Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Social Movements of the 1960s
In class, we just finished watching a documentary about the social movements of the 1960s. I thought it was interesting mainly because I learned quite a lot about the background of modern movements from this documentary. From my point of view, I believe that the 1960s and the times before then were filled with disappointment - that is, for people whom society was not tailored to. In other words, anyone who was not a straight white male felt some kind of disappointment as to how their rights were limited by society and government. They decided, based on these conditions, that it was finally time for them to take action. Women began questioning the status quo of how they were being treated and the expectations that society laid out for them. Like the Blacks Civil Rights Movement, some homosexuals and advocates for gay rights risked their lives and almost paid the highest price for getting the rights that they deserved.
Today, we are seeing more and more social movements because of conditions that parallel those of the 1960s: growing disappointment among the people. The Women’s Marches that happened quite recently mirrored the 1960s Women’s Movement; however, the former was much larger and advocated for a wider range of issues, such as women’s rights, LGBT+ rights, respect to minorities and people with disabilities, and more. It saddens me to say that we have definitely made progress over the past fifty to sixty years, but still not enough.
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I think that we shouldn't feel discouraged because of a lack of progress, because all movements and all sorts of progress take time. Some of these movements lose steam because people are discouraged by this, so we should try to not get discouraged. While progress would likely be faster if these movements still had regular large scale marches like in the civil rights movement, I think they are still making progress, and that things will get better. However, there will likely be new movements that appear, like the movement to decriminalize drugs, and they might play out differently. How do you think the drug movement will play out? Will it be similar to movements in the 60's, or different?
ReplyDeleteI think in perspective, these movements have moved quite fast. In comparison to things like slavery where it was debated for centuries, the laws have come out decently quickly. The ERA for example was produced not too long after the Women's Movement became a bigger thing. The problem that still persists is the culture.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jamie in that social change needs to be put into perspective in order to truly see the scale at which the Equal Rights Movement has progressed in recent years, which is why I think it would be somewhat pointless and naive to be "[saddened]" by how certain groups of Americans to have all of the legal and social opportunities and protections as others. We have progressed so far in the last few decades -- especially towards promoting the rights of members of the LGBT community -- and I think we should be more appreciative of this change rather than focusing on the change that hasn't came yet. It's unrealistic to believe that American society could suddenly change from the socially segregated, oppressive, and unfair environment of the mid 20th century into the ideal America with a fair and equal society only decades later. Although I do agree that more change can be made to benefit the rights and opportunities of certain groups that are socially ignored and oppressed in our country, that change isn't inherently easy to implement or appealing to many groups of Americans which is why recognizing the significance of past movements and putting them into perspective to American society centuries ago is important to do - it allows us to be grateful to the change that has occurred and make realistic expectations for the future of our country.
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