Quote:
Originally Posted by Choro&Swing
I’m a baby boomer who still questions everything. I still wear jeans. I still believe in personal freedom and the so-called sexual revolution. (Which failed, alas.) I still remember my relief when Roe v. Wade was decided. I longed to go to Woodstock, but I was only fifteen and 1500 miles away.
But I cut off my long hair when I was 19 and got a sensible haircut that looked good on me, and I’ve kept it that way ever since. I got rid of the tie-died shirts I used to make and bought Oxford cloth buttondowns and even a suit I wore on dates. When I looked carefully at what the radicals and revolutionaries of my time were saying, I repudiated them. I questioned them and then I realized they were wrong and shunned them. I stopped calling police officers pigs. Wanting a clear head, I said no to smoking things. I studied science and medicine and learned to tell the difference between sound research and junk science. I studied mind control and propaganda and how the media work so I wouldn’t get fooled by those who want to fool me in order to have power over me. I learned how legislators work and why I need to not trust them at face value, while recognizing that they have been elected by us. I learned to recognize conspiracy theories as almost certainly false. I learned to avoid quack medicine while allowing certain alternatives. I learned that vaccinations are important and that they work. I learned a lot more about history and the Constitution than I knew in my more radical youth. I studied philosophy. I learned what the Founders meant by freedom of speech and its limits. Thus, when people claimed that their constitutional freedoms meant they didn’t have to follow a rule and wear a mask for their own good and the good of others, I realized that wasn’t a sound position. I realized that freedom of speech should not mean the freedom to spout lies and hatred in order to harm others.
In short, I’ve kept aspects of my early ideas and idealism that I got from others but gained in wisdom and insight. I grew up. I matured. I cringe when I think of some of the wild-eyed things I believed at 16. I like to think there are millions who would agree with me.
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I agree that keeping aspects of earlier ideas & idealism yet gaining wisdom & insight is a sign of maturing. I also agree that people still have freedom of speech, just not so much on social media. We all seem to be our own TV/Social Media Network and we all have our favorite news shows, don’t we? If commenting on Facebook or Twitter or any number of community social media sites becomes downright nasty/abusive /hateful then the person should be censored from further comments on that thread. Many FB sites have administrators who manage the sites to prevent literal free-for-alls online. People react without thinking many times & it can really get ugly. Hard to get people to control that when its the norm to post online.
My thoughts when I was 18 were mostly peaceful, hoping for love & family, and trying to figure out what to do for a job career, and learning what growing older was going to be like, all the while seeking answers from my parents & grandparents.
Oh yeah, I didn’t get to Woodstock either-it was only 4 hours away, but I was a week away from turning 16, and my dad was a New York State Trooper and he said to me “ there’s no food or water there, the Thruway is closed and you’re not going...period.” ☮️