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Well Todd I couldn't disagree more. You seem, incredibly, to be pro war on the basis that you neighbours partook in it. Nevertheless, to quote Voltaire: "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." It's a testimony to this group that no-one, despite the broad range of opinions expressed here, has been attacked for their views - now THAT'S free speech! Peace, love and enlightenment Gareth > Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 22:54:28 -0800 > From: looppool@cruzio.com > To: ransacker@earthlink.net > CC: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com > Subject: Re: Re: Re: the 60's > > On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, Todd Howell wrote: > > Rick, > > > > I respect your take on things and all of your experiences. They must've been magic at the time. Wonder years indeed. > Thanks for saying it, Todd! > > I remember very little of the era. I got a lot of memories second hand. I lived in fly-over country on a farm at the a** end of nowhere as a child. I remember watching my grandmother watching the casualty reports from Vietnam and fretting. Two neighbors on either side of us were there. One came back in a bag and the other minus three out of four limbs. There were fourteen names on my own high schools Vietnam Memorial. > > > > As with all cultural movements, there were I am sure the true believers and the opportunist free love and drug bunch along for the ride. I don't see the sixties as anything else other than another failed moment in the cultural eons. I had friends who I met through music, including one brilliant solo, Piedmont Bluesman, who also served in Vietnam. He told me stories of hippy girls spitting on him and calling him baby-killer. There were alot of those stories from my veteran friends. Sorry if I can't get on board with a bunch of rich, free love college kids who were fortunate enough to have parents who could buy them deferments while the poor white under-class and minorities got the dirty end of the cultural and economic stick and got p*ssed on for it. The zeitgeist was lovely. The execution terrible. > Oh, I completely agree with you. It wasn't perfect. In fact the > amount of naivete and self entitlement > (and you pegged it: much of it upper middle class) was really > dysfunctional and annoying......like the young > hippy chick who walked into Union Grove Music today at closing and was > put out that she couldn't just come > in and jam on a guitar that she had no intention of ever buy.......ouch!!!). > > It was a very complex time (as all times are for all people) so I was > just reminiscing about some of the > sweet things about that time. I certainly don't have rose colored > spectacles on when thinking about it. > It was an enormously painful time, emotionally, for me in my life at > the time to be really honest. > > As a child of the SST and Sub-Pop eighties punk movements, I became formed into the cynical mold that I am now. I trust no one. Not Fox News. Not MSNBC. Neither left nor right. Neither Wall Street or the Hippy after birth of an era. I admit to being an equal opportunity paranoid who believes that the twenty four hour cable news cycle is essentially the Special Olympics of bull-sh*t with a gigantic black hole of truth and fact at its' center. > > > > I admire and somehow envy your golden time and wish that I was a true believer in that way. I appreciate you sharing that and apologize to the list for a rant from a lurker. > > No man, what I love about this list is that everyone pipes in (or is at > least encouraged to do so). > Your perspective is no more or less valid than mine or anyone's on this > list. > > To me, the key word in all you wrote was 'respectful'. I think if we > all appreciate diversity > and not expect other human beings to share our experiences or our > conclusions and if we honestly > hold respect in our hearts that the world has a chance of improving. > > Glad you un-lurked and look forward to more of your thoughts in the future. > > rick > > Lost But Respectful, > > > > Ransacker > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > >> From: Rick Walker<looppool@cruzio.com> > >> Sent: Dec 22, 2010 4:12 PM > >> To: richard sales<richard@glasswing.com> > >> Cc: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com > >> Subject: Re: Re: the 60's > >> > >> On 7/22/64 11:59 AM, richard sales wrote: > >>> Well... the hippies also used hard core civil disobedience to express > >>> our anger! It was a thrilling time. > >>> The free love and drugs was just a bonus for some of us. For some it > >>> was the core of the experience. They're the ones who went on to Wall > >>> Street and commerce. Truth is, they missed the most glorious boat of > >>> the time. > >> LOL, There is a common joke that goes, "If you remember the 60's, then > >> you weren't there." > >> Sadly, sometimes I think that if you weren't there you just don't get it. > >> > >> It's like Dickens said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of > >> times". > >> > >> American children were probably the most dysfunctional in our National > >> history. Many (and NOT the majority) > >> were angry but they also wanted to buy out of the materialistic culture > >> that had emerged from all the wealth > >> and conformity that characterized our culture at the end of World War 2. > >> > >> I always think it is dangerous to put too much emphasis on a time in > >> one's life when one is first learning about the world and trying to come > >> to terms with it's inequities (and it's delights) but there was some kind > >> of magic in that time, at least for me. > >> > >> The one thing that I do miss about it was the , of course, > >> intrinsically naive, notion that we could > >> somehow change the world........we could eschew the dominant > >> paradigm..........we could make a culture > >> that was less racist, less sexist, less ageist, less sizeist, etc., etc. > >> > >> there was a feeling, artistically, that anything was possible and that, > >> I believe is what led to the explosion > >> in creativity in music and fashion (as tacky as tie dye shirts are to me > >> personally.....lol). > >> > >> that part of it was wonderful where I lived (and at my tender age (I was > >> 14 in '67 but had a sister 4 years older > >> who was taking me to concerts and parties and be-ins all the time----she > >> took my brother and I to > >> the Monterey Pop Festival and to the Filmore Auditorium on my 16th > >> birthday and turned me on, bless her heart) > >> > >> Youth seem far more cynical these days (and I teach them a lot so I have > >> some experience saying this). > >> I suppose we can't blame them after they had to watch George Bush stay > >> in office for eight years and all it represents, psychically and > >> politically. > >> > >> I always wish I could give them a little tiny bit of that naive idealism > >> we had at that time........ > >> .....that sense that anything is possible. > >> > >> It was a good think even though some of my memory about that time is dim > >> (lol). > >> > >> rick walker > >> > |