A Hippie's Dissertation, Circa Sept. 1972
Posted: November 10th, 2010, 3:44 pm
“A Hippie’s Dissertation, Circa Sept. 1972”
My argument is from what I have gathered from what I read—lived and learned. I spent a lot of time on background info. i have ceased to be I.
Our western society created new repressive problems for itself when the Industrial Revolution got into full swing in the early 1840s and up to 1900.
Because of these problems—maybe as a response to them—new thinkers emerged like: the Fabians, Marx, Hegel, Freud, Einstein, Thoreau, Walt Whitman, influenced by Blake, Eli Whitney, Darwin, & the Wright Bros. (Some were inventors, but they tried to alleviate some bad effects of the factory culture which was raised in fifty years.)... Faster experiences than any other time in history.
Darwin’s theory changed many heads. A new Age of Reason got into full swing. As a result, the so-called “counter culture” began, with roots with the “Goliards” of the latter Middle Ages.
No one likes to work in a crowded factory unless conditions are improved. Unions were organized. Unfortunately, because of the Civil War, Boxer Rebellion, Boer War, and World War 1, many people were literally forced to work under poor conditions. The “Wobblies” resulted, and they envisioned world-wide unions.
Colonialism, as we know, caused a lot of problems, too, viz., slavery and slave wages. Everyone, moreover, was amazed at the new inventions, like the car, and everyone wanted something as “newfangled” as their neighbor. Mass production replaced hand labor. Blimps and airplanes eventually replaced long trains to Alaska. Trains carried passengers, but mostly carried heavy freight. The first great age of the railroads ended in the 1950s.
Moreover, people needed new ways to cope with the problems caused by this hectic “array” of dimestore demand....The dimestore novel was invented. Horatio Alger, Jr., was one of those type authors... Phonograph records and radio captivated many audiences, too.
***
One big problem was alienation from the environment. Other problems were social unrest, political radicalism & censorship. Special interest groups apparently were ‘successful’ at brainwashing the public with advertisements. There was the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Communism which utilized propaganda. Governments added to problems by restricting, to some extent, the reading material of the public. Pornography was against the law. One was supposed to be pleased with one’s material values and at the same time forced to pray in the schools, de facto of course, for the fatherland. New highways bought up all the surrounding land promising great development of capital—just like the previous railroads—for ignorant small businessmen and locals. A person was supposed to be against anything which stood in the way of ‘progress’. The environment was ravaged by air and water pollution... ( Double- standard progress is as good as none at all. )
***
After World War One, a ‘new’ Bohemian Culture came into affect which advocated new morals, votes for women, & better working conditions. But there was still much sexual repression and hypocrisy. A “Lost Generation” jazz age bohemian answer was to watch the river flow “get outta the bag and groove”. But then the 1920s were over and the Great Depression hit. Many people went from riches to rags overnight--folks hoboed around and were on the move... Then World War Two began... “Zoot Suiters” reacted to the draft and to Hitler and his phony race theories... We were on the move again...The repressive fascist Shinto regime in Japan took over the other half of the world...Communism had been around twenty-five years in power, and the world was scared half to death by the dropping of the atomic bombs. Conservative rightist malarkey was rampant after U. S. & the Allies won in World War Two...The “Ban the Bomb” movement began. We even ended up going to the Moon & beyond. Television was watched.
Many frustrated people grew up in the fifties and they reacted. The “Beatniks” or “Beat Generation” emerged along with “be-bop” and “ rock & roll” ...Beatniks believed in individual freedom—but not too much ‘freedom riding’, and were non-violent crusaders for ending “the power struggle of the Cold War”. Integration was their thing to do—ideas of “live and let live” were common. No one wanted to be a social change martyr if they could help it. The ‘underground press’ started at about the same time astronauts went to space.
Some persons involved in these changes were among these names: Kerouac, Owsley, Ginsberg, Leary, Lenny Bruce, Woody Guthrie, & Chuck Berry...They, and others, changed the heads of “bobby-socked” & “crew-cutted squares”. Cultural disobedience became blatant during the “free speech” movement... Okay, so then the “Hippies” came.
The religious fervor of beatnik mystics was switched over to the civil rights and anti-war movements with religious undertones. New religious mystics sprang up in earnest. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and his transcendental meditation, was one of them. Eckankar was another religious movement. Psychological research reached new heights culminating in Parapsychology—ESP. Social disobedience and disaffection were rampant and rightly so. Values were changed and quite a few of them stuck. See table below:
“The Last Hippie’s Alternative Tablo”
“Straight or Square”
1. Conform to status quo
2. Get a successful job
3. Improve your coffee break.
4. “Love thine own kind”.
5. Take things apart.
6. Study what is required.
7. Convert the world.
8. Do what you are told. .
9. Be square, turn off.
"Alternative"
1. Drop out & recreate
2. Liberate your body/mind/sex
3. Make jobs conform
4. Love everyone.
5. Put things together, innovate.
6. Study what's happening.
7. Know yourself & change your own backyard.
8. Remember what you learn.
9. Be there, turn on.
(Author’s note: I wrote the above for a humanities paper around September, 1972. I made some additions & corrections.The software would not allow me
to put the table in adjacent columns as it was in my notes.)
My argument is from what I have gathered from what I read—lived and learned. I spent a lot of time on background info. i have ceased to be I.
Our western society created new repressive problems for itself when the Industrial Revolution got into full swing in the early 1840s and up to 1900.
Because of these problems—maybe as a response to them—new thinkers emerged like: the Fabians, Marx, Hegel, Freud, Einstein, Thoreau, Walt Whitman, influenced by Blake, Eli Whitney, Darwin, & the Wright Bros. (Some were inventors, but they tried to alleviate some bad effects of the factory culture which was raised in fifty years.)... Faster experiences than any other time in history.
Darwin’s theory changed many heads. A new Age of Reason got into full swing. As a result, the so-called “counter culture” began, with roots with the “Goliards” of the latter Middle Ages.
No one likes to work in a crowded factory unless conditions are improved. Unions were organized. Unfortunately, because of the Civil War, Boxer Rebellion, Boer War, and World War 1, many people were literally forced to work under poor conditions. The “Wobblies” resulted, and they envisioned world-wide unions.
Colonialism, as we know, caused a lot of problems, too, viz., slavery and slave wages. Everyone, moreover, was amazed at the new inventions, like the car, and everyone wanted something as “newfangled” as their neighbor. Mass production replaced hand labor. Blimps and airplanes eventually replaced long trains to Alaska. Trains carried passengers, but mostly carried heavy freight. The first great age of the railroads ended in the 1950s.
Moreover, people needed new ways to cope with the problems caused by this hectic “array” of dimestore demand....The dimestore novel was invented. Horatio Alger, Jr., was one of those type authors... Phonograph records and radio captivated many audiences, too.
***
One big problem was alienation from the environment. Other problems were social unrest, political radicalism & censorship. Special interest groups apparently were ‘successful’ at brainwashing the public with advertisements. There was the rise of Fascism, Nazism, and Communism which utilized propaganda. Governments added to problems by restricting, to some extent, the reading material of the public. Pornography was against the law. One was supposed to be pleased with one’s material values and at the same time forced to pray in the schools, de facto of course, for the fatherland. New highways bought up all the surrounding land promising great development of capital—just like the previous railroads—for ignorant small businessmen and locals. A person was supposed to be against anything which stood in the way of ‘progress’. The environment was ravaged by air and water pollution... ( Double- standard progress is as good as none at all. )
***
After World War One, a ‘new’ Bohemian Culture came into affect which advocated new morals, votes for women, & better working conditions. But there was still much sexual repression and hypocrisy. A “Lost Generation” jazz age bohemian answer was to watch the river flow “get outta the bag and groove”. But then the 1920s were over and the Great Depression hit. Many people went from riches to rags overnight--folks hoboed around and were on the move... Then World War Two began... “Zoot Suiters” reacted to the draft and to Hitler and his phony race theories... We were on the move again...The repressive fascist Shinto regime in Japan took over the other half of the world...Communism had been around twenty-five years in power, and the world was scared half to death by the dropping of the atomic bombs. Conservative rightist malarkey was rampant after U. S. & the Allies won in World War Two...The “Ban the Bomb” movement began. We even ended up going to the Moon & beyond. Television was watched.
Many frustrated people grew up in the fifties and they reacted. The “Beatniks” or “Beat Generation” emerged along with “be-bop” and “ rock & roll” ...Beatniks believed in individual freedom—but not too much ‘freedom riding’, and were non-violent crusaders for ending “the power struggle of the Cold War”. Integration was their thing to do—ideas of “live and let live” were common. No one wanted to be a social change martyr if they could help it. The ‘underground press’ started at about the same time astronauts went to space.
Some persons involved in these changes were among these names: Kerouac, Owsley, Ginsberg, Leary, Lenny Bruce, Woody Guthrie, & Chuck Berry...They, and others, changed the heads of “bobby-socked” & “crew-cutted squares”. Cultural disobedience became blatant during the “free speech” movement... Okay, so then the “Hippies” came.
The religious fervor of beatnik mystics was switched over to the civil rights and anti-war movements with religious undertones. New religious mystics sprang up in earnest. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and his transcendental meditation, was one of them. Eckankar was another religious movement. Psychological research reached new heights culminating in Parapsychology—ESP. Social disobedience and disaffection were rampant and rightly so. Values were changed and quite a few of them stuck. See table below:
“The Last Hippie’s Alternative Tablo”
“Straight or Square”
1. Conform to status quo
2. Get a successful job
3. Improve your coffee break.
4. “Love thine own kind”.
5. Take things apart.
6. Study what is required.
7. Convert the world.
8. Do what you are told. .
9. Be square, turn off.
"Alternative"
1. Drop out & recreate
2. Liberate your body/mind/sex
3. Make jobs conform
4. Love everyone.
5. Put things together, innovate.
6. Study what's happening.
7. Know yourself & change your own backyard.
8. Remember what you learn.
9. Be there, turn on.
(Author’s note: I wrote the above for a humanities paper around September, 1972. I made some additions & corrections.The software would not allow me
to put the table in adjacent columns as it was in my notes.)