r/AskReddit • u/DrCompenomics • 12h ago

Who’s the best real-life example of “you either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” and what happened?

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u/thaddeusd 10h ago edited 3h ago

So much of the counter culture of the 60s and 70s was a search for truth, and that included religious and psudeo-religious fevor. For every functional commune developed you got two to three cults popping up espousing every extremist and/or evangelical view under the sun.

Now put greed, frustration, and impatience into the equation.

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u/DirtyScrubs 5h ago

Yeah whats wild to me is the people of the free love movement became horrible boomers who only care about themselves. Its a generalization I know but I bet most of their younger selves would hate who they became.

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u/CompEng_101 4h ago

The free love movement, anti-war movement, and hippies in general got a lot of press, but they were a minority during the 60s and 70s. People under 30 were generally _more_ supportive of the War in Vietnam than the general population.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2006/02/21/youth-and-war/

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u/VT_Squire 2h ago

This just in: Most people are morons. This story and more at 11.

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u/kogasfurryjorts 3h ago

Idk man, every former free love hippy I've ever met has been radically progressive even to this day.

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u/CA2Kiwi 2h ago

Yep, my Mom was a hippie & artist back then, and remains determinedly liberal today. My Dad was a closeted conservative/racist/misogynist/homophobe (I’m from Northern California, so his actual views would not have flown as a public school teacher. If he slipped it was “a joke.”) He has very much been emboldened by retirement and current government to out himself as repellent. Luckily they divorced decades ago, so I don’t have to talk to the guy, and Mom found herself a lovely old hippie dude, who also remains determinedly progressive.

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u/OliviaEntropy 2h ago

It varies, I’ve been to burner events (like Burning Man but not, same people) and met a lot of old hippies and most of them are the same values but in a modern context, very progressive on current civil rights issues and politics and whatnot. Though there are a significant amount of the crunchy people who became anti-vax and are all about the MAHA stuff with RFK jr, anti-GMO to a fault, stuff like that. A lot of right wing cults prey on these people and a not insignificant amount of them have eaten it up.

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u/AgentCirceLuna 4h ago

For the love of fuck, the counterculture was a COUNTERculture. Am I just gonna assume you were a goth or scene because you’re millennial? Why did you stop dyeing your hair dark colours and sell off your leather trench coats, you conformists? Where are your pet crows?

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u/badmanveach 4h ago

*impatience

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u/donitdotis 2h ago

So much of the counter culture of the 60s and 70s was a search for truth

it still is.

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u/PRB74TX 32m ago

And lead.