Legend of the Cyber Heroes
Chapter 397 - 41 Hippies

Chapter 397: Chapter 41 Hippies

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Federation saw a strange movement emerge, known as the "Hippie" movement.

"Hippies": music, poetry, nature, starry nights, yoga, sexual liberation, and mysticism.

Of course, there were also hallucinogens.

Love and peace, anti-war and anti-tradition, anti-worldliness, people integrated these with an extremely emotional approach.

So people took to the streets, opposing wars, opposing the Federation.

Of course, there were drugs and sex.

"So, what do you think these guys are like?" Jing Hongtu asked Xiang Shan.

Xiang Shan pondered for a moment, "Idiots?"

Jing Hongtu nodded, "Hmm, there’s some truth to that—Reasons?"

"Modern civilization and industrialization provide as many people as possible with the best possible material conditions. Although it may be considered one of the worst periods in history, it still holds more hope than all the eras before the industrial age," Xiang Shan said. "Wanting to dismantle society to return to the so-called ’primitive, simple life’—how many people would die of hardship due to lack of resources?"

"It’s just like you to focus on this aspect," Jing Hongtu nodded approvingly. "That’s a perspective. But remember, you’re seeing it from downstream in history, Xiang. They couldn’t see the ’history’ you see in their time. The choices available to them back then were not many."

"Please go on."

"After World War II and the rebuilding efforts that followed, the Federation’s national strength expanded like never before. Citizens’ standard of living kept improving. Everyone could see ’hope.’ But at the same time, the Cold War still loomed. They truly lived under the shadow that ’the world might be destroyed’."

"Although society promised them dreams, the greed of big companies and the shackles of conservative morality were binding them. Their country would again send youth halfway around Earth to fight a low-cost-benefit war. Under the torment of hope and despair, dreams and shattered dreams, their collective consciousness collapsed. This was not an individual phenomenon, but a collective one."

"So, people stood up. I don’t know if you’ve seen an old photo, a long-haired young man in a turtleneck sweater, inserting carnations into the rifle barrels pointed at him by the Military Police. It was so beautiful, Xiang. Can you imagine? How noble, how beautiful that scene was. I wanted to cry seeing it when I was young."

Xiang Shan pulled out his cellphone, opened the search engine, and quickly found that photo. Then he nodded, "I’m actually hearing about this for the first time... It does indeed look like a Saint."

"Back then, there truly were noble Hippies. They discarded existing social notions, so they incurred the wrath of those with vested interests. They had to bear various stigmas. ’Hippie’ in the mouths of conservatives became a direct insult."

Xiang Shan hesitated, "So calling them idiots... was that too much?"

"Not particularly," Jing Hongtu remarked. "Thanks to them, a small part of the Federation still believes today that ’welfare society’ and ’red ideologies’ include free hallucinogens. They sought paths for self-redemption but didn’t take the right ones, so now only the riff-raff remain."

Xiang Shan was somewhat confused, "So are they good or bad?"

"That’s a very complex question. I can’t really tell you if it’s ’good’ or ’bad.’" Jing Hongtu shook his head. "Many things are really hard to describe as ’good’ or ’bad.’ It’s a very complex problem."

"They lived in big houses, ate sugar and meat that were unbelievably cheap compared to their income. They had money to go to the movies, and they had TVs, radios, and even small cars at home. To other countries of their time, this standard of living was incredibly good. But is this human happiness? Take you, for example. The material conditions in the Republic are better now than those of the Federation back then, even better than at any point in our history. But do you feel you have ’absolute happiness’? That is ’not concluding I am happy by comparing material conditions with others, but feeling happiness emanating all the time without comparison’?"

Xiang Shan fell into deep thought.

Jing Hongtu waited for a little while as Xiang Shan thought before speaking, "As an engineer, you might not like this unquantifiable standard. But from what we’ve talked about before, you’re probably not someone ’overflowing with a sense of happiness’."

Xiang Shan rubbed his neck, "Maybe I’m naturally too sentimental."

"It’s not that. Because modern life drastically contradicts the instincts of hunter-gatherers and conflicts hugely with the culture left over from the agrarian and pastoral eras. You’ve always felt that this conflict should naturally let modern society overcome instincts and culture, but it’s not that simple," Jing Hongtu shook his head, "Let’s get back to the Hippies."

"They couldn’t feel happiness, so they struggled to fight against worldly views and authority. But they were people of the Federation. More impoverished people on the lands of Asia, Africa, and Latin America could be seen as more pitiable than them. But does that mean they weren’t pitiable? No. They genuinely couldn’t appreciate the greatness and glory of the Federation and lacked a sense of happiness, only able to protest in this way."

"The activities of the Hippies left a deep mark in history, both positive and negative. Their actions greatly advanced the innovation of modern art and aesthetics. Take for example the artistic sense of posters, books, and audio-visual product covers nowadays; from an art history perspective, it traces back to them. On the other hand, the Federation’s abundance of ’love and peace’ advocates, along with nearly uncontrollable drug abuse, can also be attributed to them. They also created a massive cognitive dissonance, making some people in the Federation associate ’progressivism’ with ’getting high’."

"But at least they truly possessed a noble aesthetic. Remember, when you were arguing with Professor Vigette and debated with that hacker girl, wasn’t it similar to how I felt looking at that ’flower in a gun barrel’ photo? That feeling of ’being irresistibly drawn in’."

Xiang Shan nodded, "Right, right, right... I also felt that was the essence. So how did you get past this confusion?"

"This deep confusion will accompany you for a long while, Xiang. From a moral standpoint, those Hippies, along with Professor Vigette and that hacker girl, were very right. They erred in their methods. Lacking the right methodology, they didn’t truly change the world. But their initial motives were genuinely sincere. There is nothing shameful or bad about being attracted to their spirit. But you need to understand the distinction."

Jing Hongtu pointed to the handle, "Also, how about you let me play for a while if you don’t?"

"Oh."