Huffington Post – by Perry Block
I can’t exactly say that I’d like to go back and relive the era of the 60s.
Then again, right now I’m experiencing a different kind of 60s, and between the two I’ll take the first one — cannabis-stained knuckles, fingers, and hands — hands-down!
It seems incredible that it’s been over 40 years since those days of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, and for me, well, two out of three wasn’t bad. Much has changed in our culture since then, including our language. Many of the old phrases are still around, but the meanings aren’t quite the same.
Ready, Baby Boomers?
Far Out! — Once an exclamation of excitement, wonderment, and radical possibilities. Now for many Boomers, a belt size.
Roach Clip — Once a tweezers-like holder for marijuana cigarette remnants. Now the realization that your exterminator has overcharged the hell out of you.
Right On! — Once a cry of solidarity and brotherhood. Now a shout out that your chip shot on the 11th has managed to trickle up to the green.
Establishment — Once the power, the Man, the established order you had to fight. Now the hot corner bistro you can’t afford.
Oh Wow! — Once an exclamation of joy and exhilaration. Now an apt response when you open your cable bill.
Freak Flag — Once a proud spiritual badge that proclaimed you were a long-haired member of the counter-culture. Now a United States flag with 49 stars.
The Man — Once the government, the authority, the one calling the shots. Now the bride in the wedding you attended last week.
No. 9 — Once an enigmatic phrase in a John Lennon authored recording by the Beatles. Now the second and generally one of the weakest jokes in a Letterman Top Ten List.
Power to the People! — Once a cry for freedom, justice, and equality. Now the option to select your electricity supplier.
Getting Off Now — Once the pleasured sensation that a drug experience was about to begin. Now an exhausted goodbye to your co-worker as you exit the 6:15 out of Center City.
Heavy — Once a heart-felt designation of relevance and truth. Now just about anything we Baby Boomers try to lift.
In thinking back to the Sixties, much of the language we spoke was indeed self-indulgent and pretentious. But a bit of it was more like Yiddish; that is, able to express thoughts and feelings in a word or phrase that couldn’t be expressed effectively any other way, for which there was and is no equivalent in formal English.
Or anywhere else.
And with all its faults and foibles, there was and is no equivalent — and never will be — for the 1960s.
This post previously appeared in Boomeon.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/perry-block-/1960s-slang_b_5434295.html
“And with all its faults and foibles, there was and is no equivalent — and never will be — for the 1960s.”
I disagree. I don’t think there was anything very special about the decade, or the counter-culture movement, but it did inspire a propaganda campaign to return things to conformity in the early eighties.
The great impetus for the counter-culture movement was the draft, and that’s why we have an all-volunteer army now, even if it means hiring mercenaries to fill the ranks. Dragging kids out of their home and sending them to Vietnam was more than the population would stand for, so the pro-war propaganda campaign began, and the national mood was systematically shifted to more conservative ideals, and the promotion of war. (anti-war TV shows like M*A*S*H were replaced by “Tour of Duty”, for example. “Private Benjamin” and Stripes” were released by Hollywood because they made war comical, but resistance was given to Coppola in making and releasing “Apocalypse Now”) War was glamorized in the media, and any remnant of the hippie era was met with verbal attacks of “the sixties are over”. Everyone was tired of the ultra-liberalism, and the eighties saw a pendulum swing from the end of the hippie era, to the beginning of a new conservative era.
The C.I.A. got the entire generation stoned, and that helped, but I don’t think you would ever have had a nationwide “counter-culture”movement without the draft, and the Vietnam war. Every generation of kids invents their own music, crazy lingo, hairstyles, and dress codes, because that’s how kids rebel against authority in general, but without the war, and especially the draft, the sixties would have gone unnoticed.
“without the war, and especially the draft, the sixties would have gone unnoticed”
Well! Jolly Roger! You are way off…the 60’s actually began just at the end of the 50’s and that time period, the 50’s was taken up by the Korean war, of which the american populace did not approve…of it!….
The 60’s was so much more than the Viet Nam War, of which I was drafted into and went into combat in 1969……..WAY…. after the bay of pigs, JFK killing, Malcolm X murder, martin luther King Jr, murder and RFK murder….and an honest historian could write a bucket full of memories of the 1960’s without making a big deal of the arts, the music, the hippies….and the enduring side glances of the WW2 Vets….so don’t know where you are coming from but to maybe, have something to say.
Sit back, take a breath, and let everything, and I mean everything, sink in rbeason. I don’t want to start a war here and I believe you, I, and JR, along with anyone else who wants to “throw their 2 cents worth in” could explore new depths in discussing this issue.
Millard you didn’t start a war, JR didn’t start a war, I didn’t start a war………there isn’t one…
My comments are most of them, are with a deep breath before I put them out there….what’s wrong with asking a person of their age during the 1960’s? And a comment how accurate or not, is alright too….i am after no one one this site……….No One
nothing wrong with the exchange of ideas either….Peace there Millard
Let us continue then with exploring our thoughts of the decade which I believe changed America more than any other in our history.
I think you are correct…it did!Henry doesn’t much like long writings in the comment section….Think he believes got something to say and i will put it up under your name…as an essay…..so I won’t write much….but …..” in our history” well at least in our lives and our parents lives……and why is that? Civil matters came to a for-front right then, just after the end of WW2 which consumed all our parents, grandparents energies, and money in that our economy stalled, being of a war economy…and the 50’s opened up with promise, investment and so forth and then came the realization of class, the civil rights struggle and all the rest of the 60’s and damned good music to go with it………….my best there Millard……my best…….that’s enough of me right now
No doubt that a lot of things were happening, but the Dead Kennedy’s, Bay of Pigs, and people not supporting the Korean war didn’t result in any widespread counter-culture movement. Life went on as usual with no significant social changes.
As far as I know, the “hippies” only appeared after the draft began.
(and it’s not an argument or “war” — it’s a civilized discussion between people who disagree, and this process is necessary to everyone’s learning process, including mine)
absolutely jolly roger….its a continuation…you see the hippies were a take off in large numbers of the beat-nics of the 1950’s……..why were (beatnics) there? to provoke social reform of the civil liberties being violated in their times…
also you seem to be lumping all into one…”dead Kennedys, Bay of Pigs and not supporting the Korean war” all into one.
When in fact, not withstanding the civil rights issue, these as you mention were, distinct and long time removal from one another….in terms of the calandar…….OH, tws not decades, but neither was it similutanious either…for give the spelling..you still didn’t answer, what was your age during the 1960’s…My asking is not to demonize you or to even bring it up………I think, the age you were then may say something to your view of those times……….that’s it…
Mine says that…I was 23 when drafted into Nam 1968 and had gone through the 60’s as a college fresh in the fall of 63 and this happened to Kennedy…live in one of my classes via radio……….
and here we are,……………good to speak to you
Well it’s possible that the fact of you being a young adult during that time makes the decade seem more important to you than it is when compared to other times throughout history. Being a child during the 1960s might give me a more objective view.
The decade we’re in right now has many more important things happening: economic collapse, commie take-over, murdered journalists, killer cops, gun control madness, mass spying, etc. etc., and at least as many Americans are angry about these things — but there’s no obvious counter-culture or mass social movement growing out of it because many people are able to ignore it, and many are deceived.
Start drafting kids and sending them to Afghanistan and you’ll see them out in the streets. As long as it’s an all-volunteer army, many people can ignore the war.
I would not say, the 60’s decade was more important….than the decades after it. I think that decade showed, and upon it’s immediate past from the end of WW2, what was to come…and here we are and this now our time is the most important…is what I m saying….I do say, in your and my lifetime, the latter 50’s through out the 60’s showed our today future….
Damn right I will say that to anybody…
Fact. Having been there, it resounds to the high hills….Here we are….the whole ball of wax, Cia and all, we are here….and right now this is our most important moment cause we are yet of the living…………….
hippies did not begin after the Us military draft began…………Hog Wash………….they were there befor even jfk got killed……….right about that time! Why: cause they were an extension of the Beat-nics…thats why…….and those people? well they protested the civil liberties being gobbled up by government…thats why
Wow JR, your take on the sixties and culture are well thought out and, by the way, articulate in the formulation of your stance. I do agree with your take although I believe the counter-culture movement was constantly under attack and finally overtaken (after more than just a few deaths of it’s most prominent leaders by “drug overdoses”), after that, it’s been pretty much corporate sponsored bands on the radio with an occasional band with true talent breaking through once in awhile just to kick those corporate, Hollywood media managers right in the gonads. The anti-war movement was THE issue of the decade and pretty much dominated the counter-culture movement which brought us all the torment and unrest represented in the music of the time.
Thanks, Millard, and yeah — they definitely clamped down hard on the media after that. I can’t even listen to the radio anymore.
and I mentioned nothing about the civil rights struggle…….nothing!
What was your age during the 1960’s Jolly Roger?
I was a child during the sixties — and the civil rights struggle was independent from the hippie counter-culture movement. Naturally most hippies supported the civil rights movement, but the movements began separately, and had completely different leaders. (much of it Zionist-backed to encourage racial strife)
absolutely true…….Zionist backed………..certainly
well what do you think we in america have had since 1913?
Course it is………..
my thoughts..hippy, counter culture…was not a movement….in and of itself…it was a response…a continuation of what was……….of cultural movements prior….
in my thought………….Absolutely not………JR……..the civil rights struggle was not distinct from the hippie counter culture movement…………..fact the hippie culture could not have been there without the civil rights issue………
Is the hippie culture only on that one issue? No…I can imagine today…..People when discussing hippie’s can only think of bell bottoms, draft dodgers, pot smoking thugs,non persons in the work force, ill educated hanger-ons and the like….when in the day, twas not that…..It was never like that…I was never a hippie…cause I could not belong to a crowd…and it was one…in a sense of age…
the facts of being there were much more difficult than you give it credit for of the day………i was there…and in full control of my own being………..my thoughts:….you are way off in telling others of this time in our american history
I want to add this…it’s true and may aid in others understanding the 1960’s
Upon the completion of the fall quarter of 1967, I received my BS BS ADM…from the University of Montana, Missoula Mt….
Via being a U student i was exempt from the Mil draft…Now I was not…I didn’t believe in the Nam War…i do believe in defending ours right here at home…so I applied to VISTA…to delay that draft…and accepted, went to Atlanta Georgia for the instruction to be a back up, rural school teacher in mostly black Georgia…..Realizing i would yet be drafted into Nam….I quit and went back to Montana and wrote a personal hand writing letter to my draft board that I was not going and was on my way to Canada to attend McGill University for a Masters degree…I did that..I left I had college friends in Calgary Alberta, who knew nothing of this but invited me to stay…I did that…
I applied for a landed Immigrant statis so i could legally work………
well this is getting long again………matter short i returned and was drafted into the US Army Military Police of all things after defying the US Gov and It’s Powers…of which I only gave up when I ran out of Money….One could not legally be employed in Canada without being there three months at that time….Now some on this site may actually realize where I am coming from…I am open to questions from anyone………..you know why? That’s how the “what goes around comes around” for the good of us all……….works…..I am with Henry and Laura and their efforts all the way….
thank you Millard for your desire to talk…
i am one of the most open people, the most accessable of regular commeters….posters, you can run into on this site……….communication itself, is the breath of life….keeping each of us among the living………..and from there comes a smile, does it not!!! if I do not have a response, means I have not seen the comment asking of me.//////
Thank you Jolly Rodger, Rbeason and Millard for your very interesting thoughts concerning the article “Sixties Speaks Then and Now”. I wanted to add that during the Sixties I was a teenager but by the early 70s I was a very young adult that had “tuned in, turned on and dropped out.” Now is a time that I really miss Digger Dan and his comments. He was very wise in this opinions and I highly respected him for that.
🙂 😉
angel, angel………come out of those smilies……..
I find it interesting to speak to you……….
and the music……
Well…..you’re one of the best on the site………
I suspect also, one of the most heartfelt non trumpets of worth, on this site………..there is a heart there that you tuck in each night….that has lots to tell, has lots to explain when it comes to love,one, another…………I believe that…and let it go……….Hell,one has but one lifelllllllllllllll my best…………to you
bless you Calfon………why, cause, that line of “tune in turn on drop out” actually came from timothy Lerey….sp? and was of the early 60’s when I was a student of U M Missoula Mt…he did make an appearance on the college campus…i did not attend………still do not subscribe to much of that thought process………cause it destroys one’s body to live like that….I’ll have a beer and that’s it…………..maybe an aspirin….nothing more……………and they’re going to implant me with a chip………….i may then have to have at hand a machingun and let it roar………..cause won’t be……….good to talk to you CatFon
Dearest rb… I was 9 yrs old when you got drafted, I grew up in Cleveland, had brothers of draft age but numbers weren’t called… I do remember cars with a big star on them pulling up in the neighborhood to give the bad news to the family that lived there… I knew the wars were b.s. ever since I was little… blessings to you and yours…
you learned this then and have never forgotten!!…Damn, please pass that wisdom on to others……….cause you are correct…..
All Wars are Bankers Wars…………except if you and i have to defend our own homes and families……….and even then, that war will have been started by…………finances…
thank you for your comment
Thank You Sir…
Hi rbeason, thanks for your reply. I didn’t realize where that old saying, ‘tune in, turn on and drop out’ came from. I had no idea it was attributed to Timothy Leary. I just remember young folks saying that back then. I thought it had to do with the frame of mind of not trusting the government anymore because my friends did not trust the government, probably due to the Vietnam War. My mistrust of the government goes way back.
I didn’t like heavy drugs and steered clear of them although I did indulge in pot back then. I don’t want to be implanted with a chip either and I can’t imagine myself allowing that. It was good to talk to you too, rbeason. 🙂
This is the EXACT reason why I like to toss controversial topics onto this forum at “fromthetrenchesworldreport.com”. It gets scrutinized from all sides and helps me form a more educated stance on the issues of the day. I thank all participants in this forum for your contributions. Thank you. Millard
you are so welcome Millard……….hell, I can scarcely step upon a lady bug on the side walk and will do every thing to avoid that….I have never lost that four letter word………..L o V e Od! can I will i Yes I will, in defense of us all, kill>>>>damn right will………and also, your brother Dan, I believe, and myself understood what that means…he did say more than once he wanted to email me, although he had that, I think he was afraid that I would judge him………….gosh……..I remember when I thought he was in trouble during a conversation on here and i actually put out my phone number to him and said i f you feel the need do call me….and you know what I got for reaching out…#1 CLAIMED TO me that I was an idiot………….well, I was not…i knew exactly what i was doing….at that moment……and right now also and he or others in need deserve an honest response to their time of need…………blessings to you Millard…………a Man of robust life, judging from your own video……thumbs up to you your family and your commitment to the cause of our nation and it’s constitiution
rbeason