What is a hippie?

from the webster's dictionary

"a usually young person who rejects the mores of established society (as by dressing unconventionally or favoring communal living) and advocates a nonviolent ethic"

That definition is too narrow
The other definition is too broad

I wear my hair long
I reject the the mores of established society
I believe pacifism is a cop out for people who are scared to get their ass whooped
I love the Dead, and Jerry is a personal inspiration to me, not only musically, but also as an individual

But I'm no hippie. Too many people call me a hippie, either with contempt or interest
I am myself.

The hippie, as it appears to me, is simply an idea created by businessmen to give the 'thing' an image. They did this to make money, and make money they did. A lot of people fed into this image, and, along with massive drug abuse, it served to destroy the counterculture from the inside out. The ones that actually mattered, the ones that were honest & true, are either dead, or living out of society.

Hell, Zappa wrote an album to make fun of the whole ordeal. Hunter S. Thompson had written an article in 1967 titled "The Hashbury is the Capital of the Hippies"

Perhaps, any hippie folk here, that were actually alive as it went down, could add something?

 

Hippies originated with the counter-culture movement and are among the more anarchistic and tribal members of the counter culture, who often adopt a lot of Asian perspectives and practices. Every country in the developed world has gone through a similar cultural revolution, obviously struggling to adapt their culture to the enormous changes modern civilization demands. A study of morality concluded that most people who call themselves moral apply their standards to other people, but not themselves, and the counter-culture can be described as an attempt to cultivate more honesty and authenticity in our lifestyles, by adopting and creating our own more egalitarian traditions that lean towards Pantheist and Panentheist ideas.

My own belief and that of many others, is the cultural revolution was a prelude to the next science revolution which will change everything. In general, hippies espouse smoking pot as a less addictive and harmful drug than most, and it was used extensively in the 1920s by artists for its ability to promote insights.

 

i'm not sure what exactly a hippie is, and i don't particularly care. individuals are better than hippies any day as far as i'm concerned, so you should keep doing that and not worry about hippies. if people want to call you that, then so be it.

 

what mind-blowing insight

 

I detect sarcasm. Just not sure which post/posts it’s directed toward. Enlighten us, if you would.

 

The OP.
These threads just make me roll my eyes.
Everyone says the same thing. We all agree. No one cares. And some people use it as an excuse to list all their hippie-est traits even though they're ABSOLUTELY NOT A HIPPIE, why does everyone insist on calling them a hippie, man? When it's just long hair and tie dye and listening to the dead, I'm just ME man. Fuck labels.
Yes that's what we all think and we all explain it in every single thread that comes up to discuss the word "hippie".

 

I gotcha.

 

I believe -- as with so many things -- there are different interpretations. The term is not a monolithic one. I consider myself hippie (and not just because of my hair or clothes) but because of my values in keeping the planet healthy, surrounding myself by positive spiritual energy, treating animals with respect and kindness. I'm not a vegan and I don't buy bathroom and kitchen products from the organic sections of the shop.
And I also believe that my hippie life and lifestyle are not absolutes. I don't believe in free and indiscriminant love or that I need to spend time raising the consciousness of people who have contempt for me.
The definition is too broad to qualify in a post. Read Skip's book.

 

hip·pie
/ˈhipē/
Learn to pronounce
noun

1. (especially in the 1960s) a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs.

Nobody owns the definitions for words, just the copyrights to legally use them. The courts can send you prison for using copyrighted words, and have even declared chickens legally "walking vegetables", but only because the courts attempt to own language. If they insisted a hippie is a dog breed, my friends and I would simply make up another silly word to call ourselves.

 

You is right boss.

I definitely didn't post this thread with an aim to whipping up an air of dissatisfaction.
If you read my post closely enough you'll see nothing that is antagonistic.

 

Tiedye. Dreadlocks. Sandals. Peace. Love. Happiness.

 

I made this thread specifically to make great fun of hippies. The hippie never did exist except as a public image, and those who bought the image were, and still are for that matter, ingenuine. They're all making fools of themselves. And while someone is pocketing their money, they think they is so high & mighty & they's is different & proud. What a fucking joke. These people can't even give me a dollar when I'm hungry, but they laud themselves for being so peace loving & humanitarian. Love is not all you need.

Who has been to San Francisco recently?

 

i had a layover at the san francisco airport a year and a half ago.

 

I went to Haight Ashbury once and bought a shot glass from a souvenir shop

 

I can tell you back in 1967 being a Hippy meant to me that I had to be true to myself and support social justice, as in supporting the civil rights movement, so a Black Man could drink from the same water fountain as me. Later when the Viet Nam War started to expand, I felt that standing for social justice was to stand against that war. When Calley and Medina killed 568 villagers and threw their bodies in the Mei Lai ditch, I had to stand for social justice. When The National Guardsmen killed the college students in Kent State, I stood for social justice. During the 1970s and 1980s I had to stand with the people who stood against the expansion of Nukes. When I found out about the massive garbage floats in the oceans in 1991, I had to stand with the people who cared about our planet. Today, being a Hippy has to be about standing with Gay and Lesbians, Africans and Latin Americans, Jews and Palestinians, and firmly against the Republicans who stand against equality.

 

why do you choose to term your individuality as anything other than 'myself' ?

 

Webster's definition is not entirely accurate and does not describe millions of people. I started growing my hair long in 1965 when I started buying Rolling Stones and Beatles Albums. I remember listening to Johnny Kidd and the Pirates even earlier than that. Zappa was a sarcastic genius and Thompson was a political genius. Money did make its way into the Hippy Scene, when the capitalists figured out new methods, like Hippy Herb Teas and Water Beds and conversion vans.

 

By the quest to discover your true self, not the commercial one.

 

I know they're shapeshifters who transform into Bigfoot.