[quote=briansd1]….My dad was saying that the hippies of before were unconventional. They wanted to travel the world and do good.

Today, beginning at young age people want to consume branded products. So how can you escape corporatism when as a consumer you yearn for and embrace the products of the corporations?[/quote]

Hey, brian, I understand where your dad’s coming from on this, but it’s my view that the vast majority of hippies were, in reality, hangers-on along for the ride. There really weren’t that many, relative to the population at large, and many of the younger ones simply wanted to party, have lots of sex, and take free drugs (I want it firmly established that I am not, in any way, knocking those goals), while feeling justified in being pissed at the parents who were paying for all of it. These were the ones who, by 1975, were signing up for singles disco dancing lessons so that they could finally get married, buy a big oversized house in the suburbs, and have a reason to post one of those obnoxious “Baby On Board” signs on the back windows of their Volvo station wagons.

Where do you think that today’s young people developed a desire to consume branded products? Trust me on this: I’m old enough to have lived through it.

I do believe that that your dad’s description is accurate, but for a relatively small number of individuals. And I believe that most of them haven’t changed that much: still into the common good, and always open to new and interesting experiences. It’s too bad that this is considered “unconventional” in our society, almost as though such behavior and sentiments are to be feared, but it is what it is.