Music, politics, and rants about hippies

A while back, I linked to an article that I've read several dozen times since. It's a phenomenon I identify closely (not to say entirely) with, and I think liberals, especially after their dismal election day youth turnout, ignore it at their own peril. For lack of a better term, they call it "South Park" republicanism (or conservatism, here).

Anderson talked with "several dozen" conservative students for his book. "They weren't young George Wills, they weren't young Bill Buckleys." They wore jeans and listened to iPods nonstop, but were intensely pro-life. But less conservative than their older counterparts on gay marriage, where they didn't object to the idea of civil unions for gays. As for the war on terror, they were very pro-Bush.

Is there a downside to the rise of South Park conservatism? I ask. "It can be," as its critics claim Anderson notes, "kind of nihilistic, profane, and vulgar." And, of course, "it will offend a lot of people." But, he says, "the biggest danger is that the activism and the attitude might replace an engagement with ideas."

Well, you won't find any profanity or vulgarity on this blog. (ahem) That last sentence is key, though, as we have seen already the results of this on the other side.

It's time to recognize that PC culture was a bad idea, and is for all intents and purposes, dead. In the words of MC Paul Barman, "If someone uses a non-offensive vocabulary, that person is considerate," not politically correct. And yes, he rapped that shit.

I linked to this article the other day, too, which I think correlates to this young conservative phenomenon. The overarching point, I think, is that it's time to re-think the ideals and the practices of the 1960s. And before you jump down my throat, there are obviously good things that came out the '60s. I'll not insult your intelligence by naming them here, but we all know what they are.

But we're seeing some of the cultural consequences of hippie parents now, as their children come of age. Hands-off parenting was depicted and criticized in the South Park movie; the practical effects of pacifism in the face of facism was illustrated in Team America; PC culture is incessantly mocked and ridiculed, even among the targets of its alleged benevolence; the rise of identity politics; laissez-faire morality resulting in broken homes and angry, disaffected youth. Can a devil-may-care approach to sentence structure be far behind?!?!


Liberalism is the new establishmentarianism. Conservatism is the new rebellion.