Re: A Sad Anniversary
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Perhaps it was an excuse to party for you, but it was also a watershed moment for the history of radical politics in the US. It's all fine and good to sit back and be crotchety about naive the kids were, but the late 1960s was probably the closest the US has ever come since the civil war to widespread insurrection against the government.
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That is quite clearly true. However the reality of it was much closer to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" than it was to actually wanting to change anything for the vast majority. I never made it to the West Coast back then, so I cant speak with first hand knowledge about them (except the ones who came to Woodstock), but the east coast/Columbia based group was far more focused on the benefits than on the friends. The image of politically aware and sensitive hippy's walking around with "Das Kapital" in one pocket and "Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" in the other is highly romanticized and great for Peter Boyle's, Peter Fondas and Jack Nicholsons careers, but it is far from the reality.
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