To: The Philosopher who wrote (4343 ) 10/20/1999 5:50:00 PM From: Edwarda Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 6418
There is very little in the way of kudos that I can add to the reactions to your posting, Chris. Perhaps a centralizing focus--in our case, the war in Vietnam and desegregation--was key in making so many of us question the accepted values and start to turn our backs on some of them. Also the availability of the contraceptive pill made possible a new sense of sexual freedom. AIDS has served in many ways to reverse the sense of joy that we learned. I do not mean to advocate reckless and thoughtless sex; what I mean is, the sexual freedom probably helped to enable even further the intellectual freedom. There was a lot of idiocy--e.g., the veneration of Marcuse--but at least there was a stimulus of the intellect to think and ask questions rather than spend time at the mall. Our disrespect was intellectual rather than simply disrespect for its own sake. I recognize that some "disrespect" is a necessary part of the separation process from one's parents, becoming one's own person. This phenomenon is normal and healthy. However, if our generation en masse has failed, it is in imbuing our children with an equally active determination to devote their thoughts toward questioning the accepted wisdom rather than simply acting out. They have our disillusionment without another focus--hence the proficiency at video games, the mall, and self-expression via tattoos and body piercings. BTW, body mutilation characterized the last millennium turn.... (I still have the love beads that I made myself--LOL!--and I still remember how to do the little rosettes. Whenever I start to sit in judgement on someone's weird hair or whatever, I take them out and remember.)