LSD & The Cuckoo's Nest
'One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest' is a novel written by Ken Kesey. It is loosely based on his life and experiences. Some people say that the main character Chief Bromden is Ken Kesey himself. He enrolled in Stanford University in 1958 and began writing the novel OFOTCN. A year later he volunteered to be part of the CIA's experiment as a guinea-pig in Project MKULTRA to test LSD among other drugs. He and his Merry Pranksters traveled around in a crazy painted bus and hosted parties which he called 'Acid Tests' . these parties included black-lights, fluorescent paints, strobes and of course the music of his favorite band and fellow pranksters 'The Grateful Dead.' LSD is a huge part of the 1960's as well as this novel! Of course we all know he was high as a kite when he wrote it! Kesey said when he was tripping out on LSD he frequently saw and Indian person in his hallucinations and of course the main character of the novel is in fact an Indian.Many of his personal experiences when working at the Vetran's Hospital play a part in this novel. Why was LSD such a huge thing in the 1960's? Why Is it not a commonly used drug anymore? ....Ahh maybe because its a hell of a drug and scares the hell out of us now rather than opening us up to the 'free love' felt in the 1960's. All of our subliminal messages through commercials and movies, have in fact gotten to us? we don't believe in free love anymore, in fact we are quite the opposite, we lock our doors and night and every time we step out of our car, we dont have the same trust as we did before, everyone doesn't love each other in fact we hate each other. we have so much fear now a days with 9/11 and conspiracy theories, there's not a chance in hell we would be able to use LSD we'd freak out so bad its not even funny, we don't have an open mind and and open heart. no love just fear, i know when i used to do a lot of extacy, at first it was ok and fun and comfortable but i was with people who i could trust and it was at a cottage, i was safe away from all the crap of the world, all the evil things that can creep their way into your head. but a change of scenery and the whole thing got flipped right upside down, i was freaking..never again.. there's no way id be able to handle LSD, nor do i think many people could. Funny thing i watched a documentary last night
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKi7JKE1TRQ called "Peyote to LSD" from the history channel it was very informative, all these illegal substances were first found and used by natives as a medicine to heal the mind and soul, then the government got a hold of them and tested them on army boys to see the effect it has over mind control, then leaked to the public....funny how that happens..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyy72WbpgS8
I completely agree that people in society today aren't the same as they were so many years ago. Today you have parents who are helicoptors and hover over their children. My cousin just had a baby and won't even let her children watch Scooby-Doo because of the monsters and ghosts. Meanwhile, when I was really young, my parents would let me sit infront of the television watching Goosebumps. I also saw The Grudge for the first time when I was eleven years old; my dad even offered me to watch it with him and my mom.
ReplyDeleteBeing completely honest, my parents even let my older sister drink alcohol around 13 years old. Sure, many 13 year olds nowadays do drink alcohol, but their parents would never allow them to.
So it brings up the question: were parents back a few years ago just not very good parents? I'd like to say my parents did a great job raising myself and my sisters. We don't get into trouble, we have morals in life, and we respect our parents and everyone around us. There are so many young pre-teens who DO have hovering, over-protective parents, and they are constantly getting into trouble with drugs, alcohol, the law, and just overall aren't very friendly people (at least the majority of pre-teens I've met).
It kind of makes one worry about what the future generations will be like.
I agree with some of what you had said, I agree that people these days are crazy and it’s very hard to trust, but I don’t agree that you can’t go anyway without trust. There are many places in this world that you can step out of your car without locking it and not lock your door at night, for an example Newfoundland well pretty much the east coast. My family is from there and I visit every summer, everyone is family once you say hello. Now for the LSD part I agree that people are very sketched about using it but there are many people now that still do it and use drugs like it. I’m not sure if I’d say that they necessarily use it less or more but there is a decent amount that would still feel the same way they did back in the 1960’s. This is my own opinion obviously you and others may not agree, and I have never done LSD so I got no idea what it’s like or why! But I enjoyed reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteAliesha - excellent rant and personal connection about your own experimentation. I also like the fact that you included the link to the documentary and the artwork (looks like Salvadore Dali...) Next time focus on having three clear paragraphs that address connection to text, self and the world :)
ReplyDeleteNicole - interesting way to spin this novel off to the discussion of parenthood. That definitely has never happened! Just to play devil's advocate, I have helicopter parents and I would consider myself to be polite, well adjusted, with no issues with rebellion. I think every generation has good and bad parents, so that leads to the questions - what does good parenting look like?