an airplane because I have "aided and abetted the enemy" with my un-American sentiment. It happens folks and if you don't believe me, change the channel off of Fox News for a week and start reading.

These kids are neither lazy nor stupid - demonstrations are a thing of the past unless and until the United States Constitution is reinstated in this country.

Answer 4

The police are too efficient and the politicians are too smart for street protests to be effective in the 21st Century. Because of TPM(time, place, and manner) restrictions on permitted demonstrations, a protest may be often relocated six or seven blocks away from their intended protest target. Unpermitted protests are equally ineffective since the police tactics of using rubber bullets, tazers, rubber netting, tear gas, divide and conquer, etc. tend to break up a protest fairly quickly. I've seen it happen many times.

What's the alternative? For the time being it seems to be blogging.

Check these sites out:

www.dailykos.com
www.talkingpointsmemo.com

Answer 5

Because there is no comparison between these wars, in Viet. we lost an average of 5000 American Soldiers a year over the 10 years we were engaged. So far in Iraq we have lost only 3700 soldiers in nearly 5 years. It's not a very hot war.

Also the Soldiers in Iraq volunteered to serve their country, in Vietnam we drafted people, that is why we should not re-institute the draft much as Liberals want to it's not the way to go.

In Iraq the Soldiers support President Bush and are proud to serve, in Vietnam it was hard to respect liberal democrats like Kennedy and Johnson with their cut and run policies, every time we took land we retreated and let the VC retake it, it was a ridiculous way to fight a war.

We can win if the Dem's would quit being so impatient.

Answer 6

Things change...There are plenty of dissenters who do not approve of this war and a lot of them are on the net. The polls say that over 70% of Americans are against the war. I think kids of the 60's were more politically aware than the high school kids of today. Actually, I don't know what teenagers think about. A recent question, in this forum, was asking if "bud", or Hawaiian gold, or marijuana is legal...so I guess that is a clue. The answers were not political, either...they were about getting high. Very sad!

Answer 7

If you are against the war,maybe you should go to a demonstration and see how many people are there,and be one more. There are plenty of demonstrations,they just haven't gotten violent yet.

Answer 8

the draft. back then, anyone who knew an 18 year old kid was affected by the war. Most people aren't effected by this war, so people are much more likely to just put it out of their heads.

Answer 9

I think it is because there wasn't a draft and nobody is being forced to join the military against their will. I also believe that most people probably see at least some justification in this war..albeit little.

Answer 10

1.Draft

2.There are/were massive protests over the last several years. MILLIONS around the planet and thousands marched on every major city. It was covered on NBC mainly. At one point there were over 300,000 in London alone protesting.

3.The people that send others off to war have their own massive media (FOX & Fat Limbaugh types)to spin away concerns and attack the average American who speaks out.

theres more.....