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Comments

• [1] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 10:48AM

  isn't BHO the 60's come true?

  peace, environment, human rights

  
  
• [2] Marco from Manhattan November 07, 2008 - 10:49AM

  You should ask Ms. Dohrn if she has any remorse about the deaths of the Nyack cops killed during the Weather Underground armored car robbery.

  
  
• [3] Michael Broder from Brooklyn, NY November 07, 2008 - 10:51AM

  I just need to keep reiterating: BHO is NOT post-baby boom. The baby boom continued until 1964. If the media wants to talk about the generational differences between "early boomers" and "late boomers," great, but why does the media insist on repeating a simple factual error?

  
  
• [4] mc from Brooklyn November 07, 2008 - 10:53AM

  Thank you Michael. Obama is a boomer. He is 47. He was alive when JFK was assassinated. His loudest supporters are maybe post-boomer, but he and Michelle are both boomers.

  
  
• [5] Eric from B'klyn November 07, 2008 - 10:55AM

  Slightly off topic: as a communications specialist, what does Mr Fenton think will be necessary to build strong public support for meaningful climate/energy action and legislation, ie a carbon tax?

  
  
• [6] Shar in AZ from Arizon November 07, 2008 - 10:56AM

  I think it must be mentioned that Bernadine Dohrn is Bill Ayer's wife. With or without further comment.

  
  
• [7] Chris Baratta from Upper West Side November 07, 2008 - 11:01AM

  Ms. Dohrn-

  But don't you feel a sort of necessity to constantly and consistently repudiate the use of violence to achieve any ends, no matter how important?

  One of the greatest successes of today's generation is precisely that we did NOT pour into the streets violently (though I firmly believe if there were a draft associated with Iraq, things would have gone that way).

  I still think it should be part of both Ms. Dorhn's and her husband's role in society to promote peaceful methods of change, and to ultimately admit that the means Obama has taken were not only non-violent, but far more successful.

  
  
• [8] Evan from New York, NY November 07, 2008 - 11:06AM

  Calling Obama is a boomer is semantics. Only the true boomers, those self-indulgent fools who can't accept that their time on the stage is drawing to a close, would try and claim him because he was born in the last years of the Boom. His world view is much closer to Gen-X, which is itself a nebulous term, than the boomers.

  Also, Marco, good call. Ms. Dohrn can try and elide over what she did, but she's a terrorist who killed innocent people.

  
  
• [9] Stephen from London November 07, 2008 - 11:08AM

  I've been consistently disappointed by the media for more or less ignoring the defeats the gay rights movement has suffered in this election. I find it a considerable oversight on the part of WNYC to not think to address this issue in a piece about the 60's, where the gay rights movement, as well as the movement for sexual liberation for all begun. If you consider the fact that gays have not yet been able to achieve full equality,there is plenty of reason for the spirit of the sixties to be alive and well today.

  This is before considering that racism has not and will not end with a black president, and that women still are not earning equal pay for equal work, two more incentives to maintain the political sentiments which started in the sixties.

  
  
• [10] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 11:11AM

  [3] Michael Broder

  some say gen X starts in 1960,61.

  there is no clear demarcation, it's just a matter of perception depending on the narrative

  after 40 years of messing up the boomer are finished

  
  
• [11] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 11:18AM

  [9] Stephen

  guessing u missed yesterdays segment :

  "Setbacks for the Gay Rights Movement"

  with that said the CA vote was an advance, 48% are cool with gay marriage. next time it will be 51 plus.

  
  
• [12] mc from Brooklyn November 07, 2008 - 12:14PM

  Evan #8,

  What do you think the world view of Gen-X is, now that you have dismissed the boomers?

  
  
• [13] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 12:23PM

  mc

  if i may, we'll have to wait and see. the world hasn't changed yet and the boomers can still do harm from behide the scences

  
  
• [14] mc from Brooklyn November 07, 2008 - 12:33PM

  hjs,

  Agreed. Plus the jury is still out on BHO. The Gen-Xer's might want to wait before they claim him.

  
  
• [15] Evan from New York, NY November 07, 2008 - 12:37PM

  MC,

  The world view of early Gen-Xers like me (1965-1975) is, unlike the boomers, "it's not all about you. The world has problems. Do what you can to fix them."

  
  
• [16] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 12:38PM

  mc

  are u saying gen X'ers are fair weather friends?

  are u starting a fight with me :)

  genY backed him. don't think genX thought it would ever happen.

  
  
• [17] hjs from 11211 November 07, 2008 - 12:44PM

  MC

  i think even is really genY. the genX says "The world has problems. no one can fix."

  
  
• [18] mc from Brooklyn November 07, 2008 - 01:52PM

  hjs,

  I don't claim to be either Gen-X or boomer so I would not start a fight on that basis. Not sure where the line is between Gen-Y and Gen-X (it's starting to sound like DNA).

  Evan,

  Interesting. I have heard boomers say exactly the same thing only reversed as they ridicule the idea of "virtual activism." Like I said -- I don't claim either identity. Just questioning the broad brush.

  
  
• [19] RCT from NYC November 08, 2008 - 08:57AM

  Evan:

  I am 58 years old. Along with my ninth grade class, I wrote letters to editors supporting civil rights in the early 1960s. In 1968, I canvassed for Eugene McCarthy and, in the ensuing years, marched and otherwise organized to end the Vietnam War and in support of women's rights to reproductive freedom, equal pay for equal work, and entry into the professional workplace. In the 1980s, I advocated for the rights of Central Americans and for disinvestment in the then-apartheid government of South Africa. In 2002, I opposed the stupid war in Iraq. In have also taught in public and private universities and, most recently, was a volunteer for Barack Obama.

  Nor was I alone in such efforts. My generation is an activist generation and, despite our jobs, families and other obligations, even those of us who were not engaged in politics or community organizing full-time have remained involved in the fight for social justice. Before you call people self-indulgent fools, you might try reading your own resume aloud and contemplating what you've done in your own life to help others and make good judgments about politics and social policy. You stand on the shoulders -- or hang onto the coattails -- of the activists of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including the so-called "baby-boomers."

  
  
• [20] mc from Brooklyn November 08, 2008 - 11:49AM

  RCT has given us an eloquent summary of what there is to admire about the boomer generation. We are all products of our particular time and we are shaped by that time. Each generation has its achievements and its faults. If the achievements are truly successful, the following generations will take them for granted because they grew up with them. Someone recently sent me a history of the suffrage movement in pictures. I had no idea how those women suffered so long ago so that I could vote--something I have always taken for granted. Ageism is a form of bigotry. Each generation should recognize the achievements of those that came before them and also celebrate the new energy and potential of the succeeding generations. I believe my children will take a black president for granted. This is something to be celebrated.