The new Woodstock generation

Reihan Salam

21 June 2008

Reihan Salam predicts the dawning of a new hippy era as critics of consumerism head to the hills

The hippies thus traded in their shapeless garb for power suits, eventually giving rise to the corporate-cultural elite we now know and loathe — a group that manages to combine the self-righteousness and self-regard of the hippies with the shallow consumerism that made the 1950s such a drag, man. Lately we’ve seen the evolution of environmentalism, the hippie cause par excellence, into a consumerist caricature. Earlier this month the Discovery Channel launched Planet Green, a new cable channel dedicated to the green lifestyles of the rich and the vacuous. Suffice to say, the channel’s agenda isn’t to encourage less consumption so much as more expensive green consumption. It is apposite that the Prius is the ultimate badge of a green sensibility — manufacturing its nickel battery is extraordinarily carbon- intense, and buying an ancient Toyota is at least as good for the environment.

There are, however, countervailing trends. Etsy, a much-buzzed-about internet retailer based in bohemian Brooklyn, directly connects consumers to creators of handmade goods. The goal, for founder Rob Kalin, is to spark a revival in the handicraft sector, and over the long term to build a new, more ecologically sustainable global economy. Granted, this is all slightly ridiculous. You can’t build a flourishing economy on knitwear, eccentric earrings, and homemade pashminas alone. But Kalin has tapped into the power of what you might call the dropout economy — the millions of bright women and men who are turning away from soul-deadening office work, and who are also turning away from what the left-wing Cornell economist Robert H. Frank has referred to as ‘the positional arms race’. The Harrises and Kalin are, in this sense, opposite sides of the same coin.

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Reg

June 20th, 2008 12:20am Report this comment

Speaking as a refugee from office work and as a current maker of 'custom cabinets' (no, really), I can assure you that I have no intention of moving to a commune and eating 'thin gruel' (or any gruel) whilst wearing a grass shirt and recycling my nightsoil.

But then, my cabinets are high quality and expensive (and require electricity and diesel to produce).

vb

June 24th, 2008 10:48pm Report this comment

Why would you want to inflict these people on the countryside?

ariadne

June 25th, 2008 12:03pm Report this comment

I am one of those original "hippies" from the sixties and I can tell you that to this day I still gag at the least whiff of Patchouli. Worse yet I can attest to the utterly moronic nature of 90% of my compatriots as they smoked, snorted, shot into veins and ingested virtually any substance that would alter their minds. The old nonsense of "expanding your mind" usually led to their minds expanding out of their ears down their arms and onto the ground. Which, in any case is where most of them belonged. If they come back in any guise I guarantee they will smell even worse and their children will be even more of a pain in the ass than the last batch. Don't say we didn't warn you.