Reverse Angle

Most histories of the 1960's, whether intentionally or not, end up glorifying the decade that saw a generation create new social norms and conventions as it rejected those of their parents. A local college professor in Santa Maria is taking a different look at the decade. His reasoning was recounted the other day in the Lompoc Record.

Allan Hancock Professor Klaus Fischer wrote this analysis, he says, because "The idea behind the book is to let a different voice talk about the 60's because nearly everything we have heard about this period--the cultural wars, for example--are from voices of the 60's generation." The Professor observed the decade first hand as a recent immigrant.

Fischer's take on the effects of this decade is quite different than many: Many writers/authors who have tried to capture the history of the 1960s glorified what happened, according to Fischer. Though there were positiveelementss, there were more destructive ones that made this decade the most divisive decade since the Civil War....

Having said that, his analysis is not at all very positive. He credits the current cultural struggles to the unraveling that began in the 1960's: In his book, Fischer explains that part of the reason for the cultural wars that are now raging is due to the fact that young baby boomers were split-minded about their ideals. They ushered in some very divisive movements that unhinged traditional American beliefs.

Later he makes clear what he foresees in the future: I have a sense, unfortunately, that the cultural spine has been broken, and not just in America but in the western world as a whole. We are going through steep cultural decline.

...

"Unfortunately, we are on an irreversible cycle of cultural decline," he said, referring to the future of American society. "We remain divided in our thinking and we are continuing to slide down the slope of an older culture, now almost unrecognizable as a result of the social chaos of the 1960s."

Though not long on cheer, I did note that the discussion did keep a--albeit limited--sense of humor on the subject. Read Fischer's opinion about the baby boomers responsible for the turning-upside-down of American society:

"Here I saw college-aged students rejecting the values of their own cultural past, talking about how they felt oppressed in America. That was a false generational perception. I've been other places, so I found this bafflegab about oppression in America so incredible, coming as it did from affluent, white, middle-class kids."

Sound at all familiar?