Marc Riddell wrote:
I admit I am also frustrated by the countless hours editors spend weeding out countless incidents of nonsensical, and at times malicious, vandalism. My background is sixties Berkeley - I am the antithesis of autocratic bullshit. Yet, I believe, some parameters must be set to achieve a goal. A protest without some order is merely chaos - and achieves nothing. And, ultimately, what or who you are protesting wins.
It seems like Mario Savio became discouraged and frustrated a long time ago. If a vandal's goal is to sow chaos he is accomplishing that very well.. Surely some vandals may be performing an act of protest, but I don't think that that tranche provides the really tenacious vandals who just get a thrill out of competing in a cat and mouse game.
Sticking to principles consistent with what the new left wanted in the 60s was not an easy task. Principles served on a plate of squalor can be very unappetizing. It's amazing how over the long run the establishment absorbs it all.
Mario Savio and I were close friends - and, emotionally, still are. He was frustrated every moment that I knew him - it was his fuel. But, he was never, never, discouraged.
No offense intended. As a person who is Savio's junior by only two months, that seems close enough to make us contemporaries. The general points in his famous speech did resonate well-beyond UC Berkeley. If I try to reflect on those times now all I get is questions.
Are you still asking them?
M
I had to reflect on that. Sometimes these short sharp questions are more effective that way than the self-justifying diatribes intended to lead people to the answer that the questioner wants to hear. I even had to dismiss the notion that it was a trick question from a professional.
My reflective answer is, "Yes." When you factor out the effects of technological advance the world hasn't changed a hell of a lot. A strictly logical analysis doesn't add a hell of a lot of hope. But as Camus concluded, one must imagine Sisyphus happy.
There is a demanding kind of happiness that derives from remaining true to what one believes.
Ec