From: gerard@caliban.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Gerard Fryer)
Subject: Re: cynicism
Organization: University of Hawaii
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 19:19:18 GMT

In article <98391@bu.edu>, treefrog@bass.bu.edu (susan landsman) writes:
|> I'm considering writing an article centered around the following theory, which
|> I hope is an appropriate subject of discussion for this group.  I'm a newbie,
|> and unfortunately my deadline doesn't give me enough time to read all the back
|> articles.  
|> 
|> The theory: It appears that past generations of Americans went through
|> a growth period that included a stage of idealism in which they could go
|> about trying to achieve political and personal goals without being 
|> hampered by a sense of futility.  Today's "youthful" generation -- college
|> age or somewhat older (slackers?) -- seem to share an early cynicism that
|> squelches any idealism they might have at an age where they might also
|> be politically/culturally active.
|> 
|> The question:  Does anybody have an opinion as to whether this is real, and
|> if so, what the implications might be? Does anyone have personal
|> experiences that might be relevant, that they wouldn't mind seeing in
|> print?  
|> 

I think your thesis is absolutely right.

Perhaps you need look no further than Bill Clinton's youth.  As a
student in England he was involved in demonstrations against US
military involvement in Vietnam and made at least one trip to Russia.
It is worth asking why.

I was in England at that time too.  While I started out firmly
supporting the US position in Vietnam (I had just spent six years as a
student in Malaysia, so I had a close understanding of what the war was
about), by the late sixties the US had lost its resolve and there
seemed to be nobody anywhere who could make a case for continued US
involvement.  Because of early US mistakes (supporting Nguyen Ky over
General Big Minh, for example) South Vietnam became more and more
corrupt, the war became bloodier and bloodier and the ends less and
less justified the means.  By 1968 the war had become morally wrong.

In Europe, self-imposed pressures on the body academic at that time
were incredible.  We were the conscience of the world.  The turmoil in
Europe (including riots throughout France) was sparked by Vietnam but
eventually developed a life of its own.  Remember too that that was the
time of the short-lived Prague Spring, an event which foreshadowed the
new world order that was to evolve over twenty years later.  Change was
in the air, and no sensitive youth could do other than get involved and
attempt to influence that change (on successive days in London I found
myself at demonstrations infront of the US embassy and the Soviet
ambassador's residence).  Clinton, like everybody else, was swept along
in it.  He had no choice.

Cynicism came crashing in a few years later.  It appeared that nothing
we had done had made any difference.  The world was still the same.

The transition from youth to maturity was simple: in youth we all
believed that, come what may, everything will turn out for the best;
maturity was realizing that that just isn't so.  But we gave up too
soon.  America did back out of Vietnam, as we had said it must.  The
Evil Empire did collapse, which, after Prague, we had seen as
inevitable (though that collapse was not unassociated with its own
cynicism: witness the claim that the US military buildup was the major
contributing factor).

The growth in cynicism has unquestionably been affected by political
events.  We always used to tell each other that all politicians are
intrinsically corrupt, but perhaps we didn't really believe it.
Watergate caused genuine indignation, after all.  But Watergate
softened us up.  By the time of Iran-Contra, politicians blatantly
subverting the laws of the nation was no longer big news.  We shall
never learn the truth about Iran-Contra for the simple reason that
nobody cares.

Given this recent political history (possibly aided by parents boasting
about how involved they were in the sixties), is it any wonder that
modern youth wants no part of it?  The final straw to kill wide-eyed
idealism has to be this year's election.  How can anyone watch these
"debates" without feeling anything but contempt for this pack of liars
strutting and fretting on the stage?  Hmm...  Perhaps that's the
subject for another post...

Perhaps cynicism runs in cycles.  It is rampant among university
undergraduates, but kids entering high school seem to be very
different.  Despite (or perhaps because of) the major excesses of the
Reagan years environmentalism is becoming a powerful force among the
very young.  That same old idealism is burning deep in some of those
hearts.

Something tells me that this diatribe is not exactly what you were
after...
-- 
Gerard Fryer  (g.fryer@soest.hawaii.edu)
School of Ocean & Earth Science & Technology
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Xref: sparky soc.culture.usa:7799 talk.politics.misc:52149 alt.rush-limbaugh:7541 alt.politics.bush:9377 alt.politics.clinton:10758 alt.politics.elections:17115 talk.abortion:42867 alt.sex:33081