Full Version: The Age of Rebellion!
When I was in my early teens, I was an avid fan of the British graphic-novelists. (So hip! So cynical! Candy, to rot the brain of a child's mind, but nonetheless delicious.) The first, I believe, was The Sandman, everyone's perennial favorite, but my second was a good sight more profane, and perhaps, eye-opening, for all its profanity. The Invisibles.
When I read this, I was thrilled. Suddenly, an entirely new culture had opened up to me, a counterculture, no less! The perfect stage for teenage rebellion--an entire subulture of individuals who raged against the norm.
THen, I did a bit of research. And then a bit more. The series, I found, was not an informative piece, but instead a tribute, to a bygone age. There would be, I found to my chagrin, no allies in my battle against the Man. No trendy, transcendalist LSD-users, filled with secret knowledge of the infinite. My disappointment was such, that I locked myself in my room for several days, until I found some other novel to read. Stephen King was popular back then, I believe.
The counterculture movement had ended , years before I had ever been born.
I've heard several reasons for why this happened, but never the same one twice. So, I'd like yours.
Whatever happened to the Counter-Culture movement of the late 60s/early 70s?
When I read this, I was thrilled. Suddenly, an entirely new culture had opened up to me, a counterculture, no less! The perfect stage for teenage rebellion--an entire subulture of individuals who raged against the norm.
THen, I did a bit of research. And then a bit more. The series, I found, was not an informative piece, but instead a tribute, to a bygone age. There would be, I found to my chagrin, no allies in my battle against the Man. No trendy, transcendalist LSD-users, filled with secret knowledge of the infinite. My disappointment was such, that I locked myself in my room for several days, until I found some other novel to read. Stephen King was popular back then, I believe.
The counterculture movement had ended , years before I had ever been born.
I've heard several reasons for why this happened, but never the same one twice. So, I'd like yours.
Whatever happened to the Counter-Culture movement of the late 60s/early 70s?
Whatever happened to the Counter-Culture movement of the late 60s/early 70s?
This is an oversimplification, but I think the killings at Kent State had a lot to do with the demise of the Counter-Culture. The draft was also discontinued in 1973.
At some point I want to read Tom Brokaw's new book, Boom. I think it might give us a little more detailed answers.
This is an oversimplification, but I think the killings at Kent State had a lot to do with the demise of the Counter-Culture. The draft was also discontinued in 1973.
At some point I want to read Tom Brokaw's new book, Boom. I think it might give us a little more detailed answers.
I don’t think the counter culture ever went away. I think it just took on a new form along with the idea that capitalism kind of grew into it. I also find it funny looking at "hippies" driving the latest and greatest from say Mercedes, for the most part though its Subaru 
I don’t know if this is a autocatalytic process from say the melting pot aspect of American culture, as it would seem the melting pot is sort of ruled by say capitalism in America. So this then entails to me that lawful survival also falls along such lines.
I think another point is that mass communication is really a beast. I mean look at the internet and the fact you have presidential political debates or related taking place on youtube. You can find a broad amount of variance to American culture out on youtube for example but it all falls typically along with same like facets. I think a simple example would be the game resident evil. I happened to enjoy playing that game before it became a cultural phenomena all on its own with movies and what not. I think this happens with a lot of stuff, more so in time. You can also look at say the impact technology brings to bear, say the Ipod, or the Ieverything anymore in some form or another. The impact of the internet alone is tremendous and has brought along in my opinion a new state of reality globally, much like electricity.
So overall I guess my final answer(no pun intended) would be that say for Iraq for instance you have a larger percentage of people with opinions out in the open on the issue then is typically with a lot of issues. It becomes more of a counter culture due to the fact that well its against the powers that be at a governmental level. I think like the internet politics needs a voteban function that the populous can install, right now we don’t have that and well you get four years of what you get unless you can get an impeachment which is purely political for the most part.
I don’t know if this is a autocatalytic process from say the melting pot aspect of American culture, as it would seem the melting pot is sort of ruled by say capitalism in America. So this then entails to me that lawful survival also falls along such lines. I think another point is that mass communication is really a beast. I mean look at the internet and the fact you have presidential political debates or related taking place on youtube. You can find a broad amount of variance to American culture out on youtube for example but it all falls typically along with same like facets. I think a simple example would be the game resident evil. I happened to enjoy playing that game before it became a cultural phenomena all on its own with movies and what not. I think this happens with a lot of stuff, more so in time. You can also look at say the impact technology brings to bear, say the Ipod, or the Ieverything anymore in some form or another. The impact of the internet alone is tremendous and has brought along in my opinion a new state of reality globally, much like electricity.
So overall I guess my final answer(no pun intended) would be that say for Iraq for instance you have a larger percentage of people with opinions out in the open on the issue then is typically with a lot of issues. It becomes more of a counter culture due to the fact that well its against the powers that be at a governmental level. I think like the internet politics needs a voteban function that the populous can install, right now we don’t have that and well you get four years of what you get unless you can get an impeachment which is purely political for the most part.
Whatever happened to the Counter-Culture movement of the late 60s/early 70s?
Read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. Review the history of communes and the 1980s turn toward conservatism.
The Vietnam war ended, the protesters got jobs, families were started. But there are still hippie gatherings going on and a tribal idea, drugs sex and R&R. Maybe its drum circles these days, as the R&R isn't all that good. It's for the young mostly.
The counter-culture was actually an invention of journalists who saw a generation that wasn't getting the materialistic side of things, but were in reality heading that way anyhow. Then the journalists invented the yuppie who got a hair cut, wore a tie and snorted coke. The kids grew up.
Health food became big business, the drug war started, the pharmaceuticals got their TV spots, the newer generation got fat and hooked on computer games, Timothy Leary died, a lot of others died, the journalists got onto some other bandwagon, and there you go. It was a long strange journey with most of it being an illusion.
Rode through this period on the back of a motorcycle and with a whole different idea of what it's all about. Not sorry I did either. Whatever society one gets into, the pressures are pretty much the same to conform and join in the group-think with some kind of mystical leader at the helm. I wanted to be paid to do that, and so got the corporate jobs, cubicles, that sort of thing. My brother used to hit me with being a yuppie, but you had to have been a hippie first. Never really fit into the hippie society. Wore my hair and beard long for a while until I got sick of it. That was an interesting lesson in how people treat you based on appearance.
The country was moving from the rust belt to high tech, figured that would last a lot longer than it did. Who knew that India would get high tech? Or that distributed systems would actually take over, TCP/IP, little personal computers, corporate office stinks versus techies in jeans and Ts?
Well. Things changed. But when you look at it from here, it's obvious that LSD brought in the psychedelia, Vietnam brought in the speed, the pot had always been around but got more popular, cocaine really is for horses and not for men, and people, when it comes right down to it, want what people have always wanted. There was no counter-culture, just kids trying out different things, most of which failed. And most were just trying to be cool with that particular kind of bling. People grow out of it and head toward other bling like houses in the 'burbs, kids in the cradles, dogs on the porch, cars in the garage.
Then the kids grow up, the dogs kick off, the cars crap out, the house gets sold. You grow old and die.
What counter-culture? It was a party, a lot of it pretty darn sloppy too. Had a good time with it mostly, but the really important parts were spent alone on the back of a motorcycle, screw society and all its demands, including whatever it was that hippies were trying to accomplish. But I gotta say that as experiences go, it was more interesting than others I can think of, such as working 35 years doing the same thing for the same outfit, retiring and fading away. Rust never sleeps, eh?
Read The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe. Review the history of communes and the 1980s turn toward conservatism.
The Vietnam war ended, the protesters got jobs, families were started. But there are still hippie gatherings going on and a tribal idea, drugs sex and R&R. Maybe its drum circles these days, as the R&R isn't all that good. It's for the young mostly.
The counter-culture was actually an invention of journalists who saw a generation that wasn't getting the materialistic side of things, but were in reality heading that way anyhow. Then the journalists invented the yuppie who got a hair cut, wore a tie and snorted coke. The kids grew up.
Health food became big business, the drug war started, the pharmaceuticals got their TV spots, the newer generation got fat and hooked on computer games, Timothy Leary died, a lot of others died, the journalists got onto some other bandwagon, and there you go. It was a long strange journey with most of it being an illusion.
Rode through this period on the back of a motorcycle and with a whole different idea of what it's all about. Not sorry I did either. Whatever society one gets into, the pressures are pretty much the same to conform and join in the group-think with some kind of mystical leader at the helm. I wanted to be paid to do that, and so got the corporate jobs, cubicles, that sort of thing. My brother used to hit me with being a yuppie, but you had to have been a hippie first. Never really fit into the hippie society. Wore my hair and beard long for a while until I got sick of it. That was an interesting lesson in how people treat you based on appearance.
The country was moving from the rust belt to high tech, figured that would last a lot longer than it did. Who knew that India would get high tech? Or that distributed systems would actually take over, TCP/IP, little personal computers, corporate office stinks versus techies in jeans and Ts?
Well. Things changed. But when you look at it from here, it's obvious that LSD brought in the psychedelia, Vietnam brought in the speed, the pot had always been around but got more popular, cocaine really is for horses and not for men, and people, when it comes right down to it, want what people have always wanted. There was no counter-culture, just kids trying out different things, most of which failed. And most were just trying to be cool with that particular kind of bling. People grow out of it and head toward other bling like houses in the 'burbs, kids in the cradles, dogs on the porch, cars in the garage.
Then the kids grow up, the dogs kick off, the cars crap out, the house gets sold. You grow old and die.
What counter-culture? It was a party, a lot of it pretty darn sloppy too. Had a good time with it mostly, but the really important parts were spent alone on the back of a motorcycle, screw society and all its demands, including whatever it was that hippies were trying to accomplish. But I gotta say that as experiences go, it was more interesting than others I can think of, such as working 35 years doing the same thing for the same outfit, retiring and fading away. Rust never sleeps, eh?
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