Only somewhat. In general it pisses me off when someone comes off as a stereotype or does something that they perceive someone of a particular group doing when they have no clue. By the OP's definition then the Scumfuck Gutterpunk kids who panhandle in the Haight selling over priced bunk weed and throw on a Greatful Dead T-shirt are "Hippies" when they are really GG Allin wannabe con artists. The fungal infections and blood poisoning are real and they do come from lack of hygiene. If you want to be a slob then fine be a slob. But if you want to be a slob and call your slob behavior "Being a Hippie" then people are going to look at me who puts on clean clothes and showers on a regular basis like I'm another dirty gross slob then it does effect me and makes me look bad. Stay Brown, Rev J
You came late into the thread, but I'm still glad you posted. It's good to see someone who agrees with me and understands what I was on about, because most everyone else was ganging up on me. Sometimes I feel like people still tend to perceive me as a noob on these forums....
I still think you guys are taking the OP too seriously. She probably means she doesn't bathe every day, or even every other day. I doubt she's letting herself get dirty enough to pick up blood and fungal infections. I don't bathe every day. I never stink. I look presentable. People don't have to be afraid to step in my bubble. I won't knock them down with my stench. I don't pick up fungal infections; on the contrary, I rarely get sick because I'm not afraid to expose my immune system to the environment around it. Being a little dirty because you don't bathe excessively is different than being a gutterpunk that takes a shower like once every two months.
OP specifically said "dirty". I think what you're talking about is true for everyone. I try to shower often, but there are definitely days when I don't. I try to use cologne in cases when I don't have time to shower. I also tend not to shower when I'm at the house and not hanging out with people. I never thought this was a 'hippie' thing. I thought it was just normal. The way OP phrased herself made it sound like she would go in public without showering for a week, and not care. And then she specifically attributed it to being a hippie. Sorry, but there's nothing 'hippie' about not showering. It's more of a stereotype the uptight conservative media attached.
It is normal. Perhaps what would be really 'hippie' (I'd personally rather describe it as being environmental friendly or something and not by definition this very specific and dated group label) is to just wash yourself instead of wasting 10 times more water by using a shower. Not trying to sound self righteous, I use a shower too Just an idea. But in that case not showering is both hippie and being clean :biggrin:
Idon't think anyone could find a more hip hippie than Ranger, He lived in The Haight over 40 yrs, I lived there too. We are both Hippies from a hippie commune. You'd be well off to listen to him. He knows more then most of you will ever know. He has experienced more then any of you ever will bc it's gone. You'll never know it like it was PERIOD. Hippie are old folks now. They arent making any old hippies. The new hippie will never be as the ones of old were. The times have changed. Nothing is as it was.
BTW... the tat on manson's forehead was indeed a cross and then he changed it into a natzi cross later. For them that think they know everything about that time and was not there. Stop doing it, you're doing it wrong. sh, hippie
Don't like ppl attacking the real deal. Don't like assumptions or presumptions. Straight talk.. no sugary coating. There was no sugar coating for hippies. I talk what I know. I don't assume or guess. ppl who talk out of school get on my nerves. That's where misunderstandings start from ppl who don't know what their talking about, only read about or heard others talk about it. You have to Live it to Know it. No ego, Knowledge. It was what we lived, what we fought for and died for. Had our babies ripped out of our arms. Sleeping where one could find a place to lay ones head down and not fear being robed or molested. Finding a way to feed yourself in a sea of hungry ppl. You had to have been there to understand what happened. You would have had to live it to tell it. No second hand BS from ppl who don't know the truth about it. That's what gives me a headache.
:iagree:ranger is is a very hip! hippie! loving,kind, peaceful an very,very wise. welcome soul.:daisy:
I have to admit my reaction was reflexive having known Charlie and his crew when he lived in the Haight about 2 blocks away and around a block from Shameless_heifer. Inew his crew when it was still a cross. There were good reasons he wisely chose to leave the Haight. Ahhhh shucks girls ya'll gonna make me blush........
That whole manson thing threw a big fat wet blanket on our happy hippie party.. ppl did not like us hippies anymore bc they associated us with him. Manson was no hippie. He wanted to be a rockstar. He was a wolf in hippie clothing.( sorry wolves no offence) Hippies don't murder ppl.. hippies will protect themselves and somebody might get killed in the process but they aren't premeditated murderers. We like it peaceful but we don't roll over, we stand united. Hippies were not pacifists they were anarchist.There were several cultures that all got thrown in as the hippies. I suppose one could say there were subcultures that ppl didn't bother to distinguish the teachings of each one. Hippies were a tribe of their own..dig..
I was not talking about your knowledge/experiences about the past. You made some about the younger posters here. Probably because you felt the need to get defensive but for one who don't like assumptions and presumptions you made quite a few.
How so asmodean, Any information about hippies is second hand, all the media hype, half the book written were written by journalist not hippies.. ones that were looking in, not the ones that were doing the doing of it. When I say it can never be what it was for the new hippies it's bc it has already been done. It would not be a first to go down in history. It would only be a reinactment of what someone else did. You have to make a new path for what is going on in the NOW. Things have changed a lot since the 60s/70s. The message would be the same, if they were to use it in the Hippie Way. Most of the Hippies I knew in The Haight were very clean, They wore fabulously, exotic and colorful attire and kept their kids and houses clean. The ones that had dwellings did not hang on the street but behind closed doors. The street ppl bathed when they could. A bathtub was not always present, esp for the ones living in the country. It wasn't by choice we didn't bathe as often as we would have liked. We were on the front lines battling it out with the establishment so the youth today could have opportunities that we didn't have as original hippies. It's unacceptable for us to still be identified as "Dirty Hippies" It's an insult. The youth today does not have the influences we had, too many to mention.
I feel like the new psychedelic movement that's been slowly building over the years, as well as the increased police state and preoccupation with materialism, will eventually come to a head in a very significant way. Some of the new music I'm currently into definitely sounds like stuff that hasn't been done before, believe it or not. Especially in the psychedelic sense. (Animal Collective *hint* *hint*) Music is limitless, it's just we've been conditioned otherwise. It's all about how the elements are combined in very surprising, unique ways. Unfortunately, it seems like things are still pretty underground, and there's not necessarily a unified cause that's been defined yet. Everyone's in their own different groups. But in the long run, I can forsee something significant, and a shedding of all our differences. As someone who feels inspired by the 60's hippie movement, I realize your frustration about what journalists were writing, and a lot of what's put out by the media these days. Oh, for many the 60's had good memories apparently, but then the system re-educated people, and many 'grew up' ditching their past. Now it's treated like a commercial product appealing to nostalgics. I may have not lived during the era, but frankly it wasn't my choice. "Hippie" by Barry Miles is a fabulous document, though, and the teacher for my psychedelics class did a really good job trying to get across the true reality of the hippie movement. There's a good documentary "Flashing on the 60's" where some hippies who lived during the era make a point about how different it was versus the journalists who stereotyped and sensationalized the whole thing. "Magic Trip", which is a reconstruction of the film Ken Kesey and his Pranksters made, is fabulous, too. Finally saw the light of day in 2011. On the one hand, I understand why you'd think the youth will never know what went on. On the other hand, I've truly tried my best to sort the facts out from the bullshit. Nor is my knowledge of bands like the Jefferson Airplane or the Grateful Dead limited to their overplayed hits.
