Quote
flacnvinyl
Last week I setup a 5.1 surround sound system in my basement. Brand new speakers, nice full stacks in the back of the room... No subwoofer, no center channel. Essentially a quadrophonic sound system..

I put on Gimme Shelter for the first time in years... Watched it start to finish. I know, its a small part of an isolated incident of blah blah blah. The "happy" moments in the film, such as when Jefferson Airplane starts playing and all the hippies are dancing their asses off and tripping balls, are amazingly insightful. THAT, is the quintessential ideal of the 60s. Immediate gratification. It only gives benefit for the moment and has NO lasting consequence.When did any acid trip have a lasting impact on your life 20 years later?
It didn't.
It lasted for about 6 hours, only two of that peaking. Then it was over and you woke up back in reality.

What I see in Gimme Shelter is a bunch of idiots putting up the peace sign every time violence erupted. Saying 'peace' doesn't stop anything. If your wife were being raped would you walk up and say 'peace man' and just stand there? No, you'd be called to action. Heavy handed action.





In short... Idealism. Thats all I can figure out from the 1960s. 'Hope' 'Change' Its meaningless without a spine.

If this is all you get out of the 60's then your leaving out a whole lot. Gimme Shelter is an interesting and insightful movie, but it is only a snapshot of a part of the culture. If you haven't read it I reccomend the Autobiography of Martin Luther King JR. (He never actually wrote one, Its compiled of his own essays though). It has some very good insights about ideas and action, which you speak of.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 2008-12-12 09:30 by ryanpow.

Back at ya, Edith Grove!

1. I believe that any two words can be used in the same sentence.

2. I believe the 60s generation fell short of and, in some cases, abandoned its goals.

3. I believe every generation is self-absorbed.

4. If you want to break it down into decades, I can't think of a decade since the 60s where the youth was a better force in the world

No, that is not 'all I get out of the 60s'. I thought we were talking about whether the 60s generation attach too much importance... etc... I was not writing an essay on the merits of 60s ideologies and movements, but rather commenting on the typical hippy movement in general, specifically of the mid-late sixties.

The new age bohemian culture is not relegated to the 1960s my friends. I work in the local music scene and have for quite some time. My passion is music, but I have a day job so that I can afford to be a fan.

I can't even begin to tell you how many deadbeats I run into on a regular basis. The hipster area of town is replete with lazy modern day bohemians who contribute nothing to society.

They don't have jobs.
They live in communes together because they don't have aspirations to improve in life.
They look like sh1t and act like they're styling it on purpose.
Every bit of their money goes toward buying pot. (I have nothing against the herb, but if it becomes the focal point of your existence then you have some serious priority problems.)

My point is that these jobless bums are at every anti-war, pro-vegan, gay-rights, pro-choice rally in town.
They are anti-establishment to the core, yet they feed off society in every way possible.
These people are the bums claiming unemployment from MY tax dollars.

Not everyone in the 60s had these ideals, but the hippy movement did. They (the 60s generation) did not achieve the united utopian ideals they strove for. Instead is petered off when the responsibilities of life set in. Modern day bohemianism is unfortunately much uglier, or maybe I just don't know the 60s...

Or maybe I'm becoming more and more like my parents... Maybe I like working a day job and getting married and looking forward to having children. Maybe I don't want to get divorced. Maybe I don't want to use drugs all my life and can instead enjoy a beer with my girl on occasion. I like my country (the US) the way it is. I take that back... I like it the way it was about 12 years ago. Still, I like the United States. I don't want drastic reform. I don't want global this/that.

I just want to live my life, and I'm sick n tired of every hippy bum acting like "the system" is the problem. "The system" works. The bums are just too lazy to work a job and reap the rewards of hard work. I just fear for the day when all these kids wakeup and realize that they've pissed their lives away doing nothing. From the books I've read, that is very much what the parents of the 60s generation felt. The kids have got it wrong.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008-12-13 03:51 by flacnvinyl.

Homer: " I was a failure as a hippie"
Lisa: "No Dad, your lazy, self-righteous, and the soles of your feet are filthy."
Homer: "Yeah, I'll walk thru anything"