tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post6304284514906439494..comments2024-02-14T11:00:03.180-05:00Comments on Tom McLaughlin: Window On The DoorsTom McLaughlinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-17864893021119204102017-07-20T13:32:47.606-04:002017-07-20T13:32:47.606-04:00Morrison was a nihilist. Neitzche and Kerouac were...Morrison was a nihilist. Neitzche and Kerouac were his idols. Morrison was creative but I just don't see evidence for that in Kerouac, who was way overrated. Is the generation coming up in the sixties and seventies creative collectively? Yes, I think so. Self destructive? Yes, I think so. Nihilist? That goes before self-destructiveness. I'm part of that generation. If you're a former student, you grew up in the milieu created by people my age. We deny meaning and substitute environmentalism or animal rights or transitory Buddhism. Not me personally, but I'm an anomaly.<br /><br />Morrison flamed out in four years. The rest who idolized him do it slowly, one joint -- one bowl at a time -- a wasting away kind of self-destructiveness. They'll fill the dementia wards in their sixties and seventies -- generally speaking of course. Do you see them that way? That's what I'm asking I guess.Tom McLaughlinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07691546351143209227noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-11847677595940298002017-07-19T20:51:44.565-04:002017-07-19T20:51:44.565-04:00"A fitting symbol of his generation?" No..."A fitting symbol of his generation?" No. Not by himself. <br />Perhaps a "Sgt. Pepper's" album covers worth. <br />There was an astonishing amount of other stuff going on.<br />How many folks from the era will instantly recognize <i>The Zig Zag Man</i>? <br /> "What do you think?"<br />About Jim Morrison, or folks who are <i>those kamikazes who had creativity (genius?) and self-destruction in the same package</i> in general? <br />CaptDMOAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-17881214691399235252017-07-19T14:11:32.111-04:002017-07-19T14:11:32.111-04:00The 1950's in the U.S. were a time of very def...The 1950's in the U.S. were a time of very defined roles. If you were a woman, you were expected to be a mother and a housewife. If you were black,you worked in the lowest rung and kept your mouth shut etc. <br /><br />Many people did not like being forced into roles. WWII changed a lot. Woman worked outside of the home and liked it. Black and white people worked side by side doing the same job. <br /><br />By the 60's, people were fed up with all of the rules and some rebelled. Like all rebellions, some people went to extremes. They were idolized because they flaunted the rules that many people were really starting to dislike. <br /><br />ScenarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20524196.post-11144409171537415112017-07-18T16:34:40.095-04:002017-07-18T16:34:40.095-04:00Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, & so...Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, John Belushi, & some others of the time were wake-up calls to their contemporanians that early death is possible. In a way, that made them good teachers. I had an English teacher in high school who I remember most for one thing he said: "Experience is a good teacher. But the tuition is high."<br /><br />Gilda Radner's death, Andy Kaufman's, and again, some others, made for similar wake-up calls, but there wasn't the same lesson, as they were blameless, yet the finger still pointed at them. Same for Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, really. And some others.<br /><br />It was good that all of these folks lived, cavorted as they wanted to, taught us what they had to teach us, and so enriched us. Thanks for the flash from the past.<br />Montedorohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05455992976432550013noreply@blogger.com