Time to END racism

[Eric the Green]

(07-05-2020, 08:44 PM)TnT Wrote:

(07-05-2020, 12:33 AM)Eric the Green Wrote: It made me think once that we could create any kind of utopia we want, if we just believe it's possible. Woodstock proved it.

"Woodstock proved it?"  Eric, what in the world does THAT mean?  Woodstock?  A "utopia?"
Back in the old days on 4T you and I used to get into it pretty good.  I just couldn't pass this comment up.
Let's drill into that.  What all happened at Woodstock?  A whole bunch of folks got high on a grassy hillside for some days and listened to music.  Toilets were non-existent.  Food was scarce.  And then it was over and everyone went away.  Oh, and have you ever seen pictures of the muddy grounds with tons and tons of garbage that had to be cleaned up?
Perhaps you've got some features and characteristics of the event that make this into a sustainable society for some kind of long-haul?  My goodness, but there have been "utopian" communities that have done much better than this, and sustained for many years.

I read somewhere that Utopians are the most dangerous people in the world.  The reason is that groups of people invariably disagree on the details of how the society is being run and eventually, for it to be a "success," it has to become authoritarian.  The leader always says that the authoritarian part is just a transitional stage, but as we know, power is a hard thing to give up.
So, Eric, I don't want to put words in your mouth.  What DID you mean?

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Don't be too distracted by my bit of hyperbole. It "proved it" to many people at the time, but all I meant to say was that this is how I felt at the time. But even then, as I said, I knew that human fallibility was great and much change and growth was needed before Woodstock would spread and grow into something lasting and substantial. It was an overly-optimistic idea, for sure, and utopia is a less-appealing idea to me now. I just meant to contrast my idea back then to my feelings now in my essay. It was a great event, and the people felt that it created a new consciousness, like a new garden of Eden as Joannie Mitchell sang. The physical problems didn't get in the way of how people helped each other and loved each other, with no need for law enforcement. But I don't disagree that it was a false hope, or at least just a beacon for the future, who knows how far away, and certainly it was not an authoritarian power play or "the authoritarian part is just a transitional stage" like many utopian Marxists used to talk about. My favorite song came along two years later and poured a bit of cold water on that kind of idea. 





But my favorite line and the peak moment in the song is "and the parting on the left, is now parting on the right, and the beards have all grown longer overnight." It just means to me that the process of progress continues through all the failures. The new boss becomes the old boss to overthrow in turn. What was left later becomes right, and culture can change overnight.

And the reverberations from those times of awakening when we glimpse the future we could create, remain and hang in the air, which Pete's synthesizer riff represents.
http://generational-theory.com/forum/thr...l#pid50881