Faith Meets Life: The Stones, Neil Young, and 60s dissent
"I cried when young people stopped asking questions," Francis Schaeffer, author of How Then Should We Live, lamented when he observed that the radical questions students asked in the 1960s and early '70s were no longer heard.
Those were years of student riots at major universities and colleges of Europe and the United States. Students were encountering a world living in the shadow of nuclear weapons. In the U.S. many lived in fear for their own lives and the lives of their friends who might be drafted and sent to the war in Viet Nam. The protests were so tense that at one point, four students were shot dead on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Canada's Neil Young sung about it in the hit, Four Dead in Ohio.
There was a sense, in those days, that students could make a difference by asking questions, staging protests and becoming involved politically. Somehow, though, the radicals became quiet. Maybe it was the end of the Viet Nam war that calmed people down. No doubt, a range of political and social changes calmed students in the 1970s.
A few days ago, Halifax, Nova Scotia, hosted the Rolling Stones. Once, the Stones were symbols of dissent and social change. One of their old hits was Satisfaction. On the surface, this is a song about sexual frustration. That's certainly there. But the song also expresses anger at advertisers who "tell us this, and tell us that" and the spreading of "useless information."
Today, we're more accepting. Students don't take to the streets in large numbers throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at police and military personnel. There is no storming of government offices and the offices of university and college presidents. Dissent is here, but it seems muted by earlier standards. The Stones are the mainstream today. The CBC fell over itself, here in Nova Scotia, supporting the band. They sing the same songs of dissent from the past, but it's only nostalgia.
I don't know if rioting in the streets was such a great idea back in the day. I was too young to be involved anyway; I only saw the images in TV and in papers. But I do wonder if there is enough asking of questions that matter. Do we just take whatever the mainstream media offers us? Do we ask enough questions of our political and military leaders?
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
Those were years of student riots at major universities and colleges of Europe and the United States. Students were encountering a world living in the shadow of nuclear weapons. In the U.S. many lived in fear for their own lives and the lives of their friends who might be drafted and sent to the war in Viet Nam. The protests were so tense that at one point, four students were shot dead on the campus of Kent State University in Ohio. Canada's Neil Young sung about it in the hit, Four Dead in Ohio.
There was a sense, in those days, that students could make a difference by asking questions, staging protests and becoming involved politically. Somehow, though, the radicals became quiet. Maybe it was the end of the Viet Nam war that calmed people down. No doubt, a range of political and social changes calmed students in the 1970s.
A few days ago, Halifax, Nova Scotia, hosted the Rolling Stones. Once, the Stones were symbols of dissent and social change. One of their old hits was Satisfaction. On the surface, this is a song about sexual frustration. That's certainly there. But the song also expresses anger at advertisers who "tell us this, and tell us that" and the spreading of "useless information."
Today, we're more accepting. Students don't take to the streets in large numbers throwing molotov cocktails and rocks at police and military personnel. There is no storming of government offices and the offices of university and college presidents. Dissent is here, but it seems muted by earlier standards. The Stones are the mainstream today. The CBC fell over itself, here in Nova Scotia, supporting the band. They sing the same songs of dissent from the past, but it's only nostalgia.
I don't know if rioting in the streets was such a great idea back in the day. I was too young to be involved anyway; I only saw the images in TV and in papers. But I do wonder if there is enough asking of questions that matter. Do we just take whatever the mainstream media offers us? Do we ask enough questions of our political and military leaders?
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
