A police helicopter hovers above ..a voice over the loudspeaker gives the order to ‘disperse or be arrested’. Police in riot gear charge ..unarmed citizens flee ..some are trampled and beaten ..a peaceful assembly turns into chaos ..bullets fly. This was the scene at Macarthur Park in Los Angeles last week ..but my mind is also receiving images of People’s Park, in Berkeley ..from 1969 ..and they don’t look much different. Furthermore, I’m experiencing all the feelings of fear and loathing that I felt then ..and I'm not the only one ..those early images were burned into the psyche of nearly all the school-age children of my generation. It occurs to me that the ‘class of 2007’ is graduating next month ..after attending all four years of high school ..during wartime. 
Experiencing a culture at war, at this age ..is something you never forget. It becomes part of you ..like the Vietnam war is part of me. I have a built-in mistrust of government ..ongoing problems with authority ..and a career in ‘conspiracy theory’. History repeats itself, not only when government leaders ignore it ..but also when their minds are so scripted by it ..they can’t do anything different.
2 comments:
Spooky!
Spooky it is ..!
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