It seems, though, that we often have to live with, study with, or work with people whose ideas of truth are different from ours. The real challenge is to be able to navigate those waters with the assuredness that we won't drown in other opinions.Deleuze’s idea of lines of flight can help us clear up a common misconception about the sixties counterculture. The counterculture was not fundamentally oriented against mainstream society. It was oriented away from it.
The Tim Rayner article is interesting. Thanks for the link. I'd say the 1960s-1970s counterculture was oriented against the worst elements of mainstream society (as represented by perhaps Nixon). Some people wanted to get away from it for sure, but many more wanted to change it, so I'm a little hesitant to buy into sweeping statements about the counterculture, especially since I was there. Meanwhile, you end your essay with My desire to differentiate myself does not mean I have to condemn these people; simply that I acknowledge them. I am not against them. I simply want to be free from them. I want my line of flight.
I agree that it is a very good idea to decide who you want to associate with. I suspect, as we get older, we all do that: limit your contact with people that try to block your line of flight. On hubski we call this muting and ignoring.