'67

For this blog entry, I turn to ‘67’ in Hippie for a discussion on legalizing marijuana. Over the past few years, I’ve done a lot of research and papers on the topic, and Miles’ brief discussion about the beginnings of the movement brought back some hate I’d learned to forget. Because of recent political events, I’ve become very angry with the way our country is being run (by whom, and without representation, more specifically) and my views on the legality of marijuana, I think, epitomizes my political opinions.

I particularly like Miles’ quote by Nigel Weymouth, “The establishment was still very much the establishment,” which kind of sums up my opinion on government—that it functions based on past abilities and allowances, and not on the agreed terms…i.e. the government relies on its reputation to get citizen-support for passing un-Constitutional bills and pork-barrel bills (*cough* stimulus bill). Marijuana is illegal because of “establishment” being “the establishment” because it’s illegal just because establishment deemed it illegal eighty years ago. Then, the establishment was easily swayed by lobbyists and powerful business—i.e., William Randolph Hearst—and not by the will of the people…but they were controlled by government propaganda then… not that we are now, right? :)

Now, even though the People have evolved—somewhat, I’m a pessimist and anti-social, so that’s a bad place for me to judge—the government refuses to legalize marijuana because it’s “the establishment,” it has to have complete power, and it’s never wrong.

Anyway, this section talks about efforts to decriminalize marijuana in Britain during 1967. From what I read, both the Who and the Beatles took direct action in supporting legalization efforts. The Who posted an ad in the Evening Standard and the Beatles contributed to a “full-page advertisement headed ‘The law against marijuana is immoral in principle and unworkable in practice’” (251). This ad also included several notable people, including scientist and noble laureate Francis Crick and two members of Parliament. What would happen to celebrities today if they blatantly supported the legalization of marijuana? Somehow, I believe that people were freer during the ’60s than today, which is disgusting considering the efforts and headways people made during and after that decade.

In fact, I don’t think people believe, like the hippies did in the ’60s, that “the law [is] prejudiced and corrupt” (245). I think people have forgotten this, and returned to relying on Big Brother for moral, ethical, and political decisions. Which is why I’m so angry at our government right now—throwing money at an issue that they created by fiddling with citizen’s money (the income tax law—there is none, look it up), creating harsh Socialist principles to “save” the county (FDR and the New Deals), by ignoring the natural flow of business and economy, and creating this strange allegiance citizens are supposed to have to their representatives (who have, time and time again, supported un-Constitutional bills and participate in government corruption just to line their pockets).

Well, they aren’t representing me—my fiance has written to our Representative many times, only to receive a statement of his (opposite) beliefs in return, and he still voted for both bailouts and the Stimulus bill despite the majority of our county being against it. After all the work the youth of the ’60s did for our individual freedoms, they only turned around and joined the system in the end. To make things just a little more interesting, I'm going to use Jet's "Hey Kids" to explain my impression of the hippies:

Hey Kids
You did it all yourselves
You never changed the world
So whatcha think about that?

Hey Dad
The suit is on your back
So take ya boots off my neck
And get back to ya money stack
...

Hey old man
Remember Vietnam
Ya hated Vietnam
and now you love UncleSam

Hey Kids
Did you get your kicks?
So now you're gettin old,
you're gonna catch up quick

hey kids you never changed the world at all
hey kids you never changed the world
hey kids you never changed the world at all
hey kids you never changed the world
(mp3lyrics.org/j/jet/hey)

Wow, this is rambling… I’m sorry! I’m angry about the Senate passing that Stimulus bill…

Carroll 388-92

Carroll's blunt testimony is slightly gross but incredibly fascinating. I find it interesting that Carroll started doing drugs in 1963 and had a heroin addiction by 15 (1965). Reading his descriptions about being addicted to heroin is bone-chilling-- why would anyone want to put themselves in that situation? Like his friend, who saw candles burning at Mass and dreamt that they had heroin cooking over them. Carroll reveals the scary side of "drugs," the reason why "drugs" are illegal; however, in the end, he seems to rectify it by saying "I just want to be pure." Carroll summoned the power to quit, it seems, because he lived to write about the tale. To me, I interpret this as a cautionary tale about the dangers of hard drugs-- and proof of the power of conciousness and will power. Obviously, Carroll was able to get himself to quit and he ended the disastrous process that he began in '65. Nonetheless, I can't imagine why anyone would want to try heroin after reading this story... on the other hand, his story about LSD was highly entertaining. I just wish I could see the golfer's faces! Probably 4 stodgy, conservative guys watching a hippie having a hallucination... hilarious.

Struggling to be Free: The Civil Rights Movement

What I find most interesting about this section is that it brings up a couple incidents that I never heard of. As a student with many history classes (6 collegiate) under my belt, I'm surprised that I haven't heard of these incidents. The first was the story of Emmet Till: what got me the most about his story was just visiting Mississippi when he was brutally battered. He was just a kid from Chicago visiting family, happened to cat-call a white woman, and got beat to death for it. It's cases like these that are the frightening aspects of racial prejudice: Till was a vulnerable 14-year-old and none of the adult men who did it thought twice about beating and killing a child just because his skin color was different than theirs. It's possible that no one would have found out about this, and those men would never be found out-- but when they were, they were acquitted. Acquitted from charges of savage, fatal brutality to an innocent child. This cycle of bloodthirsty racial prejudice still carries on today-- though, legally (thank goodness), criminals in these cases are actually punished if they are found out.

The other topic I didn't know about was the Freedom Riders who attempted to ride on buses throughout the South. They were beaten in three different areas-- Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi-- even though bus-segregation was coming to an end.