re: #389 albusteve

four people dies at Altamont…one murder, two run over by a car, and another passed out in a ditch and drowned….around a hundred people were treated for stabbing and beatings by the Hell’s Angels who went utterly berzerk…the Dead would not even play…all kinds of stuff was thrown at the bands…photographers and writers were savagely beaten…crew members and security…the Angels went crazy…it was a total disaster

See? Thanks for proving my point.

Were you there? Doubtful. Your knowledge of it is limited to media coverage. And your impression of it is entirely colored by the media coverage.

Most of the people who were in attendance neither perceived nor participated in any of that violence. It was a huge crowd, 95% of which was wayyyy back from the stage.

Many people died at Woodstock too. More people than at Altamont. But you don’t hear about that. A long time ago I read a feminist academic research paper which claimed that hundreds of women were raped at Woodstock as well. Overdoses galore, too. But Woodstock — oh, Woodstock was a wonderful utopia of peace and love!

In reality, Woodstock and Altamont were approximately equal in the good-stuff/bad-stuff ratio. But one is portrayed as wonderful, the other as horrible. THE MEDIA CONTROLS YOUR PERCEPTIONS.