803: Is the Counter Culture really forgotten...?

What did survive of this legacy in the 21st century. Love didn't win.....capitalism, greed, shareholders and multinationals did, it seems....

    

That was how I concluded my previous lecture. Before we admit to the aforementioned vision of our world, we have to see if there is really nothing left of the Counter Culture

  

I already mentioned Theodore Roszak's book "The Making of a Counter Culture" (1970). He drew a sharp picture of what was going on in the 1960s.

   

Roszak starts with a chapter in which he criticizes reductionist science and the way it produces a 'one-dimensional' society that is extremely unsatisfactory for many people.

  

Reductionist science is in fact  how we understand science today. Everything is reduced to an almost materialistic view of reality.

  

Every statement has to be logical, verifiable, falsifiable, based on empirically testable facts, measurable and so on.

  

This leads us to the famous book "One-Dimensional Man" (1964) by Herbert Marcuse.

Marcuse strongly criticizes consumerism and modern "industrial society", which he claims is a form of social control.   

  

Marcuse argues that while the system we live in may claim to be democratic, it is actually totalitarian. 

  

A form of technological rationality has imposed itself on every aspect of culture and public life, and has become hegemonic. 

  

Our identification with this hegemonic ideology of modern industrial society, this ideology does not 

  

represent a form of "false-conscious", but rather has succeeded in becoming reality.

  

The concept of "one-dimensional man" asserts that there are other dimensions of human existence in addition to the present one and that these have been eliminated. 

   

A new culture must take its place in which the non-rational capacities of the personality, 

  

the capacities that are ignited by the beauty of idealism and the experience of human connectedness, determine what is good, true and beautiful. 

  

In essence class consciousness as a productive principle is giving way to consciousness' consciousness.

   

This means that self-realization is not achieved by material success, higher income or better production, 

  

but by entering the true realms of consciousness and its (neglected) many layers.

   

This was expressed by "Make Love not War", Flower Power, search for Eastern philosophies, gurus, Zen, interest in Buddhism, sexual freedom, LSD, etc.

   

Are we still working on our self-realization. Is finding our true inner self as the true goal in life?

   

At least you still can buy all kinds of Buddha statues in many shops here. I have one on my desk. See the picture behind me.

It is Orang malu, the Indonesian name for the shy man. He is also called the Yogi man or "weeping buddha". 

  

The Buddha who cries for the suffering of the world. According to legend, you have to place the orang malu with its face to the door. 

  

The visitors must pat him over his head on arrival and he takes over any bad thoughts, so that all visitors enter your house with good intentions.

   

Thank you for your attention....The floor is yours.....

 

http://www.herman-bergson.nl

The Discussion

   

[13:23] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): thank you Herman

[13:23] herman Bergson: Question....

[13:23] herman Bergson: Do you have any idea why Marcuse calls our democracy actually totalitairian?

[13:24] CB Axel: Maybe because our possessions have taken over our lives?

[13:24] herman Bergson: Good point CB

[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): because of commercials shopping obsession for what is shouted to us in those commercials and greed in general

[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): money rules

[13:24] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): commersial rules

[13:25] herman Bergson: The issue crossed my mind while I was reading you the text...

[13:25] herman Bergson: Yes Bejiita....

[13:25] herman Bergson: Everything is focused on and controlled by  economy

[13:25] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and the scrap heaps growing as the manufacturers shout to us to throw away the previous and buy the next version all the time

[13:26] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): waste

[13:26] herman Bergson: That was what the Counter Culture tried to change.....

[13:26] herman Bergson: and what has happened?

[13:26] herman Bergson: We all know.... :-(

[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sure its good the stuff is out there but we cant do as thy want and constantly buy new all time, I keep my stuff as log it works, mobile, computer ect

[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): long

[13:27] herman Bergson: Today was in the news that there are 11 hospitals in The Netherlands in financial trouble....

[13:27] CB Axel: The Counter Culture grew up and realized that we need more than peace and love to live on.

[13:27] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): but I also stick to quality brands like samsung and ASUS

[13:28] herman Bergson: Yes CB...in that sense consumerism won, I think

[13:28] herman Bergson: but about these hospitals.....

[13:29] herman Bergson: How can a hospital get into financial trouble, when healthcare is a collective worry....?

[13:29] herman Bergson: Because we have lost this feeling of collective responsibility...

[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): privatization

[13:30] herman Bergson: Today a hospital is a fabric that produces goods....at the lowest costs....and they have to compete with other hospitals

[13:30] oola Neruda: insurance companies have a role to play in that as well... and pharmaceutical peoples

[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): sadly yes?

[13:30] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): :(

[13:30] herman Bergson: they are economically structured like car factories for instance

[13:31] CB Axel: In the US we've never had a feeling of collective responsibility and we have hospitals in trouble too, especially in rural areas.

[13:31] herman Bergson: `Just crossed my mind, CB

[13:31] oola Neruda: agree

[13:31] herman Bergson: Till the 1980s we felt this collective responsibility....

[13:32] herman Bergson: when the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 neo-liberalism as system had won, was the belief

[13:33] herman Bergson: so THAT system would work in every situation....the market would regulate everything

[13:33] herman Bergson: And now we are in deep trouble in the Netherlands

[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): a Swedish comedian made a Christmas album some years ago about the privatisation where the CEO of the hospital was in a tax paradise swimming in his profits and hunting crocodiles while the ones in the hospitals were sleeping in their own shit because of resource cutbacks to max profit

[13:33] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and thats sadly how it is :(

[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): at some places

[13:34] herman Bergson: So in Sweden too, Bejiita?

[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): yes

[13:34] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): things that should not be privatized like schools ect

[13:34] herman Bergson: Here they begin to discover that this market model in healthcare and social care maybe not the best choice was

[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): the kids future ruined for profit and welfare in general

[13:35] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): education hospitals ect

[13:35] herman Bergson: Yes...and that is what the Counter Culture foresaw

[13:36] herman Bergson: They protested against the ideas of teh Great Society

[13:36] oola Neruda: the future is also ruined by the greed of petroleum industries wanting to profit for as long as possible regardless of what happens to the entire world and population

[13:36] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): aaa yes

[13:36] herman Bergson: But there is growing a new Counter Culture....

[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): is there really THAT hard to develop electric energy storage or are the oil companies buing up and shutting down all good ideas?

[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): to prevent electric car boom

[13:37] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): not sure but

[13:37] oola Neruda: it is hard to see it growing ...we have trump... and everything else is drowned out

[13:37] herman Bergson: Yesterday there were worldwide protests of young people against wrong politics regarding climate change

[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): I mean 3 phase motors and frequency converters have been around since forever and electric cars were already before combustion engine was invented

[13:38] herman Bergson: Trump has made a second rate country of the US....unreliable and unpredictable

[13:38] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): energy storage is the issue

[13:38] herman Bergson: Indeed Bejiita

[13:38] oola Neruda: yes

[13:39] CB Axel: The Kurds are learning that unless you have something you can give to make Trump wealthier you can't rely on the US.

[13:39] oola Neruda: yes

[13:39] herman Bergson: Indeed CB !!!!

[13:39] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): seems so yes :(

[13:40] herman Bergson: And he does this all with great and unmatched wisdom!

[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): that he openly says WE HAVE BEATEN IS TO 100% FOR SURE

[13:40] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): well that is clearly NOT true

[13:40] oola Neruda: yes... just ask him.... he will tell you he is wise

[13:40] CB Axel: I agree that other countries need to do more in the Middle East (OMG! Do I actually agree with Trump on something?), but our help shouldn't depend on who can make the rich in the US richer.

[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): agree

[13:41] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): one thing is for sure, IS is not beaten like he says just held back

[13:41] herman Bergson: It is only a small group of a 150 US solders that prevents a massacre by the Turks....

[13:42] herman Bergson: Not to talk about what will happen to the camps

[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): will be hugh human disaster

[13:42] herman Bergson: Well....we'll see

[13:42] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): I could not believe what trump said before when he said IS is defeated 100%

[13:43] CB Axel: Trump has buildings in Turkey. I don't think he does in Syria.

[13:43] oola Neruda: hah

[13:43] CB Axel: Bejiita, our Pentagon couldn't believe it either.

[13:43] herman Bergson: But if you look at the legacy of the Counter Culture from the 1960s.....it is really very very thin.....

[13:43] CB Axel: Yes. It's made up of Al Gore and Jimmy Carter. :)

[13:43] herman Bergson: Even  in the Roman Catholic Church they have killed all modernization from that time

[13:44] CB Axel: Oh, and Keanu Reeves.

[13:44] CB Axel: They're the only ones left.

[13:44] herman Bergson: For the world a lot will depend on what will happen in 2020 in the USA

[13:45] oola Neruda: yes

[13:45] herman Bergson: and I really mean A LOT

[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): hmm well see

[13:45] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): (hopes to see world peace and Trump locked into the asylum for good)

[13:46] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): and some with BRAINS and KNOWLEDGE in power instead

[13:46] herman Bergson: If you look at  the Jim Jordans of America....the most scary characters...selling out their own country

[13:47] herman Bergson: So let us join our own great and unmatched wisdom and try to save the world....:-)

[13:47] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): YAY! (yay!)

[13:47] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡

[13:48] herman Bergson: Thank you all for your particpation again.....^_^

[13:48] CB Axel: Thank you, Herman.

[13:48] herman Bergson: We'll gonna make it \o/

[13:48] herman Bergson: Class dismissed...

[13:48] oola Neruda: thank you... Herman

[13:48] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): Thank you Herman

[13:49] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡

[13:49] CB Axel: I had to go vote today for mayor and an alderman. There was only one other person there voting. :(

[13:49] oola Neruda: oh no

[13:49] herman Bergson: Yes, that is a problem, CB....to get the people to vote

[13:50] CB Axel: Local elections get ignored.

[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): I think people are getting tired

[13:50] oola Neruda: nods

[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): cu next time

[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): ㋡

[13:50] Particle Physicist Bejiita (bejiita.imako): bye for now

[13:50] .: Beertje :. (beertje.beaumont): bye Bejiita

[13:50] CB Axel: They don't understand that the local people are the ones who effect us daily.

[13:50] herman Bergson: There is a storm going on in the US......

[13:50] CB Axel: Bye, Bejiita.

[13:50] oola Neruda: baiee

[13:50] herman Bergson: Bye Bejiita