We recently went through a round of Woodstock Festival recollections in the media to “celebrate” forty years since that 1969 cultural phenomenon.  I was too young to attend the actual event, but I know some folks who did, and I’ve watched the feature film several times mostly because I love the musical performances.   The song “Woodstock”, written by Joni Mitchell, (who never actually attended the event) delivered one of my favorite lines … “I’m gonna camp out on the land.  Gonna get my soul free”,  which resonates even today.   

For most of my life I’ve been under the impression that Woodstock meant something significant.  I assumed it had shaped the future and order of things in America, but as I watched the TV documentary and read the articles, I realized it was simply a moment in time.  The Woodstock Festival does explain a lot about our culture and the social order, or disorder, of the times, but the event didn’t spark a larger movement as I’d always imagined.  Outside of its impact on the music and drug scenes, I mean.

Interesting what a few years and a pair of bifocals will do for one’s perspective, huh?!      

It’s been common to refer to that period in American history as the Woodstock Era and the young people involved as the Woodstock Generation.  That seems fair enough, however we never really became the Woodstock Nation that Abbie Hoffman envisioned.  Instead, over these past forty years we’ve gone much in the opposite direction.   It’s been hard to get one over on THE MAN, you see.

During that era people who were activists or leaders for a causewere called “Radicals” or “Organizers” or “Agitators” or “Bosses” and those monikers became a badge of honor for some and a negative stereotype for others.  I’ve known several of these people personally — most notably Tom Hayden and Dick Flacks from my Santa Barbara days.  These folks, whom I admired in my youth, were viewed rather negatively by “normal society” of the times.  Respectable citizens didn’t want to associate with one of those labels no matter their personal or political beliefs.  I mention this only to contrast to the present whereby we now call people like them “Advocates” or “Idealists” or “Lobbyists” or even “Executive Directors” (insert your favorite non-profit organization here) for the things they believe in and the causes they represent.   Partisan politics aside we’ve learned to become mainstream, more respectful, and more savvy when stating our cause or challenging the status quo.  Outside the mainstream the old radical has been replaced by the term “Dissident” and nobody wants that title.

A topic like this can be exhaustive and I have no intention to write a book, I simply want to acknowledge that although the festival impact waned, the Woodstock Generation likely planted the seeds of what we are reaping today.  I think one can make a correlation to the social, political, and environmental movements of today and I for one am happy to be called an activist or an advocate for change particularly in regards to the energy policies of our nation. 

One last thought … The simplest messages of Woodstock were about love, peace and idealism and those themes prevailed throughout the TV documentary.  Several commercials were well-placed from sponsors such as Aqua Velva and Electric Shave and irony was not lost on the Mercedes E Class car commercial with the CCR music in the background (“going to the country…”.)  This theme was broken however, most notably by a home security system company that spewed images of fear and violence in its advertising.  It was telling us all about a very scary world, a world we needed to be protected from, and they could provide that help.  That bothered me a great deal!  It was a contrast I wasn’t prepared for as it seemed so out of place in the context of the subject.   

Times have changed indeed.

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