2010's = Modern 60's?

Sorry but half of this thread is complete uninformed hippy bollocks

Sitting on the internet complaining about computers, you could still go and live 'off the grid' in America, all of the intrusive things like phones and facebook are entirely voluntary. It's probably easier to live in a hippy shangri-la now if that is what you truly want, renewable energy is much better, there is a lot more information available from the internet

There is also this tone how 'it's impossible to make a difference now' but that was true in the 60s except to yourself. Hippies might have shocked their parents but it was always going to end up as capitalism because of the selfish element of it, 'dig your own hole' 'do what you feel' etc well capitalists agree with that now, you can be as much of a hippy as you like and noone bats an eyelid. It was always pretty empty in that sense

It is possible to make a difference but the reason that so many hippies seem depressed is because the whole idea of changing the world was such an unrealistic one, the 60s thing was for the most part an American social movement that did change America but didn't really look beyond America, or even middle class America.

There wasn't any major hippy debate about Communism vs Capitalism because hippies were essentially capitalist. Now the old hippies are depressed that the 20th century communist experiments failed so badly followed by 20th century capitalism failing in the last decade but if you just learned some information outside of your own hippy bubble you'd know that that was inevitable.

There are some things that I would like to learn from hippies, my hippy friends at home grow their own food and live healthily, have some great music and parties etc but they aren't going to change the world, I don't see how any hippy ideas would ever do that

 

You win

 

Oh and for the record, America isn't unchecked at all. They owe China about 10 years of their national budget

They were allowed to attack Iraq and Afghanistan because China knew that it would hurt America, and that they would have to borrow more money and get further into their pocket to fund it.... but they wouldn't be allowed to attack anywhere they liked

Russia could also stand up to America if they had to

The last decade of American wars may have been presented as an arrogant America imposing their will on the middle east, but the reality is more like a weakening America battling to secure resources

 

Just cos you lose doesn't mean i win

 

Fine I loose and you did not win.

 

hippies are free market socialists, I think..... WHich is a type of capitalist. But not all capitalists are tophat wearing monocled douchebags, it simply means you understand that the concept of property is central to humans and our evolution and higher functioning.

 

I agree, I never said hippies or capitalists were douchebags

I was just pointing out that hippies are generally capitalist and it's a bit dumb for any capitalists no matter how liberal to complain about the failure of capitalism when intellectuals were pointing out the reason why it would fail 150 years ago

Property has been central to our evolution but so has religion, I do think that we can evolve past both of them though

I always got the impression that some of the hippy ideas are close to anarchism, trying to create a society based on people rather than property

 

Cloaking Device
Location: hangzhou, china


You WIN! Big time!

 

I'm not Chinese

It's actually kind of terrifying because their 'superior economic system' is basically making everyone work really long hours and running everything on connections without allowing debate

It's the logical end of capitalism

 

Cell phones. Cell phones and internet changed everything. It gives people an excuse to be more impersonal. Where's the love? Lost in cyberspace, says I.

Too bad I'm guilty of the very thing I admit isolates us.

But cell phones play music and stuff! No records! I can carry all of my friends in it! bah.

 

I use toilette paper but I know it's bad for the environment. Not only is it a waste of trees but the process in creating it is a toxic chemical soup that gets dumped into our sewage system, polluting the environment even more.

My use of toilette paper does not mean I'm pro destruction of our environment.

Nor does it make me a hypocrite because I'm a tree hugger.

It means I am a person that makes caca and I have no choice other than to slide my bum on the ground like dog or hitchhike to a forest to stock up on moss once a month.

I have a computer and Internet not for pleasure but as a way to escape. Which is the same reason everyone else on here has them. Only my escape is a planned real escape. I need to find planes trips that are cheap, hiking maps for my area, learn some of the language and I need to earn money for my escape.


BUT 99,5% of the people on Internet are doing "mental escapes". The make virtual friends and pretend they are real, they watch movies in their home instead of going to the park and... They do Internet protests through blogging, Twitter and pretend that they are "Making an Impact."

Principessa I understand your problem very well but what can you do? The world has less options today than it did 20 or 30 years ago. It is becoming "Black and White" You will either learn to live as a hermit in front of your computer or learn to live as a hermit in the woods.

Personally I am going to the woods where it is safer and to save money on toilette paper.

 

A situation is rarely as black and white as people perceiving it. Also, you seem to projecting your views of why people doing things on their computer on them or at least you're massively generalizing. By the way, there's also recycled toilet paper. Works really well

 

You could just use water like South Asians do, I never use toilet paper at home, not cos of the environment just because the plumbing here sucks. I suppose the most environmentally friendly way to do it would be reuse hankies

ewwww

It's good to know that you are the smartest person on the internet

I do agree that many people seem to use the internet just to 'kill time' and do nothing really, I don't think it's everyone, but I know a lot of people do, but that is their choice and they have the right to choose that. Maybe walking in the woods or whatever isn't for them

My hobby is riding my bike, I don't usually plan where I'm going I just choose a direction and ride in it for an hour or so and then try and find my way home....I also like wasting time on my computer doing completely pointless activities....I also like trying to read everything on the internet, I don't have JStor but I use Wikipedia as a jumping block and Gutenberg as a source as well as reading newspapers and forums, all of which are very popular by the way.

You should always be careful when you are assigning values to what people do, your idea of enjoyment and escape from tedium exploring forests is no more real or useful than using the internet for study or even playing on facebook all day. Internet activists like Wikileaks, Anonymous and even Lulzsec have made more of a difference than the hippies did in the 60s......

 

No you need me to be "generalizing" or any other thousand possible reasons or excuses to denounce me.

I'm not trying to prove anything to you or anyone else. I also do not care what you decide to do or not do in your life because I'm too busy with my own.

So you can either agree with me, disagree with me, tell me to fuck off, ignore me or any other of a million choices before. The simple fact is I'm conversing openly about my opinions etc that are based on what I'm seeing, experiencing and personal research.

 

I didn't thought of it differently :2thumbsup:

About things like the recycled toilet paper, we're getting there. At least there are efforts being made (by people like you that has chosen to make a change!)

 

I believe that the "Days of Rage" proved my point. Only 1000 people showed up and even less in other parts of the nation. You can Tweet, Blog, complain on forums / social networking media and call people like me old fashioned and tell us to "ADAPT" all you want.

But the end result is the people on the top balcony are drinking champagne laughing at the problems the rest of us face.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8rfuvDr2wJQ&feature=related"]Faceoff at 55 Wall St. - YouTube

While you adapt and Tweet your way into democracy of the 21st century. I'm packing my backpack and preparing to leave for someone place far from the upcoming chaos and suffering.

 

In England more than 2 million people went to London to protest our involvement in the invasion of Iraq, it was the biggest protest the country had ever seen. There were simultaneous demonstrations all over Britain, it was probably getting on for 10% of the population who went out on the streets on a single day to express their disgust for the actions of our government.

The BBC which was at the time one of the most respected sources of news in the world was also reporting the errors and falsehoods in the proof that Bush and Blair were using to justify the invasion

The public were totally ignored, the war went ahead despite the public for once engaging with politics

The BBC for their part in the whole WMD scandal (pointing out the truth) had their general director fired along with many of his allies who either resigned or were hounded out


America was even worse from what I hear, the war was more popular in America and people like Michael Moore who were objecting to it got death threats and assaulted.

Look at Julian Assange and that Thomas whathisname who are showing the truth about the world we live in, they are getting death threats and trumped up charges and pretty much any illegal weapon that the US can throw at them without getting caught it is

And still they keep on

So hippies can shut the fuck up about my generation being apathetic. Apathetic is going and sitting in a field and taking drugs or if you are really political going on a march and shouting slogans. that is apathetic, to convince yourself that you are doing something important

Life is being lived, just not in your bourgeoise bubble

Keep your flowers and cartwheels and drugs, that is fine for play, but don't you dare condemn young people for not following in your failed footsteps

 

That's a good point. Thanks for reminding us about the huge protest in the UK; I had forgotten.

Was the BBC director fired for telling the truth about WMD?

 

Almost 10 years ago and much as changed.
Today a protest barely has a boy scount patrol show up.