Do you think Timothy Leary had the right idea by telling people to turn on, tune in, and drop out?

Question

I am not promoting this or discouraging this. I am not taking a stance one way or another. But do you think the world would be a better place if everyone in the world drastically changed their entire way of thinking? How would the world be different? What are your views on this?

Answer 1

All I remember about the period from 1968 to 1972 was a bunch of pretty colors. It was the time.. the politics, the war, the revolution. Read 1968 by Dan Rather and come to undersatand what we lived through. I was at Kent State University and I played in a band that performed at The Free Festival For Peace, saw it all.

Answer 2

Leary was a person who was caught in the 60's and thought that dropping out of society was the thing to do. And many have followed him and are still homeless and on drugs as well as starving.

Would the world be different? As far as war and poverty, no. It only increased poverty.

Answer 3

You should ask Leary how long it took him to recover (partially) from his addiction. Possibly more years than you have been alive.

Answer 4

Well, that was my era, but I can tell you that some didn't handle it as well as Tim, and went down the tubes. But even when Tim's group of tuned-in, turned-on, drop-outs met with Ken Kesey's merry band of Pranksters, who were doing the same thing, they clashed because Leary's group thought an intellectual, meditative approach to life was best, and Kesey's band advocated a more experiential kind of thing. Read "Electric Kool Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe, which documents the whole thing. In essence, no, the world would not be a better place.