== The Hippies Were Right! = By Mark Morford

[madokie]

Green homes? Organic food? Nature is good? Time to give the ol' tie-dyers some respect

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2007/05/02/notes050207.DTL&nl=fix

Go ahead, name your movement. Name something good and positive and pro-environment and eco-friendly that's happening right now in the newly "greening" America and don't say more guns in Texas or fewer reproductive choices for women or endless vile unwinnable BushCo wars in the Middle East lasting until roughly 2075 because that would defeat the whole point of this perky little column and destroy its naive tone of happy rose-colored sardonic optimism. OK?

I'm talking about, say, energy-efficient light bulbs. I'm looking at organic foods going mainstream. I mean chemical-free cleaning products widely available at Target and I'm talking saving the whales and protecting the dolphins and I mean yoga studios flourishing in every small town, giant boxes of organic cereal at Costco and non-phthalates dildos at Good Vibes and the Toyota Prius becoming the nation's oddest status symbol. You know, good things.

Look around: we have entire industries devoted to recycled paper, a new generation of cheap solar-power technology and an Oscar for "An Inconvenient Truth" and even the soulless corporate monsters over at famously heartless joints like Wal-Mart are now claiming that they really, really care about saving the environment because, well, "it's the right thing to do" (read: It's purely economic and all about their bottom line because if they don't start caring they'll soon be totally screwed on manufacturing and shipping costs at/from all their brutal Chinese sweatshops).

There is but one conclusion you can draw from the astonishing (albeit fitful, bittersweet) pro-environment sea change now happening in the culture and (reluctantly, nervously) in the halls of power in D.C., one thing we must all acknowledge in our wary, jaded, globally warmed universe: The hippies had it right all along. Oh yes they did. ...

[bmbmd]

1. In the words of David Crobsy:

"We were right that peace is better than war. We were right that love is better than hate. We were wrong about the drugs."

[madokie]

2. I agree with him up to the last sentence that is. :-)

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. They were right about the drugs

From the column:

"And oh yes, speaking of good ol' MDMA (Ecstasy), even drug culture is getting some new respect. Staid old Time mag just ran a rather snide little story about the new studies being conducted by Harvard and the National Institute of Mental Health into the astonishing psychospiritual benefits of goodly entheogens such as LSD, psilocybin and MDMA. Unfortunately, the piece basically backhands Timothy Leary and the entire "excessive," "naive" drug culture of yore in favor of much more "sane" and "careful" scientific analysis happening now, as if the only valid methods for attaining knowledge and an understanding of spirit were through control groups and clinical, mysticism-free examination. Please.

Still, the fact that serious scientific research into entheogens is being conducted even in the face of the most anti-science, pro-pharmaceutical, ultra-conservative presidential regime in recent history is proof enough that all the hoary old hippie mantras about expanding the mind and touching God through drugs were onto something after all (yes, duh). Tim Leary is probably smiling wildly right now -- though that might be due to all the mushrooms he's been sharing with Kerouac and Einstein and Mary Magdalene. Mmm, heaven. "

[annabanana]

12. Well. . They are investigating ways to PROFITIZE from their research.

God forbid someone should do something or get some benefit without going broke after all.

[crikkett]

54. I think a better word is monetize

:hi:
And yes, MaryJane won't be legal until it can be put into gelcaps.

[Raksha]

19. "Entheogen" is a brand-new word to me.

Never saw it before in my life until now, but to anyone familiar with the Greek and Latin roots of words it's self-explanatory. Entheogen. That word has amazing implications.

[alcibiades_mystery]

33. The word was coined

by R. Gordon Wasson in the mid-1970's

He didn't like the implications of "hallucinogen" or "psychedelic," and was much more interested in the sacred character of these substances, especially among so-called "indigenous people."

[intheflow]

34. For those of us not familiar with Greek and Latin?

I'm guessing from my seminary training the "entheogen" might mean something like "self-God-producing/realizing." Is that what you're suggesting it means?

[JVS]

51. Ugh. How fucking lame. How am I supposed to not hate and kill without the sweet sweet drugs?

;-)

[Warren DeMontague]

60. His probation officer probably made him say that.

Here's a guy who had a liver transplant, and still openly smokes weed. I'm not sure if that's a very smart thing to do or not, but either way I doubt he's going to be the poster boy for the "Just Say No" crowd any time soon.

[Jonathan50]

96. Cannabis is not harmful to the liver.

Alcohol is what is truly toxic to the liver.

Anyone who abuses alcohol for any length of time is damaging their liver.

Even heroin, in its pure form, is remarkably non toxic to the body, extended use leads to constipation and that is about it.

[Warren DeMontague]

101. My thinking on that- and I'm admittedly not a medical man- was more regarding ingesting

impurities or other stuff from smoke that the new liver might have to detoxify. Also I know that transplant recipients have to take a regimen of drugs to keep the body from rejecting the transplant for an amount of time, if not indefinitely- at least that's how it used to be- and it's certainly within the realm of speculation that how those various drugs and cannabis would interact is unknown.

Shit, the guy's still alive, I'm not going to second guess him. But I think it could be argued that it's at the very least a gray or unknown area to some extent.

And you certainly don't have to tell me about what alcohol can do to people's livers. I come from a family tree with alcoholism spread all over it like a bad set of christmas lights. It's one of the things that convinces me there's a strong genetic component.

[Cha]

72. Yeah, the drugs were bad

for us..Crosby was fortunate enough to get a new Liver!

[zanne]

3. It's all true.

Plus, very few hippies ever went hungry or homeless. Fellow hippies saw to that.

[zalinda]

6. You're right. What ever we had we shared.

It made for some interesting suppers, but then the people were interesting too. Only problem was that you had to be creative in locking up or hiding food, or it would disappear when the munchies hit, and there would be no supper for the next night.

zalinda

[eridani]

92. I'm proud to be a hippie from Olema

We're friendly to the squares and all the straights
But we still take in strangers even if they're ragged
And we can't think of anyone to hate.

[Ganja Ninja]

4. Those Hippies were on to something.

:smoke: America should try it. :smoke:

[Uben]

5. They weren't right then...or now!

They were on the left then and on the left now, man! he he!

However, they were correct! We grew up and became democrats, scientists, politicians, and leaders.

The right's rebellion against the hippies has backfired! We win! Hip Hippie Hooray!

[donkeyotay]

43. If the hippies win the culture war, it's just going to kill the right

Hey Delay, Rush, etc., put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[cooolandrew]

8. I love this one from c&l, hug a hater, link..

Tree hugging at its best, video link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOJs_3SvsmM

[madokie]

10. I had to interrupt my Kpig session for that one

its pretty damn good :rofl:

[texpatriot2004]

9. If only Americans had listened to the Hippies back then. nm

[symbolman]

11. Interesting

This is what my Book THE JESUS BOLT, is all about... worked on it for five years.

One line in it is, "If we don't start LOVING each other, we're ALL going to DIE.."

The Jesus Bolt is that bit of metal that holds all the blades on the chopper, when that falls out, the next person you'll be talking to - is JESUS. :)

It's the metaphor in my book for what holds the choppers (the book is set in the 70's in Alaska, where I flew in choppers, saw the destruction of the habitat of the North Slope by corrupt Oil Companies), the Universe, ecosystems, and the Protaganist TOGETHER..

Just wait, you'll see, I'm getting some rave reviews.. soon I will publish, but first there's interest in Hollywood, THEN publishing. :)

Anyone NOTICE that the 70's are making a BIG comeback? Watch the Tube, check out magazines.. Look for RAYS AROUND EVERYTHING.. know what that Means?

It means that our ENTIRE CULTURE is Looking for MEANING, Spirituality.. and my book taps into that.

THis is VERY GOOD NEWS :)

[Peace Patriot]

13. There was nothing more threatening to Corporate Rule ever said than "Make love, not war!"

That's why Hippies were reviled, ridiculed, and marginalized in the national delusion perpetrated by the war profiteering corporate news monopolies.

Free love, free food, free clothes, free weed!

Be generous. Nature is abundant. Life is good. Love the planet.

This was so extremely the other way around from what had been, from what your parents seemed to advocate (stifle yourself, get a job, get rich, get married, go to church)(Ah, the poor parents! Really.), and, above all, from what Society (read: Corporate Rulers via Corporate Ruler news monopolies) relentlessly propagandized about (acquire, accumulate, consume, get the latest, get the biggest, get rich quick, get it all over everybody else, be a rock star, win the lottery, who are "people"? --Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor; who are YOU? --nothin' unless you're a millionaire! --as the bloodshed of the Vietnam War oozed into the Reagan Era of Greed...).

The Hippies said, "Hey, man, opt out of all that!" Be simple. Be green. Be kind. Be generous. Make love not war.

The original Christians, really--going wa-a-a-a-ay back to 1 A.D.

Cuz if love doesn't cost anything, if love is free, how are the greedy gonna get rich? If life is a pleasure and not a commodity, how are the greedy going to get everybody to buy more, buy bigger, buy better, buy "new and improved," no matter the cost to all life on earth?

How are the vicious MFers in the corporate board rooms, and the bloody-minded war profiteers going to get people to fight over it--to kill for life and love--to die for the right to get rich? To kill millions in Vietnam? To bleed out from a bullet wound in a rice paddy for your right to get rich and purchase life and love?

If love is free, and not a street bargain or a prenuptial agreement, how are they gonna sell SUVs to the stupid?

If nature is abundant, and food is free, and you don't poison it and haul it ten thousand miles in planet-killing vehicles, if it just comes out of the ground--with a little permaculture intelligence applied to it--and feeds people, in abundance, with a little love, with some good recipes, and a generous hand, what will become of predatory capitalism?

"Can't Buy Me Love."

"All you need is love love is all you need."

"Make love not war."

THAT was the Revolution. But it was too soon, too radical, too insightful, too threatening, and probably too much in reaction to what was and what had been--parental restriction, parental uptightness, the CIA, the "military-industrial complex" and the bloodbath in Vietnam--to not be reviled and marginalized and co-opted. And its advocates were too young to know what they were really up against, and what they had to do, politically, to change the US of A (biggest consumers/polluters on earth, at the time--and warmongers).

The Hippie philosophy was the glory of the '60s generation. It was profoundly revolutionary. But the failure of my generation was in NOT dismantling the "military-industrial complex" after the Vietnam War. Perhaps it was not possible. But we didn't even try. And they ran rampant, with Reagan and "Star Wars" and the death squads in South America. Rampant for earth's resources. Rampant for slave labor. Rampant for oil. Rampant to commodify and profiteer from...life. Rampant to genetically modify life and control it and reap ungodly wealth from the enslavement and starvation and deaths of other human beings.

Well, the Hippies are going to save us now. They've been putzing around with solar panels and organic gardening all this time. "Make love not war" comes round again.

William Butler Yeats (Irish hippie) said that history does not repeat itself. It is instead a gyre--a spiral--of repeating themes, on which we are periodically given an opportunity to improve the human race and to redeem the past.

And here we are. Make love not war. But don't forget the political part this time. The greedy must be subdued, and changed. And the swords must be made into plowshares. And, do not underestimate the fear and bloody-mindedness of the sword-makers.

[loudsue]

42. Beautiful post, PeacePatriot.

And so true. This country needs to do away with the corporatist/fascist mentality altogether this time around, and the heart of so much of that is the military/industrial complex taking away the bulk of our tax dollars that could be put to so much better use in raising the quality of life for everyone here and around the world.

:kick::kick::kick:

[KoKo]

67. Another Great Read from "Peace Patriot" who always "cuts through the crap"

with detailed posts that provide "Background."

So TRUE! For those of us who remember.....and wonder "WHAT HAPPENED" that it could all fall apart under Reagan, Bush, and Clinton (who should have been a hero on what Carter started.

But...I found Carter's Presidency so "gloomy" ...I'm sad to say ...I hoped for a break from the "doom and Gloom.

If we'd listened to Carter, though, and the RW hadn't managed to paint him so badly...and he hadn't made some Political Blunders like cancelling the OLYMPICS...he would have come off better to us.

But, then we had RW Media Back then...we just didn't know. :shrug:

[jwirr]

78. One of the important issues for us was helping in third world countries.

The Peace Corp and other groups gave us an opportunity to help but unfortunately what we were trying to do - small agricultural and home business issues - were overridden by the World Bank and IMF. They were not working to help others become self-sufficient - they were working to get them far enough into debt to get them to be our worker bees. In this part of the movement we have not succeeded but we were correct there also.

[in_cog_ni_to]

14. Yes we were!

I'm glad people are finally acknowledging it.:hippie::smoke:

[Joe Fields]

15. I've never stopped believing we were correct.

Wait long enough, and everything comes back into vogue.

[northofdenali]

58. Yes, and to that note, I just dug this up the other day:

Yep. The album. We have hundreds - and are slowly, slowly transferring them to disc. Takes forever, but it's worth it. My daughter (25) wants copies of all of them!

[Cha]

73. I found this review on Amazon..

"In a word, magical. I recently found a copy of this classic album on vinyl with the cool, wintery, double gatefold photo and creepy back cover photo in tact. As for the music inside, what can I say that hasn't been said. "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" is still a fun, ambling journey through the mind of a helpless romantic. The doo-wop inspired harmonies that serve as this song's coda is still the coolest thing to hear on a classic rock station. "Marakesh Express" is just plain fun, even for a throwaway. "Guinnevere" is THE acoustic ballad that has yet to be topped, and sounds simply gorgeous without being too cutesy or cloying. My other personal faves are; "Wooden Ships" "Helplessly Hoping" and "Long Time Gone" (I still get chills hearing it while I'm watching the opening of the 'Woodstock' film!) All in all, a very enjoyable, effortless listen that captured a perfect utopian moment in pop music and culture in general. Highly Regarded as a Classic, and rightfully so."

:hi:

[northofdenali]

74. And, added to all that -

it didn't suck! :rofl::P:rofl::hi::rofl:

[Cha]

79. NO..it didn't

suck! :D

[northofdenali]

82. Still crazy after all these years...............

:rofl:

[Cha]

84. Gawd I hope

so!

[Joe Fields]

83. One of my all time favorites! Those were magical times.

[madokie]

97. I get great pleasure out of our kids listening to 'our' music

What a time it was to be coming of age, to not ever be for another generation. I wear my Hippie with much pride, so does my Wife, only in our hearts now not our dress if you know what I mean

[conscious evolution]

69. Don't it suck that

illegal and immoral wars keep coming back into vogue?

We have allways been here.Too bad it takes a war to bring us back out.

[Joe Fields]

85. These times bring me back to those times and the same urgency

for us to act. Never in my life did I feel a president and an administration could top LBJ's for intransigence on an immoral war, or Nixon's for the corruption, but here we are.

[formercia]

16. I'm going to have to get my '72 VW camper back on the road

don't even need a bumper sticker to make my point.

[here_is_to_hope]

20. The Rainbow Family was among

the first to be of help after Katrina, I think to this day, they are still feeding down that way.
Attend a National Gathering and you can see that community does work. Here in Oregon, the migration northward of the Cali hippies has influenced local and state government. Eugene is a great example of this.

And as to VW buses...here is how Karma they can be...


Still roll in ours!

And yes, Mother was right!

[formercia]

23. There's a Rainbow family near here

every time they try to have a rendezvous, the brownshirts set up roadblocks and question anyone that tries to approach the area.

[here_is_to_hope]

31. Here is what

happens when the USFS tries to stop us from our yearly Gathering. Last year, our National was north of Steamboat and had the usual "Crisis Management Team"...
Watch the gun toting USFS get schooled by not only love but the masses...but ignore the guy cussing, I am not sure what he was up to:hippie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hAx5G0I9mU


This year, we are gathering in Arkansas, Oklahoma or Texas...oh boy.
But to see how it all can work, you have to attend a National.

For more background....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuce_Ju9P2s

[dweller]

80. working on my 77 2.0L

we'll have to make a meet-up. On the Road again.

the original SUVs, air-cooled and owner maintained.
dp

[formercia]

93. 26 MPG fully loaded.

I was in Arkansas once, at the end of a Forest Service road when I heard a jeep coming up the road. I heard him lose traction and stop, so I went to see what the problem was. When I found him, he was locking his front hubs to get better traction.

He was really surprised to see my 2WD Van with a 12 foot Grumman boat on top, parked at the top of the mountain.

[madokie]

98. I owned several vw bugs back in the day, wish I still had the last one

we used to travel all the back roads, trails so as to find little spots for placing our fav seeds in and never once did we ever even get close to getting stuck no matter what. I loved it when the bad boys and their ground thumpers would come thumping up by me in my little ole bug and look over at me and laugh but when the light would turn I would be gone, waving, looking back at assholes with their mouths open wondering what the hells in that vw, sumbitth. my brother still has his vw karman gia powered with a 2380 cc putting out something like close to 300 ponys that won't idle slower than 3500 rpm's. Its the fastest car I've ever drove bar none. It can definitely cause whiplash. now I'm back in the 70's as sure as I set here typing listening to the 70's music on kpig radio

[formercia]

100. and they float

just give 'er the gas and skip across the surface.

I've looked out the rear view mirror of my old bug a few times to see the headlights of the car behind me submerging beneath my wake.

[donsu]

103. long ago and far away I owned a karman gia convertable

really dug that car. it carried me through some hard times.

[formercia]

102. Good idea.

once the World regains its sanity. :)

You need a fortune in equipment to maintain new vehicles.

[malaise]

17. Lovely read

Refreshing indeed.

[The Backlash Cometh]

18. Um, so have they come up with environmentally friendly dyes yet?

I'm just sayin'...

[formercia]

28. Not in DayGlo

A lot of people are going back to natural dyes. The colors are not as bright but they make great cammo.

[The Backlash Cometh]

37. Have to admit,

I'm a sucker for tye-dye. And the natural dyes are not bad either, but it really takes an expert to bring out the best in them.

[knitter4democracy]

53. Natural dyes can be just as toxic, if not more so.

Many European countries are putting restrictions on dyes, and rightfully so. Just because it's natural doesn't mean using copper or alum in large amounts as a mordant is necessarily safe. The old European dying towns still have environmental damage of those natural dyes going back to the Middle Ages and earlier.

[formercia]

94. Potassium Dichromate

even more toxic.

Agreed, but even though it might limit the range of colors, it's still doable without the nasty ingredients.

[MuseRider]

21. HA!

I am sending this to my kids.

We told them but would they listen?

Actually they kind of did but...this was well said. He captured the true meaning of the movement and laid it out in one easy read.

It must be really lonely to live without being connected. I see it all the time and I can't imagine what it must be like.

Thanks madokie!

[madokie]

25. Any time

I'm taking this with me when I go see my bro' this morning. He's one of the old hippies that stays disconnected by choice. I try but I can't convince him that there is a lot to be had out here in cyber world. :hi:

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. "chemical-free cleaning products"?

Thankfully, it's only Morford who doesn't understand what the word 'chemical' means. The manufacturers say they're non-toxic, and bio-degradable, not "chemical-free" (hey, Mark, what's the point of a product with nothing in it?)

[formercia]

29. Made with real ingredients. n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

38. Thank goodness they didn't use imaginary ingredients.

:shrug:

[formercia]

39. Seriously

I've read it on food packaging.


Scary, isn't it.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

44. I'm not folllowing.

You've read the term "real ingredients" listed in the ingredients in food packaging?

[formercia]

45. It said: "Made with real ingredients." n/t

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

46. LOL

What was the product?

[formercia]

48. It was some processed instant ersatz meal

in a non-biodegradable foil and plastic pouch.I wish I had made a note of it. Too funny.

Nothing I would buy.

[northofdenali]

86. OMG -

:rofl:

This is a great thread, madokie! Here's a kitty who gets it, too:

[kskiska]

24. Get out the earth shoes

[madokie]

26. that pic brings back memories

good assed damn memories too.

[Annces]

27. That because they were in tune with the earth

and with natural laws of the earth, which is the way we will stay on the earth, if we cooperate and don't pollute ourselves out of existence.

[cyberpj]

30. AS WERE OUR NATIVE AMERICANS. nt

[Cha]

76. Oh Yeah~

The Native Americans were right and they were caretakers of our land UNTIL...

[cyberpj]

104. ...UNTIL Self-important religious zealot white men

mercilessly misled, hunted, slaughtered, imprisoned and impoverished them in order to create this great nation of capitalist freedom. (Remind you of anything going on right now?)

[supernova]

32. K&R!

Thanks for the morning smiles in tis article. And off to the Front Page w/ you! :D

[Peace Patriot]

35. About drugs. The same thing is wrong with "drugs" as is wrong with SUVs.

Commodification. Commercialization. Addiction. Pushers. Predatory capitalism.

Frankly, I couldn't believe that SUVs were being manufactured and pushed on a vulnerable, TV-brainwashed population, starting in the '90s with Clinton. Clinton is known for his intelligence. But was there ever, in human history, anything more brainless than this? Earth at risk. The forests being mowed down by the mile. The air so smoggy in some places, kids were having asthma attacks, and the sick were dying. Holes in the ozone. Huge loss of biodiversity, everywhere. All the signs were there, and scientists and environmentalists had been yelling about them for years.

SUVs. Big gas guzzlers, sold to people as "safe" vehicles (and they weren't even that--it was another damned lie).

The same thing is wrong with "drugs." It has become a war for profits, and, in a war for profits, all wisdom is lost. And they're all in on it. Don't kid yourselves. The biggest rightwing 'christian' hypocrites are running the biggest cocaine operations in South America, and the biggest heroine trade in Asia. The Bush Cartel. Direct connection to the Uribe government in Colombia--larding that government with billions of our tax dollars--and the top echelons of that government--the chief of the military, the chief of intelligence--have been running major drug trafficking operations as well as death squads (slaughtering thousands of union organizers, leftists and small farmers).

Why do you think we spend billions and billions on the "war on drugs"--and nothing ever changes? The addictive drugs keep pouring in. We jail millions of people--small time drug pushers and users. And nothing ever changes.

The "war on drugs" is an utterly bankrupt (and bankrupting) sham. The point of it IS to addict people, on a massive scale, and to maintain a police state, with money changing hands--billions!--all along the way.

The difference between this--the police state, the "war on drugs," the "prison-industrial complex," the drug trade--and the SACRED USE OF DRUGS among indigenous peoples, and in ancient times, couldn't bigger.

The key is predatory capitalism. Not simple capitalism--which is connected to the basic human need and desire to TRADE--to have variety, to make things, to venture forth. But PREDATORY capitalism--which, like the medieval church, has formed itself into a monolith, has written the laws to give itself land, wealth and power in perpetuity, and is brainwashing and enslaving humanity. And, in the case of PREDATORY capitalism, it is killing the earth. (--possibly comparable to the church's killing of medical/hygiene and scientific knowledge, which resulted in the great plagues, and, consequently, in the great pogroms in Europe; the Jews were often blamed for the plagues).

Predatory capitalism does to drug use what it does to food, clothing, sex, childbirth, child rearing, transportation, agriculture, labor, forests, the oceans, the air we breathe and the water we drink. IT KILLS WHAT IS GOOD by overselling it, and modifying and commodifying it, for the profit of a tiny minority of rightwing, fascist billionaires. It takes the joy of sex and turns into cheap, ugly pornography. It takes child rearing and turns it into a series of PURCHASES. It takes earth's beautiful tomato and gives it the genes of a fish--in order to grow it in the wrong climate! (Yes, Monsanto did this!) Ever eat a REAL tomato, as compared to a commodified tomato? If you have, then you will know what I am saying about drugs. Sacred drug use is the REAL tomato. It is not commodified. It is not mass produced. And it cannot enrich anybody. And it is not unhealthy. In fact, it is a health measure--in the broad sense of "medicine" as intended by indigenous cultures. It is, simply, using a gift of the earth--an herb, a leaf--to heal yourself, physically or spiritually.

Bolivia now has an indigenous president (its first), recently elected--Evo Morales--who campaigned for president with a wreath of coca leaves around his neck. Why did he do that? Evo Morales is not a drug addict, and he is as concerned as anyone else about the MISUSE of drugs, and drug lords, drug crimes, and drug trafficking. The coca leaf is SACRED to the indigenous people of the Andes mountains. It is ESSENTIAL to survival in the icy climate and high altitudes. It has been grown, on a small scale, by individual small farmers, for thousands of years, and given away, or traded, on a small scale, as a MEDICINE. As a survival tool. And as a hedge against hunger, when food is scarce, and a creator of physical energy, when physical energy is crucial to survival. You have to get yourself out of an Andes snowstorm. You have to climb. You have to scramble. Your life is at stake.

This beautiful leaf, which ancient shamans discovered and put to the purpose of human survival under difficult circumstances, has been changed, by predatory capitalists, into a brain-frying commodity plaguing our cities, where people don't have to climb mountains, chase goats uphill or grow their own food.

Furthermore, Evo Morales knows that the murderous US "war on drugs" is doing NOTHING to stop the worst of the drug trade, and is, instead, promoting it. The rightwing paramilitaries, who get their hands on the billions in US "anti-drug" money use it to poison small farmers' plots (where both coca leaves and FOOD are grown), to KILL small farmers and their advocates, and remove them from that land, so the BIG drug traffickers can move in. And these drug-funded and US taxpayer funded fascists are also using their money and power to attack and destroy democracy in South America. In the huge government scandal recently exposed in Colombia, one of the plots of these bastards was to assassinate the president of Venezuela, and destabilize the democratic governments of Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador--for the profit of the rich and their global corporate predator pals.

That's what's happening with the "war on drugs" in South America (and here). It is utterly corrupt. Morales' wearing of a wreath of coca leaves around his neck was an assertion of the SACREDNESS of this leaf, and of its original, medicinal purpose, and as a statement AGAINST its misuse and its commodification, and against the murder of the peasants who grow it for small-time personal or community use.

The coca leaf is a gift of Mother Earth. So is the poppy. So is the marijuana plant. So are hops and grapes. We have need of these gifts from time to time, or in particular circumstances, for physical or spiritual health.

Just as with oil, commodification and addiction--promoted by the greedy, the profiteers--is the problem. Not the thing itself. Everything in its place. Everything is moderation. True conservatism, really. The rightwing death squads, drug traffickers and warmongers are the radicals. The ubergreedy are the radicals. The people who use the gifts of Mother Earth, in moderation and in harmony with nature, are the REAL conservatives. And that is one of the bigger ironies of our era--that the so-called "conservatives"--the radical fascist right--conserve NOTHING. Wastrels, scoundrels, thieves--who use ADDICTION--to oil, to bloodshed, to cocaine, to "Jesus"--as weapons to control us with, and to rob us and destroy our only home, planet earth.

[nashville_brook]

41. you should post this as its own thread -- BRAVO

just to share a similar thought... i was in the grocery store yesterday -- swiftly walking past the baby food to grab some ground turkey needed to make a batch of dog food. and i thought... there are babies raised on nothing but conveinience food sold to parents as the ONLY way to feed their children. the commodification of life has stolen even our ability to FEED OUR OFFSPRING. i'm not trusting the pet food industry enough to feed my DOGS prepared food and yet people don't question what they feed babies in their first years of life!

jesus christ, people -- strained peas are peas put thru a strainer! you don't need Gerber to do this for you.

another thought your awesome post sparked... i could be totally wrong, but it seems to me that what i've called "green drugs" and what is referred to here as Entheogens, resist commodification. especially with cannabis you see people retreated from "the market" to "grow their own."

with Entheogens such as LSD and mushrooms -- again, i don't have any solid evidence to back this up -- but i doubt you are going to find street dealers trading these. if you want to trip the light fantastic you have to put up traveling to see jam bands. not worth it, imo -- :evilgrin: -- point being, it seems to me that the drugs which lend themselves to commodification, interestingly, are drugs which i would describe as destructive rather than expansive.

my intuition is that "green" drugs (Entheogens) short-circuit the capitalist agenda whereas "white" drugs or "slave drugs" (such as cocaine, heroin, crack) CREATE commodification where there was none. it's a cliché that drug dealing is a way "out" of the poverty of ghetto life -- the Escalade-driving dealer achieved status by introducing and maintaining capitalist endeavor in areas bereft of trade entirely.

i guess my bottom line is this -- i think that a lot of the transformative anti-capitalist action of decades ago was helped along with green drugs, and i think this idea is something that people kinda get, but don't talk about because it's unfashionable. green drugs (Entheogens) fueled the counter culture which spawned the environmental movement that Monford praises here. so, go back and put yourself in the mindset of someone experiencing drugs during that heady time -- it FELT like the act of tripping (etc) was important IN ITSELF. it FELT like the world would change if enough people could experience the exact thing we all experienced. then, in the morning (of the late 70s) we all said "nahhhhh." that was the drug talking.

well, maybe it wasn't.

[conscious evolution]

50. It definitely wasn't the drug talking.

At least the green ones anyway.
By the late seventies it was the crap like heroin and cocaine that was doing the talking.Most people,wisely,quit listening to them.

Have you ever noticed how every time there is a resurgence in entheogen use it is always followed by some type of highly addictive/destructive drug flooding the streets?I don't think it is by accident this happens.The powers that be would much rather get people hooked on drool monkey drugs than have them ingesting substances that allow people to see through the bullshit.


The most ironic part about the LSD fueled counter revolution of the sixties?
It was all brought about by the CIA's insane search for a Manchurian Candidate drug.Instead of finding a drug that could turn people into anti-communist robots they unleashed something that left the users with an attitude of 'a pox on both their houses'.
And a pox they got!

[Blue_Tires]

36. k+r

[Heidi]

40. Kick!

:kick:

[Truth2Tell]

47. All True! But I worry

I worry that it's all being co-opted. I worry that many of the sea-changes in thought that you describe have been hijacked by corporate interests and are being fed back to us as phony change. I worry that the real changes we need to make in the way we live - in order to survive - are still seen as too painful to really make. So we accept a watered-down, feel-good, pop-culture green movement instead.

[northofdenali]

91. Whatever gets hijacked -

we can by god take back!

Welcome to DU, Truth2Tell :hi:

[blues90]

49. All we needed was more support and we

Would not be in this global /corporate war mongering mess we are in now , we should have been a bit more organized . The drug part would have gone away as a fade which it was but we had the right ideals which is more than I see in this world right now .

If our movement would have grown it would have lasted .

Oh well this is where we are now and no one knows what to do about it and at this point I don't know if there is anything that can be done to change this path the world has taken .

I recall when all the new jobs in key punching came along and this seemed to be the choice of many of the hippies as far as a job was concerned , well as far as the women were concerned , the birth of the computer age . Lots of blue collar workers for the choice of the men now we have nothing but low pay long hour shit jobs without a purpose of creating anything .

[crikkett]

55. not all of you

sorry you can't think of something to create

[blues90]

64. I can , however it takes money

I have stayed with the old hands on ways , I built guitars for years on my own here at home however now with all the cheap competition out there it's pointless and today too costly . Just another old style business that is dying out .

[ToeBot]

52. Does this mean we can go out in public again without getting hassled by 'the man'?

My tie-dyes are looking pretty faded and moth eaten, bummer.

[northofdenali]

56. As a (very) aging hippie, I can tell you I've never been right.

I've been correct, I've turned north, south, east, west etc., but I have NEVER gone right!! (That's kind of a game with the crazy bunch I still hang out with - the word "right" can be changed in just about any situation, but must never, never be used!)

:loveya: Morford - almost as much as Hiaasen. 'Course, I have to give Hiaasen extra points - I was born in Florida.

Yup. Hippies know best (at least when we're not totally whacked on the herb...)

[conscious evolution]

57. I go forward,not straight.

I like your version too.

I've also made a wrong turn in Albequrqee.

[northofdenali]

59. Amen!!!

I told my cousin to go west once - he landed us in a snow bank, because he couldn't figure out I meant "right"...........

[Warren DeMontague]

61. In honor of that, I think I'll crank up some May '77 Grateful Dead.

:hippie:

[conscious evolution]

62. I just fired up their first recorded show

A show that changed the world.

Over the years,whenever I heard people speaking of when in time they could go to if they invented a time machine,most people say they would like to go back and kill Hitlers grandparents or go see jesus or some some other important person or event.
Me?
I would go back to the Summer of Love.
Three months.
Several killer bands
A shitload of acid.

They changed the world.

Frankly,I think it is time for another summer of love.

[Zorra]

63. Yep, they were, and some of the old hippies I know are the wisest folks

I've ever met.

[xchrom]

65. being a grumpy ass old hippie -- i have one thing to say: told ya so.

[KoKo]

66. Yep...the "Dirty Hippies and the Clean Hippies" haven't ever given UP

"the cause." It was actually "Mainstream Jimmy Carter who gave more hope to us with his "Energy Star" appliances and turning down thermostates or up according to the weather and wearing sweaters or lighter clothes so that we aren't cushioned. Also there was a program for the CORPORATE OFFICE BUILDINGS TO TURN OFF LIGHTS...under Carter...plus the 55 Mile an Hour speed limit that saved gasoline.

Lot's of good stuff under Carter was UNDONE by Saint Ronnie. BUT...there's a "paper trail" about what all of us were about!

We were into "homemade toys" for our kids out of natural wood products and we pushed for "cloth diapers" over "plastic and filler" and we bought Vermont Wood Burning stoves in New Jersey and New York when the Iran Hostages were in the news because we had GAS LINES and OIL in the NorthEast was "through the roof."

We bought GREEN...and MINIMAL....and not all of us were "Dirty Hippies" doing this. We also used "coupons" for shopping and "Coupon Saving Clubs" flourished all over America (similar to the Stock Investing Clubs) during the late 90's.

There's a background of "what to do" and books and a paper trail. Those of us who went through this CAN SURVIVE...but can the REST OF YOU? :shrug:

[jwirr]

87. Don't forget bartering.

[LuckyLib]

68. Excellent and very funny article -- and the last paragraph is wonderful:

> snip
It was, always and forever, about connectedness. It was about how we are all in this together. It was about resisting the status quo and fighting tyrannical corporate/political power and it was about opening your consciousness and seeing new possibilities of how we can all live with something resembling actual respect for the planet, for alternative cultures, for each other. You know, all that typical hippie crap no one believes in anymore. Right?

:hippie:

[Nicole]

70. K & R

:kick:

[Cha]

71. Oh, yes we did, dudes!

I've been there the whole way. I was facinated by all that natural stuff back in the '70s and stuck with it cause it worked.

Thank you, Mark Moford, for reminding us, sweetie.

[tblue]

75. So why the hell are 'we hippies' always put on the defensive?

[Cha]

77. Not me..

I own it!

[tblue]

105. Good for you! And I mean that. I should have said 'why are we always PUT on the defensive?' That's

what I meant. But, good for you!

[Cha]

106. Cause that's what they do..

Our responsibility is to shove it back at them. :)

[tblue]

107. Amen to that!

[Lex]

81. Great article.

nt

[snot]

88. Hippies, feminists, liberuls --

all were unfairly demonized. We allowed it to happen.

One of the most shocking moments of my life, several years ago . . . I was having dinner with 2 gals in their 30's. They seemed the definition of crunchiness -- if they weren't wearing Earth shoes, it was only 'cause they hadn't heard of them yet; and they were/are certainly liberal re- civil rights. Sincere friends and generally kind, considerate, and well-intentioned.

Now, I look back on the 60's as a renaissance in many areas; but it's not something I talk about often, maybe once a decade. But somehow the subject-matter of our conversation prompted me to mention that I was puzzled at the talk of the "excesses of the 60's", as if something terrible had happened back then. To my mind, the 60's represented a time when the people rose up for the good and brought about an end to the Viet Nam war and a number of measures to at least partially redress racial discrimination; to my mind, the "excesses of the 60's" were those committed by Nixon et al.

Here's the shock part: I'd barely got this concept verbalized before these 2 gals looked at each other and, laughing heartily, blurted in unison, "BLAH, BLAH BLAH!"

It was at that point that I realized, there are a lot people out there who have grown up receiving certain vaccinations administered by the media-as-it-has-been-owned during the past thirty years or more.

[Djinn]

89. Except of course

most of them gave up the greenie ways when they approached their 30's and became every bit as polluting and capitalist as those they raged against.

Not to mention it's HIGHLY dubious to claim most of the "environmentally friendly" products on the market actually are.

Oh and the hippies I was forced to grow up with loved patchouli - they can NEVER be right ;-)

[orleans]

90. YEAH! n/t

[OnionPatch]

95. I never doubted for a minute that they were right

Hippies had the guts to stand up for REAL values instead of the many phony values we had going at the time. I always thank them. I think the hippy era was the best "movement" that ever happened in this country. Hurrah for the hippies! :loveya:

[Bosso 63]

99. The right is reactionary.

The tide has always been moving in our direction, and the right has been re-acting to it.

Sure they win battles from time to time, but like Sisyphus, the moment they stop pushing the rock up the mountain it starts to slide back down and they know it.

Their strength and unity comes from their fear. They see the world changing, and they desperately want to stop it.

Everything that the right fights for is motivated by that fear, but fear is a cancer of the soul.

[mdmc]

108. nice!

:hi: