Who are these "persons" that you refer to? Perhaps white suburban youths
discovered marijuana after 1962. But "persons" seems to me to represent
some mythic group. Drug culture is as old as civilization, certainly not
invented after 1962. And this assertion is dead wrong: "There was,
fundamentally, one American culture in the early Sixties"??? Whose culture
are you referring to exactly? Obviously not African-American or
Native-American cultures, for example. I think you need to qualify these
essentialist statements. To claim that "drug use lay at the essence of the
rebellion of the Sixties," is hyperbole. Drugs played a part, of course, but
there were many factors not related to drug use that contributed to the
resistance, such as the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the
women's movement, among others. If anything, by the late 1960s, drugs
reduced many forms active contestation to inner spiritual pursuits devoid of
politics.
Best,
Sean Hill
> This is hard to understand for young persons now.
On 7/1/03 5:35 PM, <PsycheCulture@xxxxxx> wrote:
> In a message dated 7/1/03 5:38:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, katmara@xxxxx
> writes:
>> Marijuana (and the marijuana leaf) signifies a certain lifestyle and a
>> certain
>> set of values. Generally speaking, the predominant cultural meaning of
>> marijuana is (and/or traditionally has been) that of resistance or
>> contestation
>> of the dominant order.
>
> Drug-use lay at the essence of the rebellion of the Sixties. In 1962,
> there was no "drug culture." Persons barely knew what marijuana was. Then,
> gradually, persons began to smoke marijuana. Drugs were not a response to some
> "discourse." The use of drugs arose spontaneously as a reaction to inner
> psychic
> needs.
>
> The idea was to "blow the mind," that is, to destroy the ordinary
> structures of cognition and perception.
>
> There was, fundamentally, one American culture in the early Sixties.
> This is hard to understand for young persons now.
>
> Marijuana use took off at the same time (1964) as Peter Berger wrote
> THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY. When there seemed to be only a single
> reality principle, no one could understand that reality was a social
> construction.
>
> The "Oh wow" of early marijuana use was the recognition that there was
> more than the concept of reality that had been presented as American culture.
>
> Now, however, I wonder if drugs are still necessary to shatter the
> reality principle. There are other spaces of separation or separateness.
>
> It is not so much a question of escaping "the gaze." It is escape the
> DESIRE TO GAZE, that is, to see what everyone else is seeing, partake of the
> shared reality principle. Marijuana represents a space within where culture
> and
> discourse cannot so easily penetrate.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Richard K.
>
> Richard A. Koenigsberg, Ph. D.
> Library of Social Science
>
>
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discovered marijuana after 1962. But "persons" seems to me to represent
some mythic group. Drug culture is as old as civilization, certainly not
invented after 1962. And this assertion is dead wrong: "There was,
fundamentally, one American culture in the early Sixties"??? Whose culture
are you referring to exactly? Obviously not African-American or
Native-American cultures, for example. I think you need to qualify these
essentialist statements. To claim that "drug use lay at the essence of the
rebellion of the Sixties," is hyperbole. Drugs played a part, of course, but
there were many factors not related to drug use that contributed to the
resistance, such as the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the
women's movement, among others. If anything, by the late 1960s, drugs
reduced many forms active contestation to inner spiritual pursuits devoid of
politics.
Best,
Sean Hill
> This is hard to understand for young persons now.
On 7/1/03 5:35 PM, <PsycheCulture@xxxxxx> wrote:
> In a message dated 7/1/03 5:38:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, katmara@xxxxx
> writes:
>> Marijuana (and the marijuana leaf) signifies a certain lifestyle and a
>> certain
>> set of values. Generally speaking, the predominant cultural meaning of
>> marijuana is (and/or traditionally has been) that of resistance or
>> contestation
>> of the dominant order.
>
> Drug-use lay at the essence of the rebellion of the Sixties. In 1962,
> there was no "drug culture." Persons barely knew what marijuana was. Then,
> gradually, persons began to smoke marijuana. Drugs were not a response to some
> "discourse." The use of drugs arose spontaneously as a reaction to inner
> psychic
> needs.
>
> The idea was to "blow the mind," that is, to destroy the ordinary
> structures of cognition and perception.
>
> There was, fundamentally, one American culture in the early Sixties.
> This is hard to understand for young persons now.
>
> Marijuana use took off at the same time (1964) as Peter Berger wrote
> THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF REALITY. When there seemed to be only a single
> reality principle, no one could understand that reality was a social
> construction.
>
> The "Oh wow" of early marijuana use was the recognition that there was
> more than the concept of reality that had been presented as American culture.
>
> Now, however, I wonder if drugs are still necessary to shatter the
> reality principle. There are other spaces of separation or separateness.
>
> It is not so much a question of escaping "the gaze." It is escape the
> DESIRE TO GAZE, that is, to see what everyone else is seeing, partake of the
> shared reality principle. Marijuana represents a space within where culture
> and
> discourse cannot so easily penetrate.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Richard K.
>
> Richard A. Koenigsberg, Ph. D.
> Library of Social Science
>
>
> --- StripMime Warning -- MIME attachments removed ---
> This message may have contained attachments which were removed.
>
> Sorry, we do not allow attachments on this list.
>
> --- StripMime Report -- processed MIME parts ---
> multipart/alternative
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