Great read. Makes me nostalgic for the optimistic incoherence of the 60s counterculture, a time I never knew firsthand but heard stories about from my dad. My grandmother was part of it, growing weed on a farm outside Montpelier Vermont. The misadventures of the hippies do make you wonder if maybe another way of living is possible...
> The misadventures of the hippies do make you wonder if maybe another way of living is possible...
Only on the backs of the people who actually keep the world running. It's an inherently parasitic sort of LARP only possible in a very wealthy society. If everybody starts living the commune life, you're soon looking at a whole lot of violence and abuse, just like the primitive, self-sufficient societies the hippies romanticize and were / are trying to imitate.
For people who claimed to be building intentional communities, it's no wonder they failed: these hippies seem to have had absolutely no clue about what any 21st century child could tell you are the very fundamentals of community building!
>“What had been manageable and a complete delight began to disintegrate,” Selvin continued. “It’s the mentality the utopian ideal attracts: instead of responsible members you’re looking at people wanting something for free. Utopias are undermined by human nature.”
Having twice-attempted communal living arrangements (once in SFbayarea): this quote is spot-on. Both my experiences, it was the awesome member's worthless partner [who sunk each dream].
My update to the above quote would be this: "Humanity is undermined by human nature."
[+] [-] abvdasker|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] somedude895|2 years ago|reply
Only on the backs of the people who actually keep the world running. It's an inherently parasitic sort of LARP only possible in a very wealthy society. If everybody starts living the commune life, you're soon looking at a whole lot of violence and abuse, just like the primitive, self-sufficient societies the hippies romanticize and were / are trying to imitate.
[+] [-] 082349872349872|2 years ago|reply
https://d1sve9khgp0cw0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/201...
For people who claimed to be building intentional communities, it's no wonder they failed: these hippies seem to have had absolutely no clue about what any 21st century child could tell you are the very fundamentals of community building!
[+] [-] ProllyInfamous|2 years ago|reply
Having twice-attempted communal living arrangements (once in SFbayarea): this quote is spot-on. Both my experiences, it was the awesome member's worthless partner [who sunk each dream].
My update to the above quote would be this: "Humanity is undermined by human nature."