Counter Culture in 1960

In the 1960's, the youth had a saying: "Don't trust anyone over the age of thirty." There is some confusion as to whom the original statement should be attributed, but the general consensus is that it was first said by Jack Weinberg to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter that was covering the Free Speech Movement at the University of California. At the time, there were rules that regulated political affiliations at the university, and the Free Speech Movement was working to obtain free speech and academic freedom on the Berkley campus. Some of the people involved with the FSM were former Freedom Riders and also participated in the Freedom Summer activities; they were front lines fighters in the civil rights movement. Jack Weinberg's arrest for soliciting donations for civil rights causes on the Berkley campus led to a spontaneous reaction from the students, and the era of student protest was born.

As one can see from the names of the afore mentioned groups, the activist, as well as cultural, movement of the 1960's was strongly focused on freedom. The cultural shift that society was undergoing was fueled by a large, newly awakened youth culture. This fresh, idealistic generation wanted to throw off the repressive elements of their parent's generation and build a new society that was completely of their own making, and freedom was the key ingredient. Jentri Anders, a social commentator and author that experienced the counterculture first hand, describes the spirit of the era: "freedom to explore one's potential, freedom to create one's Self, freedom of personal expression, freedom from scheduling, freedom from rigidly defined roles and hierarchical statuses..." The Woodstock Music and Art Fair is said to be the event that defined the spirit of the 60's generation. Musician, Ritchie Havens was the opening act at the festival, and "Freedom," a song that he created on stage after running out of material, is one of the Woodstock's defining moments.

Forty years have passed since Woodstock, and the counterculture has become an aspect of the mainstream culture. The soundtrack of 60's rebellion, rock music, is now the universal norm: shared by youth and grandparents alike. Race relations have drastically changed for the better; racism is the exception not the rule. People are sexually liberated. Many of the goals of the environmental movement have been passed into law, and despite current feminist's claims, women have been empowered. This freedom loving generation finally did get the societal shift that it had been working towards, but one has to ask: what happened to the freedom?

With maturity, the romantic idealism of the Woodstock generation faded. Having achieved many of their goals, these once rebellious youth are now the guardians of modern culture. They have gone from working towards "freedom from rigidly defined roles and hierarchical statuses" to rigorously attacking dissent and defending hierarchical statuses. Some of the more iconoclastic members of the movement began to question the motivations behind the left's positions and moved into different areas of political thought, but many of the true believers are still heavily involved in left-wing politics. Today, we have these once champions of freedom going along with a government take over of the health care industry, which will empower the hierarchy to regulate almost any aspect of a citizen's life. They also advocate carbon credit and global warming legislation that would give "the man" the power to regulate all of the areas

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