I know if you asked the students at my campus if America was at war, they would probably give you a funny look before continuing on to their frat party. This doesn't mean they are stupid or apathetic to politics in general, but only that nothing is threatening their way of life right now.
People participate in politics for selfish reasons. I would say it's a good thing that college students aren't erupting into protests every day. That means they must be content and happy, right?
Because there's nothing quite like 2 back to back extended tours in third-world hell while they foreclose on your house back home and kick your wife and 3 year old out on the street to put a smile on your face and a song in your heart. Sheesh.
Vietnam has little to do with it.
Interesting (to me) is the tendency for left-leaning progressives to continue to live and fight battles from the past. The recent Iraq war has caused some to try to replay Vietnam. The coming nomination of Obama is very JFK-ish. We're having a very 60-ish discussion on how man is immoral in his treatment of the environment. I always thought the conservatives were the ones who lived in the past, but I think that has changed over the last five years or so.
My opinion only. Do not operate heavy machinery after reading this comment.
Galileo apparently said that some of his best years were those at the University of Padova:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Padua#History
... which, as the article says, had more freedom and less influence from the Catholic church.
However: this strikes me as not really being hacker news.
(PS, check out this guy, who came out of Padova:
As I recall, it was primarily baby boomers describing Iraq as "another Vietnam!!!" 2 weeks into the invasion. "We haven't won yet? It's a quagmire!"
Oddly, when comparing Obama to JFK, they never seem to remember that JFK stole an election, fought one war incompetently and started another one that turned into a quagmire ("the original Vietnam!!!"). JFK does compare reasonably well to a contemporary politician, but not Obama...
Vietnam and Iraq have little in common stateside by design. Today's political leaders weren't about to make the same mistake twice. So no TV news and no draft. Amazing how well it's worked, huh?
I offer no personal view of Vietnam. I'm just saying that it was the central issue affecting the breeding ground of the subjects of the article.
Are you really unaware that people disagree on all 3 of those points? They are political positions.
And for the most part, I don't think any of those other points was nearly as important as the draft. It's one thing to think that a current war is a bad idea, it's quite another to know that you might be forced to go and fight in it.
If you say the war is immoral, illegal, or unwinnable, that is getting involved politics.
Vietnam
College students in the 60's weren't "playing politics". They were protesting an illegal, immoral, and unwinnable war. Hell, half the men on campus were there so they wouldn't have to go to Vietnam.
I imagine today's generation of professors would feel a little differently if TV news showed maimed soldiers in Iraq every night, their classes were full of young men who didn't want to be drafted, and their campuses were occupied by armed National Guardsmen who shot unarmed students.
[Prediction: This will be voted up by those who actually experienced the absurdity of the 60's and voted down by those who can't imagine it could have been that bad. Since the average age in this community is probably below 40, this post will end up negative.]