>>>>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