"Slow down, you move too fast
You got to make the morning last
Just kicking down the cobblestones
Looking for fun and feeling groovy
Ba da-da da-da da-da, feeling groovy"
Paul Simon, "59th Street Bridge Song," 1966
It was a lovely spring day. People made signs and stood on the sidewalk. We mingled and smiled and encouraged one another. It had a party atmosphere, a mix of Halloween and a high school sock-hop, people having fun.
I overthink things. Later, in the quiet after the event, I got nagging worries. Who was there? Or, more important, who wasn't there?
Young people.
The attendees skewed old, toward boomers. There was a mix, with the occasional young family, but I saw very few teens, college students or even people in their 30s and 40s and (young to me) 50s.
That's a worry. Is it possible that people who have come of age in the Trump era see today's politics as so hopeless and disgusting and crass and corrupt that nothing does any good, and they should just ignore the whole thing and get back to their jobs or their phone screens?
I took photos mostly of signs, but also captured who held them.
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What I noticed was how friendly everyone was to me and each other. It felt like a community, a club of people who understood. Trump used to have that at his rallies, but not so much anymore. In terms of the age issue, old people teach and pass down knowledge to the young. Women live 15% longer than men for that reason, along with females living longer in elephants and orcas after they stop having babies .
ReplyDeleteI don’t think it’s hopelessness or apathy. I suspect it’s the method.
ReplyDeleteThe last No-Kings-Day I was at filled the streets of Seattle with all generations. Of course it would because we are deep Blue. I think it’s the platform. Post-Boomers see the digital world as the Public Square, although that’s beginning to lose its grip on them as they are assaulted by ever-increasing volumes of AI-created drivel.
You might take notice how the term “at scale” is used everywhere these days as though the only things worth working on or paying attention to are “at scale”. Young people I talk to agree with the sentiment and message of No Kings but aren’t convinced that cardboard signs and street protests have moved the needle at a national level. The guy still has nearly half the country convinced he’s their champion and doing a great job as a leader.
My wife was at the downtown Portland protest, and noticed pretty much the same thing about age distribution.
ReplyDeleteThe downtown Portland demonstration was estimated at 30,000. The one last fall was estimated at 40,000. Not sure what that decrease means, but it might be a significant indication of something or other.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure your impression (and it had to be that) that there weren't many people under 50 is accurate, Peter. Check out the hundreds of photos Dasja Dolan took at the Medford rally.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dasjadolan.com/Events/Political-events/Flash-Rallies/NO-KINGS-rallies/NO-KINGS-rally-3-in-Medford-March-28-2026
They gave me a different impression (I stayed in one place the whole time).
OK, I hope so. The first one I clicked on at random was #25.
ReplyDelete