I wasn't born in the 60's. I don't own a camper van. I don't know how to smoke weed. I don't own a tie dye shirt. I don't have a grateful dead or a led zeppelin record collection. I don't own a rolling stones shirt. I don't even listen to their music. I didn't learn the meaning of hippie until i was nine years old(which was 4 years ago) when i was watching a Simpson's episode in Star World, a texan dude shouted at flanders and called him a hippie, so i thought it had a bad meaning. That same night my mom was getting me ready for a Christmas party that i didn't even want to go to. She dressed me up in a sleeveless dress that had stripes on it and you tighten in on the waist, so when you wear it it looks loose from the waist up. Honestly i hated the dress back then so i said: "UGH! I LOOK LIKE A HIPPIE". Then my mom told me that was the point. I knew the real meaning of hippie when i was 11 when i looked it up on google. I saw these pictures of people wearing bright clothes, glasses and headbands. I actually thought that these people i saw in the picture were funny looking and insulted how colorful and silly they were. I totally hated how they looked and told myself i am never going to be part of that flower power crap(but that was when puberty struck hard) Midway of being twelve i was watching spongebob then suddenly my sister changed it to HBO. I was pissed of course but then she told me:"IT'S ACROSS THE UNIVERSE!". I didn't know what that movie was. She told me it was a musical based on Beatles songs. I really loved old music especially The Beatles, my dad would always play his old cassette tapes in the car which i liked. So i gave the movie a shot and in the end i really loved the movie. The songs sounded awesome, the animation was spectacular and the story was unique(coincidentally the story happened during the 60's). That movie became one of my most favorite movies of all time. I knew the real meaning of hippie from that movie but it wasn't the reason why i decided to become one. Finally 13. High School was new to me and i really hated it. Everything was harder. I couldn't go on a day without feeling deep depression. One night i was spending time not doing homework and searching for this band called MGMT. The first time I listened to them was while watching 21(Time to Pretend) but i didn't really care so the second time i listened to them was while watching Whip It(Kids) so finally i downloaded that song because i really liked it. So since i liked that song i searched for other songs by them like Electric Feel which i really loved. I started searching for what is MGMT. Turns out MGMT is band consisted of two Wesleyan graduates who, are by my luck, HIPPIES! These guys were cool and funny. I was amazed on how totally casual they were too. Then suddenly one night while listening to 'Across the Universe' i thought to myself "what if i became a hippie?" the idea was crazy to normal people but too bad i wasn't normal. I liked the idea and i loved freedom so I went for it. I knew there was no going back i made my choice and it's final. I'm a hippie. I'm a hippie because i'm different, because i like old music, i love being a weirdo, I love expressing my feelings through lines and swirls, i love dancing like a flower swaying with the wind, i like 80's romance-comedy films, i like using a Walkman, i like wearing non skinny jeans, i like wearing a headband around my forehead, I LIKE BEING FREE! That to me is just the real meaning of hippie. Freedom. We are who we are and we'll do what we do. No one can change that. As sung in the famous Beatles song: "Nothing's gonna change my world"
Hey I gotta say your pretty articulate and I think you got the gist of what a hippie is I guess. I can say I've been a hippie since the day I was born because that ineffable feeling you get when your in that state of mind has been mine for as long as I can remember. I'm naturally attracted to nature and such and I'm interested in what I'm interested in and don't impose what I think on anyone else ever. Just love and hope to be loved.. now that's bliss
A hippie is someone who wants to be a hippie. Why they want to be a hippie can differ per person. This is essentially true, although everyone is shaped partially by life and of course also by themself. So I guess you can indeed become a hippie just by adapting the associated views, styles and tastes. I'm not sure I'd perceive someone as a hippie because of that though. Also, lots of people think indeed that the focus has to be on an urge for freedom or being against the establishment. This may be so, but I like to point out this also is not limited to hippies (just like having a preferance for the psychedelic doesn't necessarily says anything about a fellow human)
For me, If you are looking for a descriptive acronym, then, Helping Individuals Produce Peaceful International Existence is a fair one, A slogan: - "Peace + Love, Protest and Protect – Save the Planet" A philosophy (again looking to the BeaTles) “And in the end, the Love you take, is equal to the Love you make” – It’s a Karma thing Though mainly I feel it is to be true to oneself and their conviction of conscience and character eace:
The best part of the hippies was the music, the arts, and the belief in peace, tolerance of all races and ethnicities, appreciating nature and protecting the environment, and healthy food. The negative part of the hippies was excessive drug use.
Garcia Say's it well here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYxbJzyVzaY"]YouTube - Grateful Dead Jerry Garcia Hippie Interview Although Drugs are an accessory not a necessity. Stay Brown, Rev J
Interesting video from the 1960s. Thanks. Not that I agree with all of it, either the hippies or the reporter covering the hippies. They both had it part right and part wrong. Interesting history though.
Seems like bikers were/have always been a fringe element of the hippies. Wherever the hippies congregate, the bikers generally are not far away, though you can't necessarily equate bikers with hippies. Bikers typically had the extra added factor of being potentially violent, while hippies were/are generally peace-loving. But these are generalities. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnGzl-OEyGE"]WE JUST WANTA BE FREE
to the way back machine.... 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech... .. Driven by Fear: Martin Luther King, Jr is assassinated the next day..
Well I'm not a hippie... I just totally agree with the free, easy going, natural life of a hippie I'm more 'emo', to be honest. I gor bullied at school because I like eyeliner and screamo, that's why I dropped out at sixteen, as well as something else. Then when I was seventeen I met my boyfriend, Andy, who is totally hippie. We call him the emo-hippie, because of when I straightened his hair and put eyeliner on him... lol He owns a little arts and crafts shop on the sea front, smokes weed, stays out until midnight just painting or composing music... he's involved with animal rights and last month I had to bail him out of jail because he chained himself and my baby sister who is only fourteen to the gates of a warehouse which supplies meat to supermarkets, meat which is not fairtrade (not that any meat is 'fair'), and he is vegan and totally chilled in any circumstance so yeah, I'm not a hippie so I don't know exactly, but that's what I think a hippie is
