"Herbert's Hippopotamus," is a 1996 documentary by Paul Alexander Juutilainen, born in Finland and raised in Denmark, Paul completed his M.F.A at UCSD. The documentary is about Herbert Marcuse, Philosopher Professor at UCSD, who was very controversial and highly criticized by the government and extreme right citizens, as a person who was allegedly poisoning the minds of the young students. The Californian Governor at that time (1967-1975) Ronald Reagan, who used to be an actor, happened to be in office while the US was having a war that seemed without end. The coincidences with today are remarkable. Further, the students were punished with jail when FBI was able to recognize their faces by the footage of the media that recorded the protests. Although watching this video is shocking with the indignation produced by the fact that students with free speech rights were punished; it also rises some questions for our lives nowadays:
If we are passionate to cause or ideal, would we be able to protest without being punished?
In today’s world is even easier for enforcing agencies to track students or citizens that participate in any kind of protest or civil disobedience by looking into their electronic footprints.
One more question, would you be able to expose yourself and perhaps risk your future and your safety in behalf of yours or someone else’s ideals?
Why students do not take sides these times?
If we analyze the demographics at UCSD, perhaps we could infer that the high percentage of students do not feel affiliation for any kind of cause happening in the US soil. Or maybe the generation of students nowadays feel a complete apathy to any cause; which in common language means they do not know and they do not care.
What I have understood with this documentary and other different analysis from civil disobedience studies, is that members of protests groups, even members of artwork that represents questioning or targetting special interests groups, could be prosecuted and threatened for the rest of their lives.
“Herbert the Hippopotamus,” documentary covers Herbert Marcuse as a person and teacher, and how he became a symbolic leader of the protest movement. In this work by Paul Alexander Juutilainen also illustrates how Marcuse was isolated and intimidated.
Nevertheless, we have to remember that we live in a country that respects the freedom of speech, and out there is still people as Angela Davis, a Marcuse’s student, that became a socialist organizer and professor who was associated with the Black Panther Party (BPP) and the Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Davis was also a prominent member and political candidate of the Communist Party USA. (Wikipedia)
Among the many questions that this documentary rise, I wonder why at that time students who were aware of retaliation, had the courage to go for what they thought was right. Do we need another Herbert to yell for what is right or wrong?, or do we need a different generation that can be more involved in politics and social problems?. If the case is the latter, then we should find out what else is there that is more important for this generation than to fight for many things that is necessary to be involved whether to oppose or defend but to be involved and speak out loudly. Problems such as
abortion, prostitution, free health care, real answers to breast cancer, or simply why women do not deserve plenty of public bathrooms so the wait could be the same as men.
The concern is why nobody is willing to take a step?
Is this a self-centred generation?
Is it suffering from profound apathy?
Is this generation just concerned about wars but inside online-games? If so why?................
