About thirty minutes from my house there are two women who are self proclaimed hippies. Their counters are cluttered with wine bottles, they cant step outside without hitting the bong and they don't fall asleep without listening to Janis. On their walls are pictures of the dead; Marley, Lennon, Morrison, and Hendrix. They have dreads with beads, fancy hand made clothing from Nepal and the kind of jewellry you'd pay an arm and leg for because it looks 'ethnic'. Every self-proclaimed hippy I have met has not been a 'hippy' at all. After reading the book that is offered on this site, it has only strengthened my points. When I think of a hippy I think of the 60's. I think of the reasons why the hippy movement came out... the true hippies are the ones who sprouted from the moment. The true eighties rockers are the ones who were living that moment... Every young hippy I have ever met has been like those two women, thirty minutes down the road, who can not live life without smoking up and can not dance freely without the bottle kissing their lips. The fundamental philosphies of a hippy; peace, love, freedom and acceptance are also universal philosophies found in many religions. If there is love in me, does that mean that there is a piece of hippy in me? I have been called a hippy many times by my style of dress and personal set of beliefs... but I do not call myself a hippy ... I do not lable myself... what I believe is what I believe... I accept the two women down the road even though they don't accept me... Who is to say what a true contemporary hippy is... Has it evolved or has it stayed the same? I have yet to see a contemporary hippy that is true to her/his beliefs... As I have experienced from the two women I know... what they say is not what they mean. They preach health, environmentla justice and miss the rallys because they're too busy hot boxing their bathroom. Anyone else have some insight? I'm not trying to bash hippies... I see nothing wrong with proclaiming to be something... as long as you follow through with it. And even if you don't do what you say, at least there was effort... and above all, at least there's mindfulness.
I can't believe it! A cry of intelligence (but, poor spelling) from the wilderness! Gate68 will be pleased; Teepi will find a potential customer' HHB & Diligaff will invite her to Georgia for a rebel blow-out; Sloth will try to indoctrinate her; but, Thudly will simply offer her some kittens (the outrageous hussy is WAY pregnant again-- however, this time, they'll be born outside somewhere-- either in the woodshed, the barn, under my cabin on the hill, inside a 50 gallon barrel stuffed with old blankets on the porch or, hopefully, at my neighbors house. Welcome Phunky! (And, what is a womyn? Is that similar to a ball-breaking bitch?)
way to stereotype and not read the boards. plenty of activists, pacifists, abstainers and overindulgers who identify willing or not with hippy (prefer freak myself)
I had the same feeling you know. but I think about it like this. shouting hippy quotes, using hippy-drugs, listening hippy-music, dressing in a hippy- style doesn't necessarily makes you a hippy. but there are people out their who try to reach a higher spiritual perspective, fight for a better world and much more. they might not look like a hippy but in certain aspects they have much in common with the image i have when i think about a hippy. those people are very inspiring. http://www.odemagazine.com/ this site contain a lot of inspiring stories about people who try to make the world a better place in very different ways.
There were people like that in the 60's too. But the deffinition of hippie is a very broad one. There is no specific deffinition for someone who is a "hippie". For example: John Lennon was a communist, and Jim Morrison was an anarchist. Abbie Hoffman was fed up with America, and Jimi Hendrix was a very patriotic person. Bob Dylan was completely political, while the Grateful Dead's songs were usually less political. But despite all those opposites, they were all great examples of the hippies of the 60's. Basically, all that is requires to "be a hippie" is to believe in Peace, love, equality, understanding, and accept others in spite of their faults. I think that the hippies today and the hippies of the 60's are differant in some ways, because they grew up in a differant home (computers, TV's, etc), a differant society (not as much racism, much more tolerance and the like), with differant parents (many of their parents were hippies at one time or another), and they already had the ideas, music, and examples from the 60's to help them along. However, I think they are still a similiar breed, no matter what generation it is. All hippies sort of have a special bond, regardless of age, gender, and if we even know each other. For example, I was wearing a Grateful Dead shirt the other day and had two people (on two occasions that day, the events happened about an hour or two apart) who were about middle aged start talking to me about the Dead. The fact that they were 20-30+ years older than me didn't matter. The fact that they both had long since put away their freaky clothes in the back of their closet and currently lived in the suburbs didn't matter. What mattered was that we had a bond, a connection that surpassed all that stuff.
They have dreads with beads, fancy hand made clothing from Nepal and the kind of jewellry you'd pay an arm and leg for because it looks 'ethnic'. Real Hippies never wore dreads. By the time Dreads were Popular the 60s were long gone.
i get what you mean. i will tell a little story, why i think it's a point to some people. when i read about hippies a got some sort of stereotype about them and after that i discovered there are still people around who call thereselves hippies. and then a talked to them and it seemed that those people weren't like the people i had in my head when i thought about a hippie. first i was dissapointed, but i think everyone has a different image in their head of 'the hippie'. so every hippie is a different hippie, that's okay to me now. you mean the original hippies, right? having dreads doesn't mean your a faker
Back in the 60s/early 70s there were alot of people TRYING to be "cool". I think many of them now are balding and fat bankers and secretaries. I went to a school full of them. Everybody was trying to be so "hip", I didnt know ANYBODY who didnt smoke pot, drink, sleep around, try every imaginable drug that came to town, and expend great amounts of energy TRYING to be cool. They would follow around the local rock band, tryig to suck up the power and pretend they were special because they knew people who were famous. They were total fakes. There are even more people trying to be "cool" now. But there are an awful lot more ways to be "cool" now than there were then. Hippys, freaks, punks, goths, rappers, skinheads......... But the whole thing about trying to be cool is that if you really were cool, then you wouldnt have to try. THAT'S what a hippy is. The REAL hippy thing is a state of mind. A belief system. Something that you dont have to try to be, something that just either is or isnt. But I must say that a true, died in the wool hippy probably WILL somewhat look the part, due to that undeniable feeling of wanting to let your freak flag fly, and being proud of it. A true hippy cannot be anything other than what they are, no more than a black person can stop being black. "Every self-proclaimed hippy I have met has not been a 'hippy' at all." You havent been looking in the right places...
