Liberation (Paradise Lost)

   The liberations of the 1960’s and 1970’s brought increased expectation for personal quality of life, in personal life, leisure, and at work. A generation or two of kids grew up receiving confused signals about what to expect in the future. Switch on the TV and the kids saw paradise approaching. The same applied to music. When they finally got to work things weren’t quite so rosy. Many of this lucky generation found themselves unemployed and begging for work in the 80’s and early 90’s. The renewed and increased pressures of modern work practices and international competition kept them working hard afterwards. Paradise had come close, but was lost.

   The new generations growing up encountered the same confused signals. Many of them were a lazy and misguided generation. Their cultural levels were dropping too. Try listening to their new musics for a while and see what you think. Many of them were no longer reading books; many of them liked to behave like monkeys; for some hoods came back into fashion; teenage girls started smoking in droves, or worse, taking drugs. In 20 or 30 years they would be dying in droves as a result. Drink was also a problem. ‘Brainy’ students and ‘funloving’ men and women alike embarked on an alchoholic journey to an early grave. What was happening to society?