The Day Music Festival, Woodstock, And The Air Of Bethel,...

It was the summer of ‘69, and the air of Bethel, New York, reeked of pot, history making psychedelic guitar riffs, and teenage rebellion. The three day music festival, Woodstock, was the epitome of the peace movements during the sixties and seventies, encompassing three days of undeniable harmony in which the youth of 1960 was united, embodying ideals of peace akin, demolishing the foundation of conformity within society. The newly surfacing culture brought about by the â€Å"hippies† and further popularized during the festival countered the commonplace unchallenged mainstream culture that the majority of U.S. citizens were confined to. Half a million people peaceably gathered from August fifteenth to the eighteenth, demonstrating the ability†¦show more content†¦The revolutionary music played during Woodstock reflected values of peace and expressed anti-war sentiment, becoming one of the most influential kinds of nonviolent Vietnam War protest. The stylings of Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bob Dylan, Country Joe McDonald, Joan Baez, and a multitude of others, all worked to combat violence through artistic expressions of peace which resulted in enormous followings, displayed through rock albums that topped music charts in the U.S. Similarly, a transcendentalist from the 1800’s by the name of Henry David Thoreau formulated arguments pertaining to nonviolent defiance against the government by refusing to pay poll taxes. Later he had the antagonizing desire to put his experience into words, as he intricately composed â€Å"Civil Disobedience†, a short essay that argued against injustice. His exposition encompassed the idea that one should challenge the government in an irenic manner if they believe the laws and enforced powers are abusive. The peace movements of the sixties and seventies practically mirrored the ideas of Thoreau’s essay, proving the timelessness of his avant-garde logic. The Transcendentalist Movement, taking off in the 1800’s, generally revolved around the ideas of esteemed philosophers who praised values of