How to be a hippie movement revivalist.

I agree on that one. When I suddenly started hearing the word hippie used around me a lot, I realised how much my views on the world were similar to those of the hippies. It was then that I joined this site. Wow, that's like... almost two and a half years ago now. I don't really know if I can identify with hippiedom anymore, but I'm still on this here old site nevertheless.

(I may usually act all grumpy-like but I love it here, really. ^_^)

 

You never seemed grumpy to me.

 

Alright i got a problem that needs solving... The problem is i live in a rural part of oklahoma and there is nobody i mean nobody that totally agrees with my views so i did go around on a search.. to find someone similar you know? But nope i havent found but one or two that are even close, So i continued my search but then i decided to read a book my older brother had its an old 1960s propaganda book and it talked about the viewpoints of Timothy Leary and other revolutionaries but instead of thinking of them horribly i saw what they ment and they shared the same common goals as i... Then i stumbled into the net in which i did research over the hippie movement, there is where i discovered i was pretty much a modern hippi but without the communities n such.. The fact is that im 17 and i cant move or anything yet so i can go outta state til summer, but when that comes a long San Fransico here i come lol... Also i dont find enjoyment in modern music and such... i listen to The beatles, The Animals, Pink Floyd, The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, The Eagles, and most other 60-70s rock... That is why i dont think i was ment to be born in this generation and it really does suck that i missed out on something as great as the 1960s... But i would love to help start another one... I just need to find other people like me and tonight i was bored so i got on the net and somehow or another i found some forum on google about LSD which im very courious about, but not for the fun... but to open my mind... and think for myself =)... So yeah any help with my problem(s) any help would be very grateful..

 

Well, Schons90, I hate to say something as unhelpful as "Welcome to the club.", but that's the situation probably at least the half hippies out there are in in this point in time. It isn't the big thing anymore like it was in the 60s and 70s and the people like you and me who feel like that's who we are just have to accept feeling like the oddballs.

Then again though, in a way I think of it as something to be proud of. Anyone can hang with a large crowd of people who are just like them, but it takes real conviction; a person with a strong sense of who he/she is to dare to be different in a world of followers. Eventually the followers will begin to realize that what they are all actually following is an illusion guided society that is missing some very important values that the hippies have held on to all along and it will once again be cool to be a
hippie.

Then you can be proud, knowing that you were a hippie even before being a hippie was cool again.
I have faith that this will happen....when, I don't know, but I believe in the cyclicity of things. Nothing true and valid will ever die out forever even if it does die out for a time. Sooner or later the void that it leaves must be refilled. And what could leave a more gaping void in the world than a lack of people who believe in love, peace and freedom and higher consciousness?

 

Being green is totally hip now, too bad people silkscreen themselves into thinking they are being green while still photocopying at work and filling up trash bags and gas tanks. The only way to truly live green is to cut 99% of commercialism out of your life and make stuff out of trash and reuse the same stuff till it disintegrates. But then you're gonna start looking like a dirty hippie in your tattered threads and get spat at and such by the very hip money monkeys and people who think polishing yourself up pretty and flaunting dirty money is much cooler and more useful in society.

It's so cool to be mainstream right? to fight for your vanity, for your dead end job with your unethical company and your designer shoes and chemical fragrances.

You are such a pretty tool. Isn't it grand, aren't you useful?

 

yes there may not be another woodstock or monterey pop but

instead of bringing down the mood there still are tonsssssss of other festivals that almost happen every weekend

 

i really agree with you on that though. ive been making my own clothing out of recycled fabrics and silk, patchworking it together or cutting it into a different style and everyone that sees that thinks its automatically dirty of me to do that while they pollute the world with their big gas guzzling suvs.

 

Yeah, seeking respect/approval from a delusional society is a waste of time no matter how you go about it.

 

I love homemade hippie clothes. I've never attempted it myself,(except for tie dye, which is easy). People talk about "fashion statements" regarding expensive designer clothes and the only "statement" I see them making sounds like "Look what an ass I am!" lol

But when I see someone wearing clothes they made themselves---especially if it's got that hippie funk look----those kind of clothes say "Genuine article!".

 

In Pitsburg?

 

amen, sister!

 

hell yeah well thanks for the info man.
Power to the people!

 

I agree that there needs to be some sort of revival of the hippy's ideals (love, freedom, art, love, peace, protest, etc). However, I don't know that it would be appropriate to call us "hippies" anymore.

Why?

It's a different time, different situation, different place. We can't be stuck in the past. Not only will this lose us any credibility, but it will be our downfall. Learning from the hippies mistakes is VITAL. Some they did not know they were making at the time. Because of AIDS, "free love" is going to have to mean something different. Because we know the affects of extensive drug use, it can't be the free for all that it was back then. Because we know actions have consequences, we must "look before we leap".

I assure you, I am as "Viva La Revolution" as the next person, and I agree that a lot of inspiration can be drawn from the hippies (and the Beats, and the Enlightenment, and the Transendentalists...), but we need a new (organicly derivian) identity for ourselves.

Just my opinion. I do think there is something coming, and I plan on working for it.

Beauty, Truth, Freedom, Love

P.S. Tuesdaystar- (or whoever was just complaining about the mainstream green movement). Do not be so quick to take the all or nothing attitude. I would rather some yuppie drive a Prius rather than a Hummer even it is because it is the "in thing". Environmentalism has really been the hippies biggest success, and I would not underestimate how far we've come. Yes, it's not enough, but there has been a MAJOR change in mindset in a short time, and I think we should be so fucking greatful for that. Was anything outside of the "organic" section of grocery stores advertised as "eco-friendly" 5 years ago. No. Count your blessings, work hard, stay positive.

 

What your failing to see:

The Hippie movement is timeless. The ideals and goals can always be applied... I for one would love to live off the land with the help of my brothers and sisters, I dream of an existence without MONEY!

Truth doesn't change. Saving the environment, not fettering with the world's systems.... this has to be done one way or another, the hippie model is going to apply as long as we breathe the air and drink the water on this planet.

Having lots of money doesn't make you a better person, it doesn't help make other people better... it just means you own lots of something someone else put value into, but truly means nothing.

Perhaps some believe its more important to live and love than to hoard in buttloads of $... perhaps they are right.

The media forces destruction down our throats as a control device. All that has to happen is people simply change their way of thinking... it takes a nanosecond to decide a life of crime and violence is not a life to pursue, in leu of serving a greater good. We are told peace is "complex", its "unachievable", "difficult"... hogwash, peace is a choice anyone can make without batting an eye... its easy, try it

 

Free love is a possibility if everyone dedicates themselves to being hippie monogomous, and gets tested

Hippies were/are a force, the term itself has defined an entire movement, group of people, and way of life... it is most definitely still applicable as hippies are what they were 50 years ago, but now there is the internet + 50 years of evolution. . Perhaps "new hippie" is suitable, it offers identification without seperation.

 

I'm not overly attached to the word " hippie". It does have a lot of negative connotations, some based on the mistakes of the past, some from the stereotyping and stygmatization of the mainstream society and it's media gods.
But it also has a lot of positive associations for many people who personally become aquainted with hippies and who are able to see how the world has changed for the better due to the hippie influence.

I don't believe the past mistakes and follies of the hippie movement can be erased with a new name. We can change the name to ________ , but then people will just think of us as the hippies who have changed thier name to _______ . It's just a kind of cosmetic damage control manuever it seems to me.

A lot of labels start out being pejoratives, but, because those who are called those names, instead of allowing themseves to be insulted by them, just pick them up and wear them proudly, the labels become meaningless as deroguatory terms.

The word "queer" is an example. Hardly any gay bashers use that word any more. Instead they use "fag", but the same thing may happen to that word.
It's true that these are different times and modern hippies are different in a lot of ways, but the ideals havn't changed, nor has the world's need of people who uphold those ideals.

The hippie movement, though hardly dead, as many believe, is in the middle of a kind of identity crisis because of the disillusionment many feel with the world being just as full of war, oppression, greed and wastefullness as it was 30 years ago, and a name change may be a result of that identity crisis, but I can't see it being much of a help.

The only real way, as I see it, to change our image from the joke that it has become to being a respected force for change in the world, is to get over the fact that the work---far from finished---has barely begun, and roll up our sleeves and get back to work! If the ugliness in the world and the negative image regarding those trying to change it gets too overwhelming, forget about it for a while...smoke a couple joints, listen to some good music, make love to someone you are hot for, eat a good meal and get back to work.

Of course I'm not saying to slave away all the time at changing the world, just that a lot does need to be done, and if the hippies don't do it, who will?

 

If *we* don't do it, who will? Slaving away at changing the world... honestly, what is more important? What is a more satisfying life than changing the face of the world for the better???? It can oh so most definitely be done... with dedication and persistence.

I'm ready to drop everything, leave my life behind, and work for a better tomorrow... I am not prepared to sit here and be an innocent bystander why our world is stripped away from us *and* destroyed...

This is not tolerable.

The movement starts here... now... in the decision to make it happen.

I posted basically the idea for a modern, community built, commune... if we band together we can get some cheap land, and set the example for generations to come.

The hippie movement dwindled because the majority got caught up in living a material life - they lost the spirit and basically accepted "the man".

I refuse to get kicked in the nuts by the government, especially when they expect me to thank them for it... and then give them nearly half my money for the priveladge....

I posted the outline of it here... being that I'm open minded I have no preference to how/when/where things take place... the key is to accomplish something. A model for a cheaply built "town" that is also as green as humanly possible is achievable, *we* just have to achieve it .. once again, what more to life is there than to change the very life we live in?

Once things are started and shown feasable... its only up from there! If nothing else, we band together, and live peacefully. I for one think its exactly what is needed to kickstart the whole movement...

And no, nobody replied, lol

http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=274581

 

I think the biggest thing going against a revival is race. Look back at the videos from Woodstock, people spanned over many races, now its hard to find as many people of color at festivals. If there is to be a true movement, it needs to transcend race boundries (not saying that people are racist in the current, just that their not as unified behind common causes).

At the same time, I see more and more people rallying these days. It seems like a movement is ready to break out, but we just haven't had the right event that will transcend time and be a gathering cry for all of "us"


Also, I believe that lessons against drug abuse would have to be taught against. Not drug use, but abuse. If the movement is going to be taken seriously, dropping acid, or smoking pot is one thing, but the rows and rows of tents where people are snorting k, yayo, or riding the horse, well thats another thing. Not that it shouldn't welcome them, but why let people among the ranks suffer from addiction? Drugs can and probably would be a part, but shouldn't be the centeral focus or the lure of strangers to the group. I think while it may have led to the uprising, it also helped in the downfall of the last great counter culture movement.

Spirtuality would probably be important, it doesn't matter how one comes across it, but I think it would be important for people to be at peace with life. People of all religion, or lack there of would be greeted with open arms, but I think spirituality as a whole would be a very vital practice.


Music! What drives us more than music? We need another influx of great bands (not that aren't allready) to drive a common love, I believe.

Oh well, I'm pretty much rambling, but I think these are all important issues if we're to strive for another great movement that I think we so desperately need.

Don't forget issues to. The 60's had the civil rights movement as well a VERY, VERY, VERY hated draft.


Last point before I finish off this first post of mine. A common way of dress perhaps? Nothing too particular, people with kept hair would be just as welcome as people with hair as crazy as my own. No particular dress, but I don't see people who spend seventy dollars on a pair of pre ripped jeans suddenely joining the movement. My 4 year old work jeans, flannel, and tee will do just fine for me thank you very much.

 

Sad, but I sort of agree in a very distant way. For a new movement to work, it can't be the same as the past, It needs to be a bit progressive, and while borrowing from the past, shouldn't be a carbon copy. Not saying I'm agreeing with the blunt way of putting it, I don't think it's so black and white, but I do agree that it won't be the same.


I think the closest we came to having another movement was during the early 90's. But not enough people embraced it quick enough, and it too soon became "cool" so those true to the few ideals cropping up were quickly turned off by the influx of "posers"

 

I'm pretty much in agreement with everything you've said so far, but a little confused about the very last part.

:huh: