most free spirited USA possible

let me explain what I mean by free spirited, very un PC, very little censorship, very common drug use, sexual experimentation much more common. basically the "hippie" part of the 60s survives in a much stronger from to modern day, or as some might put it *, you take the lack of censorship from japan, the drug use from Amsterdam, and the teenagers from Chile . what POD is needed for that to happen

*I don't think that way, I am just mocking how the news views other countries
 
maybe (just maybe mind you) RFK lives and gets America Vietnam so the Hippies (and others) still have the "we can change the world" feeling Ie no 70's crush, if you then keep Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones alive, and stop Altamont from happening then with luck, no/less hard drugs no 70's and the music stays free and inspirational, the music of the 70's isn't over the top, so there's no need for Punk and the angry counter-culture never comes into being. and you'd have to stop AIDS (that really did in 'free love' and hurt the gay lib movement)
 
maybe (just maybe mind you) RFK lives and gets America Vietnam so the Hippies (and others) still have the "we can change the world" feeling Ie no 70's crush, if you then keep Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones alive, and stop Altamont from happening then with luck, no/less hard drugs no 70's and the music stays free and inspirational, the music of the 70's isn't over the top, so there's no need for Punk and the angry counter-culture never comes into being. and you'd have to stop AIDS (that really did in 'free love' and hurt the gay lib movement)

To have all of that happen, unfortunately, is ASB. And an America without any of that would be so radically different than OTL I don't think we'd recognize it. Which is a shame, because many people (myself included, at first glance) would prefer such a TL to our own.
 

NomadicSky

Banned
The hippy movement catches on.

Without the free love and sex with anyone, mass use of drugs. They had some good ideas.

Although on that thought I don't think of mary jane as a drug. I have no qualms with people living in little communal villages wearing colorful clothing. If that catches on and becomes mainstream. Wow.
 
You might be able to do it by introducing the Pill earlier. It wasn't complicated chemically, all it took was somebody to find it, & a company willing to make & sell it. You might also need stronger advocacy for birth control...
 
The hippy movement catches on.

Without the free love and sex with anyone, mass use of drugs. They had some good ideas.

Although on that thought I don't think of mary jane as a drug. I have no qualms with people living in little communal villages wearing colorful clothing. If that catches on and becomes mainstream. Wow.

Free Love is going to die sooner or later. As soon as AIDS shows up, people that practice free love will get themselves killed and good riddance. Same really for mass use of drugs until someone develops a perfect recreational drug with no sideeffects. All the hard drugs will fuck you up, and even Marijuana does terrible things to motivation. The incentive structure in any society where people must work (and be productive) in order to live comfortably will eliminate stoners and druggies.
 
Free Love is going to die sooner or later. As soon as AIDS shows up, people that practice free love will get themselves killed and good riddance.

That is a tad offensive, don't you think?
 
Last edited:
let me explain what I mean by free spirited, very un PC, very little censorship, very common drug use, sexual experimentation much more common. basically the "hippie" part of the 60s survives in a much stronger from to modern day, or as some might put it *, you take the lack of censorship from japan, the drug use from Amsterdam, and the teenagers from Chile . what POD is needed for that to happen

*I don't think that way, I am just mocking how the news views other countries

A better question might be how to defang its worst practices and get it accepted as mainstream.

No Rockefeller Drug Laws and a Dutch approach of toleration of drug use might be a start, although the Dutch themselves seem not to be supportive so much as tolerant of very limited drug use. Even if Drugs remain legal, expect that by today, they face massive AD campaigns to discourage their use and high taxes. This would probably be a net gain for the United States in terms of not having to go crazy on prisons and it would curb gang and cartel power, but it would also mean that drug use would be more common and less productivity.

Remember the early days of the Gay movement? With NAMBLA running about? Getting NAMBLA to win its bid to legalize pedophilia and essentially granting teenagers free rein for sexual liasons--perhaps even adopting the Thai model of making the age of consent 12 or 13--and the lack of censorship is likely to follow.

This begs the massive question of how badly does this screw things up. I suspect that the answer is going to be between somewhat and extremely. Teen Pregnancy would either be tacitly approved or discouraged, and STDs like AIDS will get curbed because the Gay Lobby would be crushingly powerful ITTL. (If NAMBLA can get pedophillia legalized, I would expect the religious right is emigrating.)

Free Spirited? Yes. Better? Probably not.
 
Free spirited (frisinnad) is the Swedish name for liberal in the US sence. It might even be fair discribing them as the opponents discribe liberals in the US. Only stupider. Just thought you want to know.
 
let me explain what I mean by free spirited, very un PC, very little censorship, very common drug use, sexual experimentation much more common. basically the "hippie" part of the 60s survives in a much stronger from to modern day, or as some might put it *, you take the lack of censorship from japan, the drug use from Amsterdam, and the teenagers from Chile . what POD is needed for that to happen

*I don't think that way, I am just mocking how the news views other countries

Lack of censorship in Japan? If you're talking about news media, Japan's is quite self-censoring, and when it isn't it's done socially (look up the Mainichi Shimbun's "Wai Wai" for a good example). If you're talking about pornography, then the US is more liberal, unless you're wanting to promote child pornography, which was only outlawed a few years ago here.
 
Top