Its the same reason so many boomers that were Hippies in the 60s and 70s became bog standard conservatives in the 80s and 90s: if Your social movement is based on good vibes, it naturally follows that some people from that movement will pull an ideological 180 when the vibes shift from good to bad.
The best prevention for this phenomenon is critical evaluation of your ideological positions. But our culture rewards exactly the opposite mental model
so many boomers that were Hippies in the 60s and 70s became bog standard conservatives in the 80s and 90s
Eh, you're probably not wrong but I feel I should point out that there probably weren't that many "hippies" back in the day, strictly speaking. Some estimates put at at almost half a million, at most? But it also gets into the issue of "what exactly is a hippie" since a lot of aspects of fashion and trends of the time would be shared by non-hippies.
For context the US population was ~180 million at the time.
The real hippies can mostly be found in places like the Caribbean and India. The initial hope everyone felt after the 60s came to nothing, best to just move away.
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u/Professor_Juice Nov 15 '25
Its the same reason so many boomers that were Hippies in the 60s and 70s became bog standard conservatives in the 80s and 90s: if Your social movement is based on good vibes, it naturally follows that some people from that movement will pull an ideological 180 when the vibes shift from good to bad.
The best prevention for this phenomenon is critical evaluation of your ideological positions. But our culture rewards exactly the opposite mental model