Just what is the "beat" way of life the younger generation is embracing?
Why do today's teenagers lack any real sense of purpose?
Here are the surprising answers!
London
I HELD IT! I HELD IT!" screamed the girl in a state of ecstasy.
"She touched George! She touched George!" exclaimed her excited mother after her daughter had grasped the hand of one of the Beatles on their recent American tour.
"Please send me one of your hairs," pleaded a young British girl in a letter to a member of the Beatles.
The New Idolatry
"Our Beatles, which art in Liverpool, hallowed be . . ." began a composition written by a British youngster.
In London, 30 girls "attacked" a 15-year-old boy who looked like one of the Beatles. Police had to rescue him from the romantic onslaught of the eager Beatle worshipers.
Similar incidents occur throughout Great Britain. Common is the sight of teenage girls frantically gasping and sighing in uncontrollable fashion, while watching their favorite beat group. One sees 13 and 14-year-old girls tearing their dresses apart, pulling their hair out, gaping with their mouths, screaming in senseless gibberish. Others leap onto the stage to touch their idols, often lapsing into unconsciousness.
But the various beat groups find their admirers not only among the young and innocent. Many adults — age 21 and above — find this new "Beatle" culture fascinating.
Says a vicar of the Church of England, in referring to his shoulder-length hair, "The youngsters like my hairstyle. I like the Beatles. I think playing their records in church will make a change from organ music."
"Our boys have never looked lovelier," sighed a mother from London, "especially those who have had the sense to grow hair shoulder-length!"
A reputable London minting firm is minting gold coins of the Beatles. This same firm had minted coins in commemoration of Churchill, Kennedy, and the Battle of Britain.
And just recently, Archbishop Andrew Beck of Liverpool hinted that the Beatles may play at the opening of Liverpool's £2,500,000 Roman Catholic cathedral in 1967. The bishop went on: "It could be said that the Beatles DO MORE to bring the younger generation together than the international conferences of statesmen."
Why the Impact on Society
The Beatles — merely one of many beat groups — have had a phenomenal impact on today's society. They have actually met every member of the British Royal Family. Last year the Queen awarded them the OBE (Order of the British Empire) medal. It is supposed to represent outstanding service.
I remember, in first coming to England five years ago, what an extraordinary sight it was for me to see one or two long-haired boys vegetating in Leicester Square, London. People would stop and stare for a moment — then pass on.
Today it is no longer necessary to visit that part of London. You can see long-haired juveniles everywhere — from the larger cities to the small hamlets. It's no more a novelty. It's an altogether common sight. You see them at work, on the beach, at sport sessions, in stores — in fact, almost everywhere.
You watch them walking down the streets, not knowing what gender or sex they are. They wear long, effeminate-looking, often filth-infested hair. They may conceal themselves in animal skins and behave like monkeys. Their music consists of screams, tramplings, shoutings and constant beats.
They are the beat generation, noted for their anti-everything campaign.
Britain is not the only land affected by this charmless, tasteless spectacle. This "new culture" is spreading its tentacles to other lands, infesting their societies.
In South Africa, a beat group called "The Zombies" is exploiting the teenagers' lustful desires for this animal-type behavior. In West Germany it's "The Lords" — that's typically German — who are "sending" their frantic admirers into states of ecstasy. In communist East Germany it's the "River Squalors." A recent poll in East Germany showed that the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and a local Magdeburg beat group rate higher on the teenagers' list than do famous astronauts, civic leaders and even their own parents.
It used to be film stars, sport heroes, inventors, writers or civil leaders who were idolized. Now it's the "Beatles," the "Animals," the "Zombies" and other beat groups who are worshipped.
A concert program autographed by the Beatles was recently valued in New York at more than a four-page letter by the world-renown musician Brahms.
Close to one hundred fans a week, according to a recent report, go to see the Benedict Canyon home where the Beatles stayed during their recent visit to Hollywood.
And this in the "enlightened" 20th century!
Why It's a Way of Life
What type of people comprise this "beat" generation? Is it merely a clever gimmick to attract attention to themselves? Or is it a way of life?
The fact is, it is a way of life with them — by their own admission an ugly, senseless one. The philosophy of this way of life depicts life as meaningless and purposeless.
Listen to the beat generation's own claim:
"Sometimes I wish I could do something more worthwhile than just drifting," laments one youth.
"I like to surround myself with the old world. All this stuff takes me back and helps my mind to wander!" says another, a well-known, long-haired pop singer, in a book entitled Generation X.
"Your mind is geared to fantasy rather than fact," explained another who had absorbed this "beat" way of life.
"I usually get up at about 11 o'clock and I get so bored with nothing to do that I feel desperate."
"I like to be alone sometimes. I get the feeling I just want to get away from everything."
"I like to feel free, to go anywhere and not have to worry," is the desired outlook on life of a 20-year-old.
These examples typify the outlook this beat generation has. The youngsters don't become beatniks automatically by just allowing their hair to grow long and wearing untidy clothes. It's an ideology — a way of life, with them. The dirty clothes and long hair merely serve as a uniform for the soldiers of this degenerate philosophy.
Why Against Society
If there is one prime characteristic that brands this group of people, it is their anti-society outlook. Followers of this "beat" generation make no effort to hide this fact. On the contrary! Their ill-kempt appearance, their outlandish clothes, their immoral codes, their childish philosophy serve the purpose of marking them as rebels against society. The last thing they would want is to be associated in any way with organized society as it is. Their philosophy is to be totally different, to be completely disorganized — and the closer they can get to existing in a state of chaos the better they like it.
"I hate civilization," spouts one youth from Kent. "I can't stand anything modern. The more primitive things are the more I like them."
And a London lad adds, "The thing I hate most is people in authority."
A fitting example of this abhorrence and rebellion towards constituted authority is evidenced periodically by a large segment of today's youth. Britain's annual holidays are used by them in turning sea resorts into veritable jungles. Instead of serving as places for vacationing, these resort towns become targets for widespread devastation.
It's not uncommon to see this spectacle. On their motorcycles they come, like locusts — hundreds of them. Long-haired, anti-social, anti-government, anti-religious, anti-everything. Like a foreboding plague, they come to throw into confusion everything that is orderly. Their destructive purpose is carried out ruthlessly. Like a devastating hurricane, they bring chaos to a peaceful community.
Dr. George Simpson, British magistrate, aptly describes this anti-social segment of today's youth: "These longhaired, mentally unstable petty little Sawdust Caesars seem to find courage, like rats, by hunting only in packs . . ."
Along with this anti-social outlook is their abhorrence of religion and morals. They want to live, or better yet, exist, like animals.
States one disappointed youth, "I don't believe in religion because it does nothing for you."
"Religion is for old people who have given up living," asserts one teenager boldly.
And a London girl adds, "Religion to most teenagers is an old person's fairy tale. Most teenagers think about God, but the Bible and the church seem so completely remote and irrelevant to their lives."
In a recent interview, teenagers had this to say about religion: "The Church of England is a society that exists for the middle class. A giant Tory party at prayer. A hobby for old ladies. The Church service is boredom in a strange language that might as well be Chinese. A priest is someone out of touch with life." (Daily Mirror, March 16, 1964).
But WHY are adherents of this new perverted culture anti-social and anti-religious? Why does a great segment of the younger generation accept this "beat" philosophy? What's the underlying cause of it all? And what's the real solution?