In my looney opinion, the biggest influence of my generation (make that 'our generation' Hats; I'm nearly 60) ... not...ostensible progress ... the drug abuse we have now ... worst people of all time was Timothy Leary (and his bagman Richard Alpert a/k/a Baba Ram Dass) ... progress ... in the 1950s (MLK) ... pooped out when drugs hit.
I agree; drugs took the life out of the Civil Rights movement. No one told the underclass that smoking pot, dropping acid, and just 'hanging out' were for middle-class white kids only.
Kids who, if they didn't fall down the rabbit hole like Peter Green and if not squandered, would exercise their relative 'privilege' and get a real job one day. The underclass failed to understand that you could only drop out if you could get back in.
If I may, I think I'd also add the post-war, runaway inflation of the 1970s; a major factor in a lot of white, social 'contras' going straight; it was too painful to be poor. The middle-class white kids had some place to go; between 1968 and 1978, $15,000 / yr in income became worth $7,500 / year; woe to those in real poverty; not the same 'trap' for everyone else. Inflation was the train leaving the station and the 'ticket' was at least some socio-economic juice....those without...'Hey Bro, some crack?'
If somebody would give me evidence to the contrary, I'd be grateful,
can't, see above
because I feel like a wonder wimp compared to the people of my parents' generation.
In some respects, things were simpler for them; yes grittier with survival staring back at them like the head-light on the train - like the light we see (Coastie and the others see it too) the day after having had much too much to drink; that brutal, all-seeing eye thing - nothing can hide from it. The difference is that for us, a few hours later, the light softens; for them, it never dissipated whether they were drinking or not.
Disclaimer: not intended as a justification for messing with John Barleycorn.
