Was Abbie Hoffman right?

"It's too late. We can't win, they've gotten too powerful."

That's what Abbie Hoffman wrote on his suicide note before hanging himself. Just wanted to see how many people think he's right.

 

About them being too powerful or about hanging himself?Who are they?

 

Just another x-longhair.

 

Abbie Hoffman had a trip going that was mostly about Abbie. Remember he was the one who said that the only place in the movement for women was lying down. He was chiasmic and was in the right place at the right time. However, I am afraid I do not consider him a great inspiration. It is sad that he took his own life but I have my doubts that his reasons were political. So many of the things that the counterculture in the US started have happened. Yes, this period is a down turn and mordor is still in existence. There is much for all of us to do. Nevertheless, I think that we will win.

 

he didn't hang himself.. he swallowed 120-150 pills (i dont know the exact number).. or "he swallowed 120-150 pills" I should say, as I don't know for sure whether or not it was suicide.

and no its not true. the man had bipolar. its probably a statement made while depressed... seeing how he commited suicide right after writing it and all...

 

I don't think I've ever heard of anyone swallowing 120 pills by accident...

 

if his talking about are goverment then yes i believe in his statement,the goverment that we live under is too powerful to overthrough....unless we........

 

i wasn't meaning an accident. i was meaning I have no idea whether or not it was suicide or homocide. there's theories that its not suicide.

 

You are of course correct that he was not alone. However, he was a vocal advocate of women in a “supporting” role even after woman's rights became an issue. I should probably recluse myself from the discussion. I met the gentleman and did not think highly of him. He seemed to feel that he was one of the "stars" of the movement and that did not fly well with some of us.

 

That's the usually the case when a famous person kills himself, the public mind finds it hard to accept the person's death so they start making up theories when in reality the guy's mind just wasn't up to living anymore

 

yeah, i know. but i can see why the government would kill him, so i leave it up in the air. no way for me to know for sure either way.

 

paul: are you a former yippie, or did you meet him as a member of another organization?

 

Hi all,
A great and shining spirit-Abbie Hoffman-and the real Abbie was in the Oliver Stone movie "Born on the Fourth of July" doing a campus protest. He deserved better during his lifetime- but the real Abbie faced jail, poverty, the drug dealing world, the communist party, the media, an admittedly low IQ, life on the run, the hardass ghetto realities and finally the Reagan era. That he pulled it all off with style and humor is a testiment to a life well spent. The man deserves a film or book. Was he assassinated? Possibly, but it is more likely that he found the path he chose beyond his abiltiy to cope. It is also possible that Abbie was assassinated-but if so who? Well I would be looking at private enterprise...
Tundrahopper4

 

I was a small part of both SDS and VVAW. I met the man a few times. I must admit that my impressions were colored more by the opinions of people that I respected that did not care for him than from any one experience of my own. He was a very large figure in the movement and was almost the single person to popularize Gorilla Theater. I meant none of my comments to take any thing away from his accomplishments. He achieved far more than I did.

 

Paul,
You didn't like him either. A guy I met from NYC over in Europe said Abbie was a loudmouth creep. He also did not think much of the Abster's intellect. But for better or worse it was Hoffman that the media spotlight fell on and when it did there was nothing else a born showman like Abbie could do but PERFORM. And perform he did...
TH4

 

Honestly I think what came out of the 60's was the beginning of people comeing together and finally standing up to " The Man " but at the time pepole like Abbie lost track of the real objective through drugs and ego. Not that he meant to I mean we are all human and have to struggle on a daily basis with ego.People like Abbie however opened the door for so much more to be done! I belive that this culture and this generation holds within its hands the ability from what we have learnt from people like Abbie to do alot of good and really change things.You learn from the past and we have seen what peace can do along with what drugs and greed can do.We should take that and put it to use to finish and carry out what the 60's had entended along... PEACE,LOVE and, EQUALITY for EVERYONE!!!

 

Abbie Hoffman had recently come out of seclusion, after having had plastic surgery, and although he was bipolar, true, he had a best selling book on the market and was engaged to be married.

He had radically softened his more radical views, such as is view of women, and this old dreadlocked hippie has always believed he was murdered by some element, rogue or otherwise, of the Reagan administration. Perhaps he did swallow all those pills, but I just don't buy it. I didn't buy it in the 80's when it happened and I don't buy it now.

BTW: I have a signed copy of Steal This Book, and a vintage copy of Woodstock Nation. Paul Krassner is a friend of mine, and Dana Beal has stayed on my couch. There is some hippie trivia for ya to gum on.

Pizza, Viv-

 

dude, i just read one of paul krassner's books. that dude is rad.

 

Coolio. I actually had a piece written in the Realist Magazine, the first underground pub in the US to get any steam. My piece was written and published in '96, shortly before publication ended.

Paul wrote a piece about me for High Times, called The Trial of Vivian McPeak. You can google the title. Paul is a very diminuative man, who walks with a limp from a beating at a riot he got years a go. He has a lovely wife named Nancy, and he is a funny, accessible, and very cool stoner.