Deckman,

Yeah, discrimination works both ways, but what matters is who has the power. There were many more bars in SF in the 70s where I would have been welcomed than there were where that bartender would have been welcomed. See, I'm white. I can always go back to my power base. He didn't have that option, or at least the base he could go back to didn't have much power.

And yeah, the "agitators" can "exploit" these situations,but unless there is a real issue and no one's dealing with it they don't get far if exploitation is all they want. People aren't stupid. They know when they're being used. And if they don't think that what they get out of the transaction is worth it, they won't allow it. Case in point, last Saturday's march in SF. The whole panoply of left "fractions" was there, and they all spoke their pieces and passed out their leaflets, but most people pretty much tolerated or ignored them and marched for their own reasons. Many others felt the "exploitation" and stayed home.

Yeah, most of us are better off. I haven't seen any signs that people are responding to Ashcroft, etc., the way they responded to HUAC and McCarthy. We have a sense of entitlement now that we didn't have then.