In Reply to: Hippy movement & Viet Nam posted by Observer on October 11, 2006 at 18:35:31:
Berg's specific advice on how to (why I use "
" will be apparent at the end of this post) and play up the idea they were helping kids get off of drugs can be seen in Mo Letter #142: "PUBLIC RELATIONS" written November 24, 1971. It was designted "LTA" meaning it was for leadership training -- Berg was training his leadership to bullshit. The problem was when they didn't understand it was supposed to be
and actually started believing their own lie.
See http://www.exfamily.org/pubs/ml/b4/ml0142.shtml
"DON'T FORGET TO TELL THEM HOW MUCH YOU'RE HELPING OTHER YOUNG PEOPLE get out of drugs."
If you do a search for the word "drug" in the above Moletter, you'll see that Berg mentions it about 15 times, specifically that his followers should promote the (false) idea.
To get an idea of where the hippy movement was at around 1971 (the time this Moletter was written): media attention had died, and hippyism was becoming mainstream:
"After 1971 the hippie movement gradually became less visible as a distinct social phenomenon, especially in the United States. Many hippies moved to rural locations out of a desire to pursue more simple lives; they were no longer the focus of urban mainstream media attention. And the conclusion of U.S. involvement in Vietnam after the 1973 peace accords meant that many hippies felt less compelled to engage politically."
"Many Americans who had once accepted the 'hippie' label chose to adopt more conventional outer personae, while holding fast to the timeless ideals that had fuelled the hippie movement from its beginnings. By the early 1970s much of hippie style had been integrated into mainstream American society."(Wikipedia)
Regardless of when exactly the hippy movement fizzled out, by 1973, when Berg moved his followers en masse out of the US, they had already stopped targeting the hippies as recruits for some time. Drug addicts were considered to bring too much luggage and problems along with them. In Mo Letter #334A: "WHO TO!"--PUSHERS OR PROBLEMS?" Berg advised against spending time on rehabilitation efforts: