The article “From counterculture to Sixties Culture” clearly demonstrates that the hippie movement was not just founded on pure rebellion from what their parents had prescribed. The article reveals that the 60s culture was a product of many factors including the youths reaction to the Vietnam War, the outpouring of self expression on college campuses around the continent, the constantly dynamic civil rights, and especially the rejection of the counterculture by the mainstream society.
The war in Vietnam had a major impact of the youth’s view of government. The immeasurable amounts of hypocrisies that the government dispelled upon the youths played a huge role on their support for the government. The fact that the government declared that the youths were far too young to vote for any of the issues that controlled the war, but they were still expected to willingly go and sacrifice their lives for a cause that had been lost so many years ago. This outpouring of confusion towards the government’s cause led the counterculture to completely disagree with the war, which resulted in mass protest. The war was a deep void of heroism and honor, but conversely filled with horror stories and disillusionment. The lyrics of the parody song I feel like I’m fixing to die rag making fun of the attitude the government expected the general public to have. –
And it’s one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it’s five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain’t no time to wonder why
Whoopee! We’re all gonna die.
Well, come on Wall Street; don’t move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There’s plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
The counter culture movement increased exponentially everyday, which made the mainstreamers despise them even more because they proved to the country that if you believe in something enough, you can make a difference. This was very hard for the mainstream to swallow, so the did everything in their power do degenerate them. If you were to look at from a debate point of view, the hippies would be considered the mature and collected side, as they were trying to work towards an equitable cause, and they were doing what was necessary. On the other side, the mainstream culture was resorting to juvenile tactics such as disgracing and discrediting them, instead of actually arguing their values. This just made the counterculture even stronger in ways, because they new that all they had to do was stick together, and they could accomplish anything they desired, to the horror of mainstream society.
The youths also were among the first to realize the hypocrisies of the government, as they were proposing new legislation, which would ensure social justice and freedom for all, when at the same time they were using the army and police to subdue protestors of anti civil rights movements. This made the youth of the 60s think twice about the government’s true viewpoints, thus again reducing the trust the citizens had for their government.
These feelings of complete overpowering government could be what sparked this titanic movement, but Terry Anderson’s article further implies these views about what the youths of the 60s truly felt. They were completely justified to carry out these actions, as the world had many flaws in it at the time, and something needed to be done about. All it took was 3 million kids, and a few decades of alienation the denial of self expression..