The Source

Last night enjoyed a film documenting the source of the beatnik generation. The focus was of course upon Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William Burroughs. All created influential literature challenging the mainstream way of being. Considering what was going on in the world around its not surprising a counter-culture would develop. America was so white washed and battered from years of war and depression. Capitalistic conformity offered a nice heat lamp to the cold and insecure world they had been existing in for sometime. As the second world war ended and the U.S. was coming to fully appreciate the military industrial complex, a subset of youth took up the opportunity to consider difference in their vanilla surroundings. Their writings are profound, edgy and full of wanderlust. No doubt much of it influenced by their sphere expanding adventures with chemicals and "grass." Thankfully youth are in a middling stage of life granting them the opportunity to consider alternatives and not have the full pressure of survival on your back. These guys just wanted to be themselves and experience life as they so desired rather than having to bend and mold to a factory manufactured life ordered out of the Sears Roebuck catalog. Kerouac and the others were not afraid to have not, and balked at picket fences. They preferred instability and did not judge their worth on traditional successes. The Beatnik generation were catalyst for change in society; doing the prep work for the hippie generation to follow. While segments of society pushing for change exist always; at times they are more pronounced than others. We can identify other sources of change in the years after the Beats through understanding influential artist and authors of the time. Ha here's an idea maybe its more about the drug of choice for the time...for the 80's cocaine was energizing a generation of stock traders and money makers. The 90's crack rock led to violence and sickened an ethnic segment of the population. The 2000's are being marked for its variety of drug choices including ones made of chemicals to be found in every day items. This generation is marked by its diversity, an inability to focus, and an abundance of information. When Howl and Naked Lunch were written the flow of information was more singular and predefined. Nowadays the provocative flow of information spews from multi-faceted networks continuously and without discretion. Counter-cultures thrive in this environment and whitewashing is so taboo that RGB-washing could not be used to describe the political correctness justified prominence of ethnicity in all areas of society. The Source now comes from a multitude of information formats and distribution mechanisms. Still I am romanticized by the idea that I could be apart of such a group willing to do without traditional milestones of American Life and live as the moment allows according to your own worldly ideals of right and wrong.