So whatever happened to the !!@# revolution anyway? A more interesting question ... whatever happened to the revolutionaries? Here's a short answer ...
New Left: The Weather
Underground, the Yippies and various factions and mutations. Viewed Amerika as
the hegemony of a Capitalist elite, wanted to replace the system with some
variety of Socialism. Can now be found in colleges and public radio stations.
Counterculture:
Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Catalog crowd, the Hog Farm and other non-insane
communes, various rockers, artists, videographers, etc. The ancestors of DIY
culture, deeply influenced by Emerson. Instead of changing the system, tried to
create alternative system. Some actually did – and are still out there.
Hippies: Latter-day
emulators of Rousseau’s Noble Savage who pursued experience for experience’s
sake via drugs, sex, rock and roll and old school buses. Believed in changing
the system, in theory, but were too stoned to do anything. Survived on spare
change from the system. Can now be found in homeless shelters.
Animal House Hedonists:
Never believed in that revolution stuff, but believed in rejection of American Puritanism
and any restraint of the narcissistic self. The self-centered pleasure
principle embraced consumer culture (without moral obligations). In the 1980s,
these cats took over. American popular culture returned to the worship of money,
status and shiny things. With a vengeance.
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