Looking for Abbie

Interesting read in the Nation, I think the restrictions of an Op-Ed piece led to the over-simplification of his opinion.

But, my initial reaction was “yeah, sounds about right.” I think there is an overall feeling that this “generation does not believe in its ability to alter, or even slightly disrupt, the status quo.” I know I feel that way when I look around. Our system is fairly entrenched, the roots getting deeper each moment. And as Darkur said, what revolution are we expecting? There is no revolution coming?

But, there are some operational positions I have trouble with in this essay.

Much as the “conservative revolution” began in response to the fear the Right experienced by the Sixties (sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll were clearly destroying God's green America), so too is this writer conditioned by that moment. The iconic images, the school strikes / sit-ins, the marches, the riots, the music, the drugs, the sex -- why is that the only definition of a social movement?

There are kids in neighborhoods across the country with mohawks, zines, music, fashion truly living a life that challenges the status quo - they are not weekend punk rockers. There are amazing rappers/poets, street artists doing the same. There are culture jammers and flash mobs, young families home-schooling. There are web wizards, bloggers, inventors. There are people everywhere, it is the variety (spatial and material) that leads to a disconnect that often prevents the idealized outrage that this writer wants to see in the streets. There is a specialization in protest right now against specific aspects of our standard operating procedures that likely prevents the production of a broader unity.

What would the writer say to the traditional protests and marches brewing over the immigration debate?

People are upset about the war. I don't know why we are not in the streets. The mediated version of this war has not made it real, but rather distant and artifical. How many people have been materially, spiritually affected by the war? Not many.

Out of sight, out of mind. The mainstream press does not report on what was mentioned above, so this leads to the writers’ conclusion: there's "so little noise" about the war from the youth generation.

But his call for an alternative is not looking beyond the pages of the New York Times. People everywhere are living alternatives: big and small.