Does ANYONE care about what happened 35 years ago TODAY?????

[GarySeven]

I mean, of course, Kent State. You know - 4 dead in O-Hi-O.

These sorts of things have a habit of fading into the background, even as those to whom they are important - namely aging Boomers like me - also fade into the background. But I think what happened at Kent State is worth remembering for a lot of reasons.

Now, most "liberals" would say it is important to remember Kent State, but I think they want to remember it for the wrong reasons. To remember Kent State as only a lesson of government intolerance during the Vietnam War freezes those students in time and place, making their sacrifice relevant only to that time and to that place. And it's just as limiting to remember Kent State for mere ideological purposes, as an inspiration for political action against a government as repressive today as it was in 1970.

I think that the main lesson of Kent State is that the Guardsmen did not kill what they were shooting at.

The Guardsmen did not kill the quest for knowledge, or the sentiment toward dissent, or the challenge to be free and independent. That is what brought the students to Kent State in the first place; just as it brought those students who lived before them and after them. And that, I think, is the highest expression of liberalism and why I think Kent State is worth remembering - especially by the generations who come after mine.

Here's more about what happened that day:

http://kent.state.tripod.com/

http://www.may4archive.org/

http://www.thrasherswheat.org/fot/ohio.htm

[underpants]

1. I do

:patriot:

[sam sarrha]

2. It was the last Real Demonstration... killing only non-demonstraters was

was a psylogical statement to stay away from those that disagree with the Fascist Governments policies. And it worked VERY Good..

[im10ashus]

3. There are lots of people here who do.

I've seen 3 threads about it today.

[RPM]

4. What's that about American Idol

oh? yeah......

I care - i fear most don't

[evlbstrd]

6. Count me in.

[NYCGirl]

5. There were threads all over here about it this morning. NT

[GreenArrow]

7. sleep...sleeeeep...sleeeep

poppies...

[zippy890]

8. That was so awful

and it happened after 2 kid were killed at Jackson State, if I remember correctly.

I was 17 and it seemed like this country was coming apart at the seams.

It did mobilize more people into action, instead of the opposite reaction, fear.

[geniph]

11. Kent State happened a week earlier

Jackson State was May 10.

[Jacobin]

9. I find that most people don't like to think about Viet Nam

The comparisons to IraqNam are too stark and remind them that we have stuck our dicks in the wood chipper again.

I remember that day very well. Those four souls helped to end the war in Viet Nam.....people were freaked out, even the Silent Majority got a little bothered by it

[G_j]

10. I'll always remember it n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

12. I remember

I was in college myself at the time. :-(

[texanwitch]

13. I care, I remember.

I was just finishing junior high school, but I was anti-war.

My two brothers went to VietNam, and one of my brother's friends died in VietNam.

Today I was talking to some young co-workers about Kent State, they didn't know anything about it, didn't really know much about the VietNam War.

I told them history does repeat itself, and being draft age they better learn a little about the Vietnam War.

I am afraid we will have another Kent State, maybe more the one.

Thanks for all the great links, I will look at them tonight.

[Syncronaut Seven]

14. We were just talking about that!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3596402