Tune in, turn on, Doge out

[Lumpy Talbot]

I like watching social dynamics as many of us do, as evidenced by the commentary by posters on sites such as Gubu.ie. Sometimes you see and hear things in the news that resonate with earlier known dynamics in society.

I believe there is significant concern at governmental level in the west generally but more obviously in the USA and the UK that far too many people are turning their backs on the required work ethic demanded by the political and economic systems in which we live. The push for a return to the office, concerns in the US and UK over young and mature workers absenting themselves one way or another from the workforce and a general questioning of participation in the rat-race on which political and economic systems depend for tax-farming and otherwise keeping a population gainfully employed.

Certain pieces of news remind me of the establishment panic over the Beatnik generation with its tune in, turn on, and drop out philosophy first really identified as a social phenomena by writers such as Jack Kerouac in 1948 in the US and going mainstream with the hippy generation later of the 1960s.

'Beatniks were members of a social movement in the mid-20th century, who subscribed to an anti-materialistic lifestyle. They rejected the conformity and consumerism of mainstream American culture and expressed themselves through various forms of art, such as literature, poetry, music, and painting. They also experimented with spirituality, drugs, sexuality, and travel. The term "beatnik" was coined by San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen in 1958, as a derogatory label for the followers of the Beat Generation, a group of influential writers and artists who emerged during the era of the Silent Generation's maturing, from as early as 1946, to as late as 1963, but the subculture was at its most prevalent in the 1950s. This lifestyle of anti-consumerism may have been influenced by their generation living in extreme poverty in the Great Depression during their formative years, seeing slightly older people serve in WWII and being influenced by the rise of left-wing politics and the spread of Communism. The name was inspired by the Russian suffix "-nik", which was used to denote members of various political or social groups. The term "beat" originally was used by Jack Kerouac in 1948 to describe his social circle of friends and fellow writers, such as Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, and Neal Cassady. Kerouac said that "beat" had multiple meanings, such as "beaten down", "beatific", "beat up", and "beat out". He also associated it with the musical term "beat", which referred to the rhythmic patterns of jazz, a genre that influenced many beatniks.' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatnik

Today young people are questioning the shackles of attempting to sign up to a mortgage which in many cases is unattainable, post Covid 19 lockdown questioning the gentle enslavement of the office or workplace. Lots of people I think have been departing the workforce in both the US and UK in recent times and there is sign of an associated panic at governmental level.

In the US in the last few days a proposal which seems to have drawn interest from Health and Human Resources Secretary Robert Kennedy is circulating that anti-anxiety medicines should be banned. SSRIs which are widely used in the States, prozac, xanax, adderall and the like are I suspect being blamed for the modern version of the turned on, tune in and drop out statistics of people being absent from the workforce.

It is a signal of the increasing anxiety both sides of the Atlantic at the number of people absenting themselves from workforce statistics, probably equally prompted by the numbers of layoffs by companies and attendant lack of replacement jobs plus I suspect something of an underground swirl of rejection of the rat-race by increasing number of young and experienced people who would otherwise have been in the race probably before lockdown.

I'm betting that governments in the UK and US are noticing a diminishing amount of tax and an increase in the numbers seeking social welfare assistance and this is causing the same sort of moral panic that came with a reaction to the hippy generation of the 1960s with a lot of young people questioning the work ethic and social norms associated with the rat race.

In 2006 something like 2 million US women presented to family doctors with 'unspecified back pain', primarily it is suspected to get access to prescription drugs. I think there are a lot of people both sides of the Atlantic seeking refuge in the doctor's scrip, various ailments and of course added to the fact that there are few and diminishing attractive work options out there and are otherwise absenting themselves from the rat-race in one way or another.

To summarise I believe that we are seeing the early stages of a 'drop-out' culture that is similar to the 1950s and 1960s emergence of a counter-culture- drive as the Beatnik social movement was by a reaction to the previous social conformity.

[Lumpy Talbot]

As I've set out my thinking stall I think I might put some balloons on it. If you survey the social media platforms they most consist of people trying to become influencers. Setting out part of their lives in the hope of becoming noticeable enough to be 'monetized' by the platforms as they gain hundreds of thousands of views.

Take the modern technology out of it and it is reminiscent of the coffee shop Beatniks of the late 1950s and early 1960s …login to view the rest of this post