Woodstock Symbolism

The 60s, for some, can be remembered as a wonderful time, symbolizing a decade of love and harmony, where music brought one another together. Others remember this time as a decade of America’s moral decrease, with the dawn of rock and roll and the "sinful", inappropriate culture that it generated. In 1969 somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000 people gathered at Woodstock to celebrate their music, their love, and their freedom in the concert that has remained one of the most influential events of the 60s. “Some say [Woodstock] symbolized the freedom and idealism of the 1960s. Critics argue that Woodstock represented much of what was wrong with the '60s: a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect
The chaos, however, of the ending of the festival, made it continue on an extra day. It was known as three (or four) days of peace and music. The people that went to Woodstock would probably describe themselves as hippies, flower children, and aquarians. The event although did not exactly speak on behalf of the young American’s musical or political views during the 1960’s, it did, however, represent them in the sense of freedom and idealism. Critics do say that although it does speak for the young Americans well, it shows what was wrong with the 60s. With the excessive use of drugs, decrease of sexual morals, and a widespread deterioration of respect for authority.
While the fight for civil rights was being protested, so were other things, putting an end to the Vietnam war was one of them. When they would protest for these things, they would have peace marches, they would burn draft cards, they would act out against societies norms. For example: excessively using exoctic drugs and completely letting go of their sexual morals (PBS). They liked the idea of speaking out for what they believe in, trying to make a difference. “When looking at the major political and social events that occurred in 1969... The rise of intolerant or unsavory political activity was paralleled with an advancement of the Counterculture movement. These two lines rise until they peak in August 1969, when the government started to react more harshly to any dissent among its citizens with an equal increase in the protest action of the hippies” (Freccia). With every rise of action that the government had, the counterculture made even with. Eventually, getting to the worst it was going to be, and then it all began to