[MD] Another parallel

[Arlo Bensinger]

[John]
Some in a shallow reactionary way that didn't really go 
anywhere, but others in a positive and thoughtful direction that is 
still working out today.

[Arlo]
I don't think you are really in disagreement with Pirsig, except that 
perhaps in the general trend of the movement as generalized. I don't 
think Pirsig would disagree that many of the contrarian-hippies did 
move forward. Indeed, I count Pirsig himself among the 
contrarian-hippies that went "in a positive and thoughtful 
direction". I think Pirsig's comments reflect the failure of the 
movement to catalyze a large culture shift. The hippies that went in 
the good direction are now exceptions to the overall cultural rule.

"History is hard to know, because of all the hired bullshit, but even 
without being sure of "history" it seems entirely reasonable to think 
that every now and then the energy of a whole generation comes to a 
head in a long fine flash, for reasons that nobody really understands 
at the time - and which never explain, in retrospect, what actually 
happened.... And that, I think, was the handle- that sense of 
inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean 
or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply 
prevail. There was no point in fighting - on our side or theirs. We 
had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and 
beautiful wave... So now, less than five years later, you can go up 
on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind 
of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark- that place where the 
wave finally broke and rolled back." (Hunter Thompson)

I think this passage by Thompson points to the same turning point as 
Pirsig does in LILA.