Lowering the Boom on Things Past

Kiss the ‘60s goodby: Some nostalgia busters have arrived and are suiting up to make Baby Boomers’ beloved sentimentality a thing of the past.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Time--a group formed by John Kenney, 25, of New York; Bruce Elliot, 27, of Los Angeles; and Eugene Dillenburg, 29, of Chicago--has proclaimed Aug. 14-20 as “Boycott the Past Week.”

During that period, the group wants Americans to “forgo the past,” Kenney says. Don’t “listen to oldies radio, watch movies or TV series set in the past, read articles written about the past and when you see an advertisement that’s set to ‘60s music or totes a ‘60s theme, change the channel or turn the page.”

His group doesn’t have anything against the ‘60s, “it’s just the ‘80s preoccupation” with that period “that upsets us,” Kenney says, explaining that “if nostalgia is left unchecked, people will begin to neglect the issues that face us in the present. People are using nostalgia as an escape from the problems that plague our society today.”

A ‘Glamorous’ Time

Lee Gold, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at USC, agrees, observing: “The past has been romanticized. The good ol’ days, which were not so good anyway, are easier to deal with because the present isn’t comfortable for us. The ‘60s were when this generation came of age. So as we get older, those times seem more glamorous to us because of our youth.”

Kenney says his group, with its campaign, is seeking two results: “People will see how hard it is to avoid images of the past, and we hope some people will see how consumed they are and put an end to their misery.”

What do group members find especially annoying? “Oh, the American Express commercials moving to the tunes of ‘My Girl’ and ‘Be My Baby’,” Kenney says. “TV shows like ‘The Wonder Years’ and ‘China Beach’; miniskirts; Batman T-shirts; and classic rock.”

Since it began last March, the association has found a receptive ear among the media, receiving coverage in local newspapers and broadcast outlets, USA Today, the “Today Show” and “CBS This Morning.” The publicity the group has received also has prompted heavy mail from those who want to join. The association claims it has 280 members nationwide, as well as in Canada and Australia.