Woodstock’s Woke Counter Culture

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

I have a black and white photo of me with my parents after my infant baptism in the town of Woodstock, NY. Some twelve years later, a three day festival of “peace and music” was held in the same area that would forever change the world, not just in America.

After the festival had been kicked out of Wallkill, NY by the citizens there who passed an ordinance disallowing any gathering of more than 5,000 people, it came to rest on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm of 600 acres in nearby Bethel, NY. Yasgur was a dyed-in-the-wool law and order Republican and believed in free speech and wanted to provide something that would allow the promoters to have their festival. His farm boasted 600 acres and part of the acreage resembled a natural amphitheater so it turned out to be perfect.

Young people descended on the area days and weeks ahead of the event. There were major problems as can be expected when a crowd of 150,000 expected audience ballooned to nearly 400,000. It became a logistical nightmare where everything was in serious short supply: food, bathroom facilities, and much more. However, nudity and drugs were in plenty. Numerous young men commented that they had never seen so many nude breasts outside of Playboy magazine. Hedonism in America had unofficially begun.

I find it fascinating that no one thought of bringing their own food for three days and nights, but drugs? No problem. Plentiful.

I guess people expected everything to either be available for a price or handed out free. No prior planning was done by attendees of the festival. Did socialism get a bump up at Woodstock as well? Seems so, because ultimately, the promoters decided to not charge people for the festival entrance and food was actually handed out free of charge (to the attendees).

Woodstock was the lightning rod for that particular generation of people disillusioned with war and conservative politics. America’s “imperialism” must be stopped at all costs! They certainly make a point, but the truth is that it has not been “America” based on the Constitution that’s been using imperialism throughout the world. It’s the clandestine ABC agencies like the CIA that have been doing that and wreaking havoc not only on foreign nations but on America itself. Shortly after JFK threatened to destroy the CIA, he was assassinated. What does that tell you?

Though a form of Leftism has existed for centuries, Woodstock seemed to coalesce Leftism and push it to the front, giving it new power. Young folks believed that drugs should be cheap or free and readily available as well as “love” (sex between consenting adults). In fact, this is the main reason that the townspeople of Wallkill didn’t want the festival there because of those “hippies” with their drugs and casual sex.

During the 1960’s, many of the songs produced were of a highly-charged political nature, speaking out against the Vietnam War and war in general. Young men who faced the draft then were asking questions like, “Why should I have to go all the way to Asia to fight Communists?” Many lied on their draft registration paperwork to get out of going into the military. The draft registration was mandatory in the USA then. When you turned a certain age, you were required to register for the draft or face harsh penalties, including prison. When/if your number came up, you went into the military. Many never returned home.

I still remember the student teacher I had in fourth grade, a Mr. Rossini. He was a young man who looked forward to becoming a teacher. He was tough but very fair. He was there one day and gone another when we eventually learned he had been drafted into the military. Weeks later, the paper announced his death that occurred in Vietnam. When my wife, our kids and I went to DC years ago, I looked for his name on the Vietnam War Memorial wall and there it was. So sad. He had so much to live for but never got the chance. This was repeated by many young men then. Unfortunately, there are still many who are simply listed as MIA (“missing in action”), their whereabouts or status is completely unknown. Of course, now, over sixty years later, we are on the verge of WWIII and there appears to be no stopping it. What will that mean for the immediate and far future? Not completely sure, but it likely will not be good.

The 1960s counterculture wanted to see the complete end of war to replace it with a world that loved. Unfortunately, their idea of love was based on free things and fleshly pursuits and it still is that. As nice as that “love” may seem to be, the 1960’s counter-culture version of love is based totally on SELF; catering to selfish desires all the while believed to be fully altruistic. This is the Left; claiming to be believers in science, but then believing that a man can change into a woman, which is not based on actual science since no one can or ever will be able to change their birth chromosomes.

Woodstock promoted the idea that things should be free, whether drugs, food, clothing, shelter or sex and people should be able to live as they want to live. There should be no limits to the availability of the things that supposedly everyone wants and would make the world a better place.

However, if not for the supplies that were provided free to the festival goers, Woodstock could’ve turned ugly very quickly. At one point, the few food stands ran completely out of food. There was literally nothing. Fortunately, the townspeople heard about the situation and literally emptied their pantries, made sandwiches and provided water and other drinks for the festival attendees, all free of charge. You’ve got thousands of pot-smoking hippies who were now seriously hungry. Imagine if food had not been provided?

In another instance, medical supplies ran out. We’re talking about a “city’s” worth of people, some 400,000 folks, many who needed medical attention. With all the drugs and the acreage where people wandered, some got hurt, were bitten by rats or other rodents, experienced cuts and other problems. The entire list of maladies was very long. It took doctors and nurses along with medical supplies to deal with it. What happened then?

Nelson Rockefeller, the then current governor of New York wanted to send in the troops and shut the festival down. Instead, his office was ultimately convinced that they should help and so they did send in the troops with medical supplies, doctors and some food. Everything was absolutely “free” as far as festival-goers were concerned, but not really, because all of this was either paid for by New York taxpayers, or by the good people of Bethel opening up and emptying out their pantries so 400,000 kids could eat and drink, receive medical attention and be merry. Imagine the added problem of all those who had bad “trips” from psychedelic drugs?

In essence, Woodstock represented the first major experiment in socialism in this country and the official casting off of the old guard of conservatism. Oh, I realize FDR had a huge hand in bringing socialism to America during his tenure, through many of his policies (The New Deal, etc.), but clearly, decades later, the children of the 1960s carried that torch. They wanted to make it work. What they failed to realize is that someone always pays for what people get “freely.” I doubt that even to this day, any of those who attended and might still be alive really understood what it was all about. They undoubtedly saw/see it as “love” in action, but other people’s money propped it up.

Woodstock occurred in 1969 and was also a major vehicle for the advancement of the New Age movement, Age of Aquarius and a stab against Christianity. Opening remarks were made by Swami Satchidananda. Many of the music groups presented their own New Age take on life, drugs, love and war. If you listen to some of those hits, they’re all about this ethereal  “love” (the hippie variant), drugs, feelz and the hoped for end of war.

When Woodstock ended, the festival attendees had to go back to their life of school and/or work. I’m sure it was a huge letdown for many going from the Woodstock “paradise” to the daily grind. Not many months after Woodstock, a number of students in May of 1970 were shot by National Guardsmen at Kent State during protests against the Vietnam War. The innocence was gone. Thirteen students wounded with four dead.

For a timeline of events leading up to the Kent State massacre, check here: The Kent State Massacre. Some of the protests and damage caused by students at Kent State are very similar to methods used by BLM and AntiFa in numerous American cities over the past number of years. Some reports stated that students felt “frightened” by the presence of National Guardsmen, while other students said the guard was congenial and friendly.

During the student protests, there were said to have been aggressive militant people among student protesters. Some National Guardsmen said many of the students were very polite but some would then end their conversations just as politely with, “But tonight we’re going to kill you.” By Sunday evening at Kent State, there was already plenty of violence and tension with many students pelting the guardsmen with a steady barrage of rocks. Again, this reminds me of the antics of BLM and AntiFa today. These NeoMarxist groups regularly use violence to undergird their points, but today we have governors and mayors who call their burning, looting and rioting as the “summer of love.”

So what began as “peace, love, dope and rock and roll,” as a passionate expression of young people in the 60s and their desire to be free of war, grew into what is today. The violent Left appears to have taken charge over society. They are seemingly in every strata as well, pushing their lies and anger, demanding that all people play ball with them or be cast out of society. Many of those rebellious children of the 60s are CEOs of major corporations today.

The young people of the sixties grew up, married and had children. These children and grandchildren carry on what their parents and grandparents believed and pushed during the Woodstock generation. These Leftwing folks today still largely went by feelz as did their parents/grandparents.

Woodstock is one of those events that happened in a moment of time and will never be replicated (though they tried). However, its effects live on today. The people who believed that free drugs, free consensual sex and rock and roll was the path to future peace for the world have changed their tune slightly. Today, they push their idea of “love” with hate for anyone who disagrees (forced censorship and restrictions against those who do not comply), even wishing opponents’ death, without flinching. It is interesting how the kids in the 60s wanted “peace and love” and today, many want deaths of those who don’t agree with their message.

The children and grandchildren of the 60’s have it wrong unfortunately. It’s not “love” based on feelz. It’s love based on what God has procured for us and offers to us. This life is not the be all, end all. It is merely the passage of years or decades for each person that leads to the next life. It’s not about drugs, free sex and rock and roll. It’s about true love as only defined by God and the example of it as lived by God the Son.

This life is inextricably bound to eternity. The decisions we make here determine our eternal state there.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective