By lex, on November 14th, 2011
With Veteran’s Day in the rear-view mirror, and Thanksgiving coming up on us rapidly, my thoughts turned late last night to how history will deal with the current zeitgeist in American politics.
In Kabul, in Bagram, and outside Baghdad, among other places, a generation of 20-somethings many ten thousands strong live in vile conditions, having pledged to defend their country.
In Zuccotti Park, NY, in Oakland, LA and DC, among other places, a generation of 20-somethings a few hundred strong live in vile conditions, having pledged to upend their country.
Today’s media – who write the first draft of history – are spending a great deal more time covering the latter than the former. Which makes a kind of sense, I suppose: The media, like the Occupy Wall Street set, are largely white, college educated and left-leaning. The Occupy Afghanistan set, by contrast, is diverse, well-trained but not credentialed, and have no particular politics that you can pin on them.
The country we will be, fifty years hence, will largely be defined by how history’s second draft is written.
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