Who, What, Where and When have been asked in regard to the ongoing Riots in England.
(Where you might ask is the Why .... I will come to that later).
Anyway, a local talk radio show has been dealing with the Riots in England over the course of the last few days. The host, begins his program by asking Why is this happening Now and throws the topic out to his telephone audience for reply.
The Responses, and there are many, deal with everything but the Why.
For example: They point out that it is most often the young entitled (read welfare) recipients or privileged youth out for a thrill (ie the Who);
- They also note it is occurring in our major Western Cities such as London, Paris and here in Canada in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver (i.e. the Where);
- And of course, in regard to the When - it is happening now - certainly now in London and here in Canada - at last year's G-20 and in Vancouver at this Spring's Stanley Cup Playoffs.
When they get to the issue of Why - surprisingly a large number of callers go back to the 60s "when the roots of today's problems began". Much like I have said in earlier Blogs, "it all began in the 60s".
Before I get into the specifics of their comments, let me recap why I see the 60s as a strategic to understanding today.
Baby Boomers like myself, started to become adults over the course of the 1960s. Since then, our numbers have dominated society and will continue to do so for the next several decades. It has been and will continue to be, all about us.
So my premise is that to understand today one must understand that decade especially with the dramatic changes that took place during those 10 significant years. As I mentioned, many of the comments from the callers dealt with this peculiarity.
Let's, in bullet form, review those comments:
- JFK was assassinated in Nov. 63 and with him ended the Age of Innocence; followed by the killings of M. L. King and Bobby Kennedy;
- Early in the 60s, Rock and Roll and the Waltz was replaced with the Twist, The Beetles and later in the decade, Hard Rock;
- Large numbers of Boomers - tuned out and turned on ...to drugs;
- The Vietnam War reached its peak and split America;
- Violence in the Streets - inner cities burned;
- Church Enrollment began its steady decline;
- Schools were less disciplinary;
- The Birth Control Pill was introduced to Society; girls were now able to be as reckless about sex as their male counterparts;
- Despite this, Abortion rates rose;
- Girls / Women were less likely to placed on a Pedestal;
- The trend in Women returning to the work place began in earnest (i.e. kids sent off to day care, fewer mothers home when children returned from school);
- Government Pensions and Health Care were introduced marking the beginning of the Age of Entitlement;
- Discipline in the Home declined as did parenting skills.
So this was put forward as to Why so many have gone off the rails - have opted out - lack a conscience or what have you.
And it is put forward as to Why but in reality it is as much about When things started to go south - ie the 60s.
In fact, many of the bulleted items above do not deal with the Why. That is to say, Why did many Boomers tune out and turn on? Why did Church Enrollment start its downward decline? Why did Parenting Skills decline?
To that Question, I Have No Idea.
The bottom line though remains - the 60s represent a watershed for modern society. Many good things resulted but I think on balance, there were more bad things and many of those negative influences prevail to this day.
We now have an Entitled Society, a significant minority of our Citizens lack a conscience and the rest of us are left trying to cope in the best way we can.
As to Why - who really knows.
As I see it...
'K.D. Galagher'
