The 1970s
Tom Wolf's "The Me Decade" accurately describes the 1970s. As Wolf points that the 1970s was the time for the third great awaking and the 'Me decade'. When the 1976 presidential election came along the two candidates had very strong religious beliefs. Wolf's states" The two most popular new figure in the 1976 campaign, Jimmy Carter and Jerry Brown, are men who rose up from state politics ... absolutely aglow with mystical religious streaks"(Wolf.) With the Presidential candidates being highly religious, one was a Christian and Brown was a Zen Jesuit. This is just one example of the religious breakthrough that happened the other was when people started making a great move into being 'reborn Christan's' the 1970s was considered the Third Great Awaking. Wolf also mentions about the boom in communes in the United States. Wolf also mentions the boom in communes in the United States. Wolf's article is accurate in describing the 1970s.
In Tom Wolf article he describes the 1970s as the "Me Decade." The 1970s was when people found their new outlook on life. People started living for themselves instead of other people Wolf states" Most people, historically, have not lived their lives as if thinking, 'I have only one life to live.'' Instead, they have lived as if they are living their ancestors' lives and their offspring's lives and perhaps their neighbors' lives as well"(Wolf). People started living for what they wanted. The people started to realize that they only had one life, and they wanted to live for themselves instead of living for everyone else. The 1970s was a decade when people become more focused on themselves.
How does the religious aspect go hand in hand with people becoming more focused on themselves?
What were some ways people started to become more focus on themselves?
The religious aspect go hand in hand with people becoming more focused on themselves because of the effects it had on individuals, such as people starting to be 'reborn Christians' which was considered the Third Great Awakening, in the 1970's. "We are now-in the Me Decade seeing the upward roll (and not yet the crest, by any means) of the third great religious wave in American history" (pg.19). Some way people started to become more focus on themselves was by people stopping to live for others but to start living for themselves, they were heading towards individualism. They started living for what they wanted. For instance, fashion. "If I've only one life, let me live is as a blonde!" (Shirley Polykoff, pg. 20). Another example is them leaving their "old ancestry" life style and do what they want to do. "Instead they have lived as if they are living their ancestors' lives" (pg. 20).
ReplyDeleteReligion caused people in the 1970’s to be more focused on themselves by believing that God had chosen them to live the life they wanted to live. In Wolf’s writings he states, “The new alchemical dream is: changing one’s personality—remaking, remodeling, elevating, and polishing one’s very self” (Wolf). The person's goal was to remold themselves into what they felt was ideal. One way in which they would do this is through “Lemon seasons” that would allow a person to confess all their problems and feel stronger afterwards (Wolf). Wolf talks about these “Lemon seasons” and states that, “She might blurt out the most terrible confessions, hatreds, and primordial fears. But, it was presumed, she would be the stronger for it afterward” (Wolf). These sections allow for the person to lift guilt off themselves and feel like a better person by confessing their sins.
ReplyDeleteReligion helped people become more focused on themselves in the 1970's during the " Third Great Awakening". Wolfe states, "By the early 1970's so many of the Me movements had reached Gnostic religious stage" (Wolfe 11). This evidence states that many movements focused on yourself had become centered around religions. People would join communes to further focus on themselves and the main commune was the New Left Commune. Wolfe wrote, "My husband Marvin forsook everything (including me) to find peace"(Wolfe 11). This evidence is saying that those who joined communes left everything and everyone behind to focus more on themselves and figure who they really are. Wolfe also wrote. " The sheer power of LSD is not to be underestimated. It was quite easy for an LSD experience to take the form of a religious vision" (Wolfe 13). LSD is something that people also turned to to focus on themselves.
ReplyDeleteReligious aspects increased during the 70s due to individuals wanting to focus on themselves and find inner peace. People wanted to be reborn Christians and live their own lives instead of their ancestors' lives. This was known as the Third Great Awakening. Adding on, Wolfe stated, “A New York Times survey concluded that there were at least two thousand communes in the United States by 1970, barely five years after the idea first caught on in California.” (Wolfe 11) Wolfe also stated that many of the “reborn Christians” were acid heads or LSD users who had sworn off drugs (except, occasionally, in “organic form,” meaning marijuana and peyote) but still desired the spiritualism of a psychedelic or hippie life (Wolfe 12). The use of drugs, sexual liberation, dancing, and meditation were all ways for individuals to focus on themselves (Wolfe 17).
ReplyDeleteWith people focusing more on themselves throughout the “Me Decade”, it comes as no surprise this led to a lot of Born again Christians. “The two most popular new figures in the 1976 campaign, Jimmy Carter and Jerry Brown, are men who rose up from state politics ... absolutely aglow with mystical religious streaks. Carter turned out to be an evangelical Baptist who had recently been “born again” and “saved.” Wolfe, Page 5. These are 2 examples of people who turned to Christianity in the “me” focused culture. Another large part of the “Me Decade” was in how people viewed their lives. For instance, elderly people realized as they got older and retired, they could still live life. “old people in America began doing something that was more extraordinary than it ever seemed at the time. They cut through the whole dreary humiliation of old age by heading off to “retirement villages” and “leisure developments” Wolfe, Page 8. This was in stark contrast to elderly people in Europe, who usually retried the home of a family member and rarely left he house. “The beloved old folks were often exiled to the attic or the outbuildings, and the servants brought them their meals. They were not considered decorative in the dining room or the parlor.” Wolfe, Page 8. Young and old, took advantaged of this decade to change or better their life in some way. It also set America culture far, far, apart from other countries. “That people so young could go off on their own, without taking jobs, and live a life completely of their own design—to Europeans it was astounding. That ordinary factory workers could go off to the suburbs and buy homes and create their own dream houses—this, too, was astounding.” Wolfe. Page 8
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