Kerouac, Burroughs, Ginsberg et al..... loathed or loved for their belief that a new set of values was needed after WWII. The U.S.A. had dropped atomic bombs on two cities, murdering hundreds of thousands of innocent inhabitants. Millions were maimed, dead and dying all over Europe and Asia. Madness reigned under the cover of Bourgeois ‘respectability’.
These men were widely read and published... but what influence have they had? Zero. Why? Why are humans unable to devise a system of governance that responds to rationality and reason? Why, knowing that the ‘western’ lifestyle is destroying life on the planet; causing citizens to sink into suicidal depression; sending our young men off to be broken and murdered on battlefields... do we not stop and take drastic steps to redress the imminent danger?
I guess, as Hans said the other day, we might as well ask our hens to stop pecking each other. It would be like asking large fish not to eat smaller ones. Humans are basically flawed and there’s nothing to be done except make oneself as secure and as small a target as possible, and sit it out, hoping things will last at least until I’m gone. But what about the kids? Don’t consumer junkies care about them?