Heyyy cool thread...very glad this conversation is happening. I believe the multigenerational cultural revolution is upon us right now, if we all can just drop the cynicism and dissapointment of past losses and future fears we can regain our sense of unity as americans and progressive human beings of all ages...The social pendulum swings both ways...after all these years of crappy Neo-Con Hell, the public mood is turning more liberal again... American kids have had a million more distractions and obfuscations and internalizations increased every decade...the 60s were more politically/socially extroverted/activated than the last 2 generations raised on computers...bipolar disorders and ADD have increased exponentially across the decades...geeks R us. Plus, Ye Olde Love Generation had Sandoz and the Beatles and religious ecstasies aplenty to open your hearts & counteract the sociopolitical collapse happening around you...cause we your kids and grandkids really have not had the same experience at all, we all were born cynics since then, though weve had lots of exposure to world spirtual culture earlier generations didnt have. But...The Revolution will not be Televised!! Cause if it was it would have to be sponsored by some corporation...this means you may not see it on TV or read about it happening but its happening...
i remember the day when i was in a war.it was about a week ago when that whippersnapper suck all my battleships in 10 turns and he took over my chair. kids today there way to good at battleships =[
Oh my god, Afro-Hippy you just said what i was thinking. They are getting way to good, yesterday i was playing chess with my grandson and he kicked my ass, how embarrassing. Dont you guys agree? They are way to good, what happened to good old bowls.
My ZigZag paper’s worth: (apologies for the long post) There are numerous methods known to dull the human mind (and no I’m not talking about bad drugs! ), and every method is being applied in schools. Negativity destroys the mind by its lessening of memories and blackening the logic that relies on memories to function. Science has known since the 19th century of the good effects of positivity and the bad effects of negativity to the health of mind and body, and yet the American public schools banned positive topics while promoting negativity. The method of teaching words, known as the reading triangle, should begin with the student first being allowed to observe the object, and then hear the word for the object, and then see how the word is spelled. Today’s schools teach the word’s sound and spelling but never allow the student to observe what the word symbolizes. This one method alone is sufficient to cause a mind to be incapable of rational thought. Don’t take my word for it, everyone should research the psychology themselves, to see for themselves what the effects are on a child who is tortured with sleep deprivation, sensorial deprivation, word-education, negativity, forced social conformity, banning of the teachings of ethics and morals, and the anti-natural requirement of waiting until an age beyond the natural cycle before the person can marry. The list is long of how to destroy a mind, and all of the methods are employed by the public schools. Any short-coming of today’s youth is not wholly their fault. The new generation lives in a gutter-world of filth, negativity, war, violence, ignorance, consumerism, laws against every freedom, laws against human dignity, laws against human rights, and no hope for a hero figure to lead by example. Today’s society is far worse that what we endured in the 60s and 70s. There are no spiritual gurus as were in the 60s, no reverence for religious piety, no new thought to break free from the old, no lofty transcendent ideals, pretty much nothing except junk electronics. In the 60s I watched as friends were sent off to Nam, and of the few that made it back alive, most were missing body parts. By the age of 18 I had already outlived most all of my friends. The establishment does not care about anyone or anything, the establishment only wants each person to be a consumer and to be willing to die to defend the corporate profit margin. It is my opinion (note opinion ) that our youth would profit best by simply being told that it is ok to reject the system, to take charge of their own lives, to say NO to war, and to delve into the experiencing of productive positive attitudes and thoughts. It is ok to learn new things like Zen enlightenment and Christian spirituality and Native American spirituality and yoga and all the other things that every generation must learn anew all by itself. Just take one thing at a time, put it into the mind and heart, and let it be the guide. Positivity of speech, thought, and behavior is good for everything, and it is verified as good by all religions, all philosophies, and even the man’s science. It sounded corny 40 years ago, and it still sounds corny now, but love is the way. Love is logical, love it right, love is smart, love is the only way.
sigh...I feel your pain. When the war in Iraq first started I was in college and tried to get a peace movement going on our little campus. It went bust. The problem? We had lots of enthusiastic people come to the first few meetings, pamphlet handouts, ect....then attendance dropped off, people got busy, distracted, or it was just too hard to combat the College Republicans or the jeers of people driving by our protests....it was quite disheartening and eventually our group had to disband from lack of interest and participation I think there are a few factors at work here..... 1.) Entitlement: I think people my age and younger have a huge sense of entitlement to material comforts and such. Our consumerist culture, advertising, ect. encourages this to keep us buying more stuff of course. But sooo many young people I know don't just WANT the new car...they feel the have a RIGHT to it. And with that sense of entitlement comes a whatever get's the job done mentality and as long as I get what I want I don't care mentality.. 2.) Lack of Responsibility: I have noticed that there is a big "It's not my fault" kind of vibe going around. Between the lawsuits for spilling coffee on yourself and the culture of victimhood (Daddy didn't love me so I don't have to care) which is also a big contributor. 3.) Desensitization: The gore and muck on TV and video games (including ones about the IRAQ war ALREADY!!!) are really over-the-top...but if war is portrayed as a game...than what's the big deal? Just my two cents.....
"Whats wrong with kids today?" That was the question. Haven't read the whole thread and it looks good. Read page one and here's what i think. Lots of great kids out there. Some are messed up. Don't have a clue what it means to be a hippy, thinking its limited to drugs and sex. i went into the hippy chat room a week ago and some kid PMd me. i told him I'm a grandmother, he asked me if I ever want to have sex, let him know. I left, disappointed in this modern day hippy teen. The point i keep stumbling into is that these days most kids think being a hippie was "all about" sex and drugs, little about human rights, fighting for peace, disallowing harm to another (i read about rape at some of the recreated Woodstocks) etc. It appears there is a lot of misinformation out there regarding what it means to be a hippy, & how to act when trying to be one. Now other kids, they respond different. I think we can't put them all together because kids are all very different. I've run into some of the sweetest, most caring hippie teeens. But this thread is about "Whats' wrong with kids today." Thats why my answer focused there.
They can't ~ they're sheep, and they aren't going to let the facts dazzle them. That, btw, is the voice of experience and if you'd like to have some of those 'experiences' just find a forum that is dominated by 13 - 30 year olds. They are a trip, and not an especially good one...
In the '60s the kids had a good motivator . . . they stood a good chance of getting conscripted, inadequately trained, sent to the Nam, and coming home in a box! Today's kids, including my own 20 & 21 y.o. sons, have been pampered their entire lives and are not at risk of being put in Harm's Way.
Sigh... I read about rape at the original Woodstock as well. So I don't really get what you're trying to say with that. That the youth back then probably were fucked up just as much? Or that lots of kids back then also didn't get the point of what a hippie was and just joined in on the fun? I think both are right, by the way. People always were sheep. If there's a new trend there's always lots of people, especially youth, going into it. It was the same in the sixties. Difference is it felt like a really positive trend. If people weren't sheep there wasn't even a sixties hippie culture. Look how it faded, it was just another (and one of the first and most significant countercultures, that's why it still feels so special to lots of people I guess) subculture/scene/trend. When the time is right and there are good motivators that trigger people and it's something new and appealing lots of 'sheep' so to say are willing to be part of it.
Whats wrong with the youth they are lost in haze of social drug abuse. Everything is sexualized. And the Rap and MEtal industries are turning their brains to porridge.
Replace 'rap and metal industries' with blues and psych rock and you sound like a conservative parent in the sixties.
yah but the only difference is that Blues and Psycadelic Rock was actually 'REAL' Music. And Sexual Liberation was prominent but it wasn't in your "face" everywhere you looked in movies and tv shows... And finally drug abuse... well... honnestly who gives a shit, All I know is that if it was me I would keep it natural if you know what I mean Times have changed, and although it seems the same this present day problem is worse.
Kids are now more into jap imports then appreciating big old big blocks, thats the problem. Its all about the BHP!
A! Perhaps, the conservative parents were right, if today we hear the same from a 25-year-old member of the hippy forum?? If we couldn't bear it from our "conservative parents" back then, have we learned our lesson and are we humble enough to take the same pill from our children, I wander? Or, do we presume our being right in the first place? Is THIS part of the way of hippy?(for some reason formatting is not working for me now)
but the sixties music didn't glorify the lifestyle that we're trying to destroy. You know why there aren't any youth movements? because someone has already thought out everything for us. We've had our futures planned for us since the day we were born. We read about the 60's in books. We find the causes, history, personalities, and failures, all neatly laid out and preanalyzed. It's the same with anything. Everything interesting is printed or packaged and given(usually sold) to us. You know why the internet is huge? Because it's the one place that hasn't been conquered and controlled. It's the final frontier of discovery the unknown.
Well if it was not so much about sex and drugs, then, perhaps, mass orgies in the public squares was not the best way of showing what hippie were all about. Don't you think so? I mean, if being a hippie was much about intellectual and spiritual things, about changing yourself and so on, then, perhaps, public preaching would serve the cause much better? Public meditations, instead of public sex, I might suggest? But as it was, they naturally think drugs and sex played the key role in that. What would you expect? Sexual drive is the strongest sensation we humans have. It is either you control it, or it controls you; but who can control it in his teens? Being driven by mere animalistic powers is humiliating to many still (although spoiled, humans remain humans). A problem! ... And here, the magic word FREEDOM puts everything "in its place". Of course: slaving to sexual desires is uncool, but displaying freedom is nearly heroic. Well, it doesn't seem to work today: they don't have a single romantic bone left to them and freedom is not interesting. Just after I served a bitter pill, let me compensate with a peace of wisdom (borrowed, of course): Where there are too many choices, people may be lacking real purpose. (Sorry, I translated it from another language, into which it was translated from another still).
You have sons of 20 and 21 yo? If your age displayed is correct, then it is cool! Means you got them , when you were older , than I am now. Sounds inspiring to me, you know;-) I don't have any, yet. But I've not given up on that either...:-D (added later)Oh, and I'm sure you still have your "reward" from your sons? After all, we can't expect our children to be exactly what we want them. It is their decision to make, and yes, they are product of their age, too. However, to me it is kind of positive to see, that they still have the same spiritual needs we had and that they also realize these. Now the only "trifling" matter remains -- to satisfy such needs. I found the Bible doctrine to be of great help when properly studied and used -- but it would be against the forum rules to advertise it here. So I'm just mentioning it as a matter of fact.