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Did 50-something Baby Boomers really march in all those peace rallies, groove to all those heavy rock concerts, smoke all that far-out dope and have all that wild "free love"?
Probably not.
A British study has discovered that Baby Boomers grossly embellish their flower-power experiences. And an expert says they have good reasons for reinventing their past.
The survey, which questioned 3,000 adults and was conducted by academics at the University of Salford in Manchester, England, was assembled for the UKTV History channel in advance of a series titled The Beatles Decade.
Although about a quarter of the participants admitted boasting they'd been "too stoned to remember the '60s," only eight per cent said they'd actually used cannabis. And less than one per cent had taken LSD.
The study also found:
- Although 25 per cent of the respondents claimed to have been hippies, only six per cent actually were.
- About 10 per cent said they had previously claimed to have attended legendary rock festivals and concerts, but in fact only 0.8 per cent had actually attended such events.
- Nine per cent said they'd claimed to have attended a "love-in" when, in fact, only one per cent admitted this was the truth.
Salford professor Sheila Whiteley has dubbed the phenomenon "generational gazumping" and found that exaggerating one's youthful experiences is three times more prevalent among Baby Boomers than among those raised in the '70s or '80s.
Source: The London Free Press, London, Ontario, Canada, July 15, 2006
