Make love not war
Encyclopedia
Make love not war is an anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
slogan commonly associated with the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
counterculture of the 1960s
Counterculture of the 1960s
The counterculture of the 1960s refers to a cultural movement that mainly developed in the United States and spread throughout much of the western world between 1960 and 1973. The movement gained momentum during the U.S. government's extensive military intervention in Vietnam...
. It was used primarily by those who were opposed to the Vietnam War
Opposition to the Vietnam War
The movement against US involvment in the in Vietnam War began in the United States with demonstrations in 1964 and grew in strength in later years. The US became polarized between those who advocated continued involvement in Vietnam, and those who wanted peace. Peace movements consisted largely of...
, but has been invoked in other anti-war contexts since.
Radical activists Penelope and Franklin Rosemont helped to popularize the phrase by printing thousands of "Make Love, Not War" buttons at the Solidarity Bookshop in Chicago, Illinois and distributing them at the Mother's Day Peace March in 1965. They were the first to print the slogan.
In April of 1965, at a Vietnam demonstration in Eugene, Oregon, a senior at the University of Oregon pinned a handwritten phrase on her sweater that was the beginning of the popularity of this phrase. Those words read "Let's make love, not war". A picture of Diane Newell Meyer was printed in the Eugene Register-Guard and then a related article turned up in the New York Times on May 9, 1965.
Gershon Legman
Gershon Legman
Gershon Legman was an American cultural critic and folklorist.-Life and work:Legman was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania to Emil and Julia Friedman Legman, both of Hungarian/Romanian Jewish descent; his father was a railroad clerk and butcher...
claimed to be the inventor of the phrase.
In popular culture
- The slogan was featured in John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
's 1973 song "Mind GamesMind Games (song)"Mind Games" is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1973 on Apple Records, catalogue Apple 1868 in the US and Apple R5994 in the UK. It peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #26 on the British singles chart...
".
- The slogan was featured in Bob MarleyBob MarleyRobert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
's 1973 song "No More Trouble": "Make love and not war!".
- The slogan was the inspiration for a book by David AllynDavid AllynDavid Allyn, Ph.D. is Director of Education for New Jersey SEEDS , an organization serving high-achieving, low-income students....
: Make Love, Not War: The Sexual Revolution: An Unfettered History.
- The slogan has been parodied many times in popular culture, including in the South ParkSouth ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
episode "Make Love, Not WarcraftMake Love, Not Warcraft"Make Love, Not Warcraft" is the eighth episode of the tenth season of the animated television series South Park, and the 147th episode overall. It first aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 4, 2006. In the episode, Cartman, Kyle, Stan and Kenny enjoy playing the popular...
" (also parodying World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
) and the videogame Destroy all Humans 2! Make War Not LoveDestroy All Humans! 2Destroy All Humans! 2 is a video game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles and is the sequel to Destroy All Humans!. It was released on October 17, 2006, in North America. It marks the last game in the series to be developed by Pandemic Studios...
.
- On the DEC PDP-10PDP-10The PDP-10 was a mainframe computer family manufactured by Digital Equipment Corporation from the late 1960s on; the name stands for "Programmed Data Processor model 10". The first model was delivered in 1966...
, typing the command "make love" would result in the response "not war?". This action was copied on some older versionsAncient UNIX SystemsAncient UNIX is a term coined by Santa Cruz Operation, to describe early releases of the Unix code base released prior to Unix System III, particularly the Research Unix releases prior to and including Version 7 .After the publication of the Lions' book, work was undertaken to release the earlier...
of UNIXUnixUnix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
. Some recent operating systemOperating systemAn operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s have brought the easter egg back, such as FreeBSDFreeBSDFreeBSD is a free Unix-like operating system descended from AT&T UNIX via BSD UNIX. Although for legal reasons FreeBSD cannot be called “UNIX”, as the direct descendant of BSD UNIX , FreeBSD’s internals and system APIs are UNIX-compliant...
7.0; as of /src/usr.sbin/make/job.c version 1.126.2.1 if you type "make love", the answer you will get is "Not war."
- In the movie 'Field of Dreams,' fictional character Terence Mann is credited with coining the phrase.
- The character of 'Pop', in the futuristic Queen musical 'We Will Rock You', shouts "Make love, not war!" as he is brainwashed at the start of the show, which leads into 'Radio Ga Ga'.
- American comedian George CarlinGeorge CarlinGeorge Denis Patrick Carlin was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, actor and author, who won five Grammy Awards for his comedy albums....
expressed admiration for the phrase, claiming that if he had originally thought of it, he would have retired. He went on to reveal his own variant, "Make fuck, not kill". He admitted that it wasn't as graceful, but then proudly declared "I'm not lookin' to retire either."
- "Make Love, Not War" is the 1960s Modern Liberals' Wistful Hope for Fraternity.
See also
- 1960s1960sThe 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
- 1970s1970sFile:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
- Vietnam WarVietnam WarThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
- Breasts Not Bombs