Opinion | A Silly Theory that Changed the World
A Silly Theory that Changed the World
©2021 by Vernon Miles Kerr, VernonMilesKerr.com - Originally posted to Twitter as a rough draft on 9/19/2021
I was already 3 1/2 when my #Boomer brother was born. I’ve watched how the Boomers, as Hippies, started today’s slide toward hedonism, disregard for social conventions, and (ironically) materialism.
We lived in the Haight-Ashbury, a block from Golden Gate Park, until 1965. It was a charming neighborhood of antique stores and book shops. The residents were mostly serious college students, like myself, and retired people. We moved to Southern California and watched on T.V., as the Haight was transformed into a drug-induced Sodom and Gomorrah.
But we can’t blame the Hippies, or the other Boomers for our society’s downslide. They were merely a symptom — not the cause.
The cause was #TheDominoTheory.* And the great irony is that the man who gave the theory traction was the same one who warned against the rising power of the “military-industrial complex,” President Dwight D. Eisenhower.**
History has shown that the Domino Theory was a bogus theory. After the fall of Saigon, the predicted cascade did not occur. Communist Vietnam, now open to the world, is a popular tourist destination, especially from neighboring South Korea and Japan. The 50,000 American lives lost in that conflict, and the Anti-war conflagration back home, were all in vain.
Although the Domino Theory is now ridiculed, the wave of “regime-change” wars left in it’s wake persists. American lives and American wealth are still being wasted. Even worse, the military-industrial complex has made us the main source of weaponry for conflicts around the world — conflicts which involve absolutely none of our greater political or business interests. Along with this distinction of “weapons dealer to the world” comes much resentment from other countries. This resentment has made us, including you and me, the prime target for terrorism.
Footnotes:
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domino_theory
**https://www.eisenhowerlibrary.gov/sites/default/files/research/online-documents/farewell-address/1961-01-17-press-release.pdf