I don’t look back to 1960s; I look back to 1920s.
In 1920s there was both a technological boom and a cultural blossoming. The two coexisted side by side and fed into each other. In some cases, the two worked together to produce magnificent architecture such as the Chrysler Building and magnificent machinery such as the Packard. The first actualized the man’s productive potential; the second actualized the man’s creative potential. The 1920s shows that there is no contradiction between business and culture, and that they can and should work together.
The problem with 1960s and 1970s was that they were anti-business. The problem with 1980s and 1990s was that they were anti-culture. Both were wrong. Both business and culture create accomplishment; and both should be respected and pursued.
Most anti-business ideologies have been correctly deconstructed. Not enough however has been done to deconstruct anti-culture ideologies. I’ve done quite a bit to that effect, but my efforts are not enough; there need to be more people doing it. I heartily recommend to other people to put their minds to the subject and do what they can – whether they are in the academia, on the Internet, in Hollywood, wherever.
Both business and culture are valid pursuits, and the world benefits from both. There is no contradiction between the two. The people who think that there’s contradiction between the two – whether business-affiliated people who think that artists don’t live in reality or the arts-affiliated people who embrace Marxism – have not studied history. In Renaissance Italy there was both business boom and great cultural blossoming. So was the case in 1920s America. And it is to these times that we look back fondly, and not on the times that stomped on either business or culture.
The business world and the art world can, and should, work together. They have done so in the past, and the results were magnificent. Support both business and culture, and allow the two worlds to flourish. And see created a golden age to which people will look back fondly for generations to come.