That's what I thought.

[ysobelle]

See, the reason I asked is that at work the other day, it was just me and one coworker. We had my iPod in, and CSN&Y's "Ohio" came on.

"Oh, I LOVE this song!" she said.

I nodded. "Yeah. A few years ago, when I lived out that way, some friends of mine took me on a tour of the campus, right after one of the anniversary memorials. It was really, really disturbing and sad."

Blank look.

"Um...Kent State? The student shootings?"

Crickets.

Now, I know this woman is dumb as a box of hammers. Really. But she had never heard of Kent State. She had never heard of the protests. I'm actually surprised she had ever heard of Vietnam. I was somewhat stunned, and I started to wonder, "Is that normal? Do people just not know about it any more?" So no, I'm relieved to find that it's not completely forgotten, that people still know what happened there, and how important it was.

And for the record? She's 47.

Comments

[grinning-fox.livejournal.com]

You know, I was channel surfing with the menfolk of the House yesterday and we came across something about Ivan the Terrible on the History Channel or something. It being History Channel, of course, I was forced to stop and watch. The narrator kept going on about how unforgettable and epic and yadda yadda...eventually I had enough and announced, "Because you people won't let it beek alone!" Now...there are somethings we certainly need to remember so we don't do them again, however...I can entirely sympathize with the desire to move forward from our ugliness, to have learned and get on with living instead of wallowing in the horrors of yesteryear and all that jazz. (political rant truncated here)

...I gotta admit, I was surprised to hear about this. I thought everyone knew that song was about the Kent State dealieo. ...then again, I thought everyone knew how to turn off the light on a fishtank until yesterday =( Some people have infinite capacity to amaze with the differences between what we know and what they know. Really...really infinite.

(Still. Seriously? Dude. It was only sort of the one thing the social studies people harp on until we turn blue in the face and whatnot...)

[sjbpharmd.livejournal.com]

I was in Pharmacy school. The only history I had to learn was who discovered opium.