No B.S Friday: Want to understand the kids? Understand the devil.
So, yes, I have watched Woodstock 99 on Netflix.
As someone who has worked in events for a long time, this was just fascinating. Basically, they decided to revive the Woodstock festival in 1999, sold 250,000 tickets, and then massively underfunded the infrastructure.
In the end, patrons were so pissed that they literally set the place on fire.
(They haven’t held another one.)
But one of the really interesting themes for me was the way that the organisers had just misunderstood where the youth was at in 1999.
In 1969, the young folk at Woodstock were looking for a new way of doing things. They wanted to take responsibility for creating a new world around peace and love and lentils.
In 1999, the young people just wanted to “F shit up.” Shirt off, tongue out, hanging off the lighting rig throwing devil horns with your fingers.
And you could see this drive build through the festival. They wanted to express their power and freedom, and they did that by smashing stuff they weren’t supposed to smash.
I think this is a bit of a white western phenomenon. In Greece and Spain, and in probably many other places, you don’t go out and smash stuff unless you have a really good reason – you’re protesting something or your soccer team was unfairly treated by the umpire.
But in the West, you get drunk, you get F’ed up, and you go smash stuff.
That’s how you have “fun”.
What is going on here?
Well, I reckon it’s one of the most dangerous conspiracies on earth.
What I think is going on is that we are totally conditioned to control. We expect control. We have rules and signs and commands everywhere we go. Do this, don’t do that.
It totally burns us out.
And for young people, to emerge from under that sphere of control – to take a lung full of freedom – is an incredible release. You want to go wild with it. And you want to destroy things, but those things are only proxies, because what you really want to destroy is the controlling structures you have had implanted in your mind.
But this is the work of the devil.
And not because the devil actually wants to control you. What does he care?
No, what the devil wants to do is wear you down so much that you just can’t handle being controlled or commanded any more.
And what happens then?
You stop listening to that higher part of yourself that wants to guide you towards your true destiny.
When that voice – your own commanding voice – says, “Get up early and study. Eat right and exercise. Learn how the game works and make some real money.”
You’re too tired to listen. You’re like, “Oh don’t tell me what to do! I’m sick of being told what to do. If one more person tells me what to do I’m going to set fire to a portapotty.”
And so your own commanding voice – the voice that will guide you towards realising your own greatness – has no leverage over you. You’re too blown out.
And so you flop around in smallness and laziness and senseless destruction and call it freedom.
Such a waste.
JG.
David says
Agree, so much negative has happened, for a person who grow-up in the 50-now, it’s dog-eat-dog, or all about ME!
Then the current government has stated we need skill works, this has been around from Bob/Paul times. Why are we looking at a band-aid? to fix a problem? Or blame the last Government for this mess?
Until major changes are brought in to fix the problem or someone stands -up & moves out of their comfort zone then very little will change.
V says
And?