Life in the Rear-view Mirror

The Social Revolution

Thus far, I have talked about two powerful global trends that are pushing us to the limits of sustainability: overconsumption and overpopulation. These are like two huge freight trains traveling at high speed on the same track in opposite directions. Unless we slow them down, sooner or later there is going to be a disaster of major proportions. To avoid catastrophe, we need to work together. The ‘we’ refers to both countries and citizens of the world. Normally, this level of cooperation is seen only after a region, or country, is hit by disaster, so it’s not a sure thing that we will all pull together to prevent one.

In the following chapters I describe the social changes I observed in my lifetime. Having lived through these changes, I am rather sceptical that we can all pull together like our parents did during WWII to ensure a better place for all. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll let you be the judge.

Despite the Church’s stranglehold on morality and ethics, the sixties and seventies saw an unprecedented social revolution. This was the time when women removed their bras and burned them in plain daylight, among with many other social taboos. This was the time when the bikini made its debut on North American beaches, and the feminist revolution emboldened women to free themselves from archaic traditions. The mini skirt and hot pants followed the bikinis. Interestingly, the bikini is much older than most people believe. In an old hunting lodge for wealthy Romans, located near the town of Piazza Armerina, in Sicily, one can see a 2000 year-old mosaic depicting women playing volleyball in bikinis! Of course, now we have the dental-floss bikinis.

The Hippie Movement of the sixties was another interesting social phenomenon. At the time, Yorkville was a shabby rundown community where people could rent a room for about $40 per month and share it with those who were penniless. The area was a magnet for the antiestablishment crowd. It attracted artists, poets, and musicians. People flocked there to listen to emerging musical talent such as Joni Mitchell, Neil Yong and Gordon Lightfoot, as well as future literary figures such as Margaret Atwood. The favourite hangouts were the Purple Onion and the Myna Bird. This was the era of the love-ins and sit-ins.

The hippies of the sixties were rebelling against the status quo – the family, the establishment, and Victorian moral values. They spoke against capitalism, materialism, and conformity, and were abhorred by the concept of working for a living. They were hedonists that combined peace, love, drugs, communal values, and outlandish garments into a new lifestyle. It didn’t last long. Many of their leaders had wealthy parents and eventually they too entered the workforce, to carryon in their parents’ footsteps. But before the movement disbanded, it had loosened sexual mores, changed hairstyles, dress codes, and the music we listened to.

There’s no question that when we arrived in Canada, Toronto was still a Victorian city, particularly when it came to morality. I vividly remember an incident in my grade five class. One of the students used the f-word while we were lined up to enter the classroom. The teacher took the offending student by the arm into the washroom and forced him to wash his tongue with soap! I only remember the names of two elementary school teachers. He was one; the other was in a state of inebriated stupor most of the time: the two extremes.

Sunday was always a day of rest – no exceptions. After mass was over, and everybody went home for Sunday dinner, the city was deserted. All stores, cinemas, restaurants, and bars were closed. There was no public consumption of alcohol on Sunday. It was very strange for us immigrants in those days. In Italy, Sundays were feast days. They were the only day of the week when people were off work and could socialize and have fun. They would go to the cantina to play cards and imbibe a glass or two of wine. Sometimes they would take the children as well. There was no law against drinking for children, in the company of their parents or relatives, so they were allowed to have a taste of wine as well.

It was hard for us to adjust to Victorian morality, but we did. Of course, nowadays everything is open 24/7 and the f-word is heard everywhere, including the streets, shopping malls, and television. However, there is one holdback from those days: we still need to buy alcohol from the government monopoly. We are probably the only people in the world who can’t buy a bottle of beer or wine at the grocery store.

The 1970s saw the rise of the homosexual revolution. Gays and Lesbians came out of the closet to join their brethren parading on the street, signalling that it was time to stop being discriminated against. In the 70s the numbers were small, but they increased with each passing decade. No more bigotry they said! The Gay Pride Parade has now become an international symbol of men and women, whom society had shunned on moral grounds, who can have their place in society without prejudice.

Of course, the same people that moralized against homosexuals were strong supporters of the Church, probably the biggest homosexual organization in the world, considering its global presence. This holier than thou attitude was shown to be false, of course, when priests all over north America were forced to admit the truth, when their victims, helped by the newly-found movement, had the courage to come forward in large numbers to denounce them. The Church, in typical hypocritical fashion, kept silent while protecting the abusers.

The social revolution that started in the 60s liberalized moral values and had a profound effect on the country’s birth rate. Without it, population growth would have been higher, so, Mother Nature must have approved. Social changes also spilled into work life. Nothing shows this better than the open-office concept. When I started my professional career, in 1971, the traditional offices with doors had been replaced by open workspaces. These open offices were separated only by movable partitions made from coloured fabric. They provided just enough privacy so that one wouldn’t be able to stare directly into the neighbouring cubicles, but if two neighbours stood up they could have a face-to-face conversation over the partitions. The open office was a metaphor for what was happening in society as a whole, the breaking down of barriers that constrained the discriminated minorities. It was a symbol for abandoning prejudice, bigotry and intolerance, and embracing differences and diversity.

It seems that it all happened in the blink of an eye, but the changes were gradual and it took decades for them to become accepted: to be part of the new norm. Change seems to be the only constant!