Pretentious Baby Boomer Wishes Hipsters Were Hippies

In this New York magazine article, a reporter - whom I'll call Wavy Gravy - laments that the counterculture is not as big now as it was during the Vietnam War.

Mr. Gravy neglects to mention two things:

a) there was no Patriot Act in the '60's

b) the counterculture which might be invisible offline is downright omnipresent online.
With sites like indymedia and netroots sites like MoveOn, there has been a stronger, more widespread reaction against the system.

But, in fairness, Wavy has a point. The counterculture, omnipresent as it is, loses its focus on the web and is too scattered. As opposed to the '60's, when all the dissenters gathered together and marched, anti-war advocates are now spread out to video gaming sites, art sites, political blogs, basketball message boards, to the point where this decentralization never leads to the impressive collective actions of the Age of Aquarius.

So maybe without net neutrality, we will get sucked out of the matrix, take the red pill, see the grim realities around us, unite together and do something awesome and articulate like this



(courtesy cjxxoox)

On second thought, I'll take the blue pill. KEEP THE WEB NEUTRAL!