The Wrong Package

This letter is in response to Gene Weingarten’s commentary on age (“At Least Our Woodstock Didn’t Have Riots,” July 28). The assertion made that the events at Woodstock ’99 illustrate my generation’s violent tendencies and inability to be as “coolly disaffected” as the generation preceding it is, interestingly enough, rooted in hypocrisy.

Granted, Weingarten was obviously writing a light and whimsical piece in humorous defense of his age, but for adults to make the assumptions he made about the events at the recent concert is to err in judgment. What happened at Woodstock was the preceding generation’s attempt to resell an idea of the past--and the riots that occurred were in response to the conflict between this (p)repackaged idealism-for-a-price and the new critical awareness of the ones being targeted: the younger generation.

The original Woodstock generation, now often donning ties and attempting to target and market to my generation, seems to assume that we of younger age are essentially a pack of brainless idlers with too much money in our hands. Obviously, we were smart enough to realize that the essentials of a “Woodstock experience” do not have to require monetary compensation. For example--the average cost of a Woodstock ’99 ticket: $150; a bottle of water there: $4. The real-life cost of peace, happiness, freedom and water in America: free.

So before you insult the recklessness of us youngsters, first assess the morals and motives of your own age bracket.

BRIAN WALSH

Los Angeles