Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidMahler /img/forum/go_quote.gif
The Beatles did not achieve this alone, it was desperate and fast paced times.....the Civil Rights Movement was a huge, Vietnam was huge....etc.....but it was the Beatles who was truly the voice of the youth.
.....this is partly because the generation of the 60s began to understand youth in a more accepting and open way.
Now it is cool to be young, politicians want the youth vote, everyone wants to look and act young.............it was not always like this......it became like this when society was able to recognize the seriousness of youth and the necessity and artistry of rebellion.
I am certain very few, if any will agree with me on these matters and I'm sure there will be some detractors to the point of considering me a complete idiot. But I believe what I believe and I hope at the very least, if I haven't convinced you, that you were at least entertained 
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Interesting view, David. And I can see where you're coming and you make some good points, but the shifting of cultural thinking, and the establishment of youth as a meaningful, important phase of life, and the weight it can carry in society (which is taken for granted today, and is part of the point you make for the younger folk here, that is "your voice didn't always matter" though many think this probably isn't even true of the present) is far more complex, I'm sure you'd agree.
Whilst in the 50s teenage years were considered an awkward stage, best shortened and 'got over with' as soon as possible, the seeds of a new demographic were born here, but cultural shifts take time, and the 60s, plus the Beatles were part of that.
But, it is important to point out the 60s didn't 'happen' everywhere at the same time; the ideas, spirit, political and youth awareness, fashions etc didn't filter down to other western nations at the same time. The Summer of Love, Haight/Ashbury, Woodstock and the very stereotypical images we get of the 60s; the 'if you can remember, you weren't really there' stuff we hear today, is
1) Largely an American experience
2) Retrospective simplification
Even in the UK, where I grew up, and Australia where I now live, we are still bombarded with images of the 60s that were mostly, if not completely, from the US perspective. Many people in these countries didn't pick up on the 60s phenomenon until they were over. My parents see such images represented as part of 'their' youth, and recognise none of it as true to their experience. That is, they may have been news items at the time, but there was not necessarily the understanding a 'movement' was occurring.
The US may have seen Berkeley students railing against the archaic education system and Vietnam, other parts of the world were often presented with the idea that spoilt rich kids were simply overindulged and out of control, such was the 50s mentality still pervasive elsewhere in media and politics. It's likely this view was also the one presented by US media of the time.
There can be little argument the Sixties heralded massive cultural, social and political changes, affecting every aspect of life – at least in the western world. But they have taken on a contemporary context that has moved well beyond the events and experience of the decade itself, at the time it was happening. Certain events and countercultures have come to represent a generalisation of the Sixties, as if these occurred around the world at the same time and had universal impact. The difficulty is, we only see these from a contemporary perspective, and with time, distance and persistently stereotypical representations, they enter popular culture as universal experience.
As George Orwell wrote in "1984", "He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future." Today, it's the media that largely control this version of history, and its contribution to making these things true cannot be underestimated.
I've realise I've argued for your point of view, as much as establishing some wider perspective, but an enjoyable ramble for me nonetheless.
