Well said, PT, as always. That stiflingness, which I associate in my own view with the post-war reaction, was highly involved -- much as our current government-led culture is -- with telling others what they ought to see, feel, think and do. It was bland, desperate for averages, adverse to intensity, and given to scuttling into safe corners at the drop of a hat. It is persnified by songs like Tammy, Que Sera, and Love Forever True.

Against that background, on the wave of post-war economic growth, it was easy to stand out, rebel, wear something wild and colorful, and try on a new world-view. But the fatal error, as you put it so well, was never transcending the self-indulgence and self-exploration and building a better bridge from it. If not for the magic recurring self-reinvention of our leaders, who spoke from vinyl, it would have fizzled out even sooner and harder.

A