What have you done to earn your 'Hippie' Badge?

What is it to be a 'Hippie' these days?

Has it has become a hollow movement?...a brand name of sorts, something to be marketed...

Is the Hippie movement something that can be replicated...or copyed...
The original hippies were born of or the products of a certain time and era in American history...a very turbulent period...
To be a hippie back then was like enlisting in a army of sorts...a army of freedom fighters...willing to risk all...

Back then, in many places, hippies were despised and spat upon and ostricized as much as the blacks or minorities they would often protest side by side with...
I mean the social stigma that was place on you, if you were white, for daring to stand up for a 'colored' person could very well end family ties forever.
And get you beat up while walking home afterwards, and or killed, infact many were....again you can't replicate that...

Groups like the klan despised long haired freedom fighting hippies as much as they did minorities...and that shared hatred is what formed many bonds and ties between the two communities which have been severed over time with the newer younger version of hippie...(some hippies today are prone to be as racist as skinheads...and sometimes there one in the same)

The Hippies back then were born of a lot of social brutalities witnessed in person and or seen on TV. And many came back fresh from the Vietnam jungles and joined ranks with the protesters..as depicted in the movie 'Born on the 4th of July)...

Hippies back then had to make harder decisions...for their parents were of the hardcore segregationist era, and some of their parents were in the Klan and or other such groups.
It took a lot more guts to be a hippie back then...it hardly requires any to be one now....again...it has become more of a brand name, and or something to market...
What has todays hippie done to earn their badge?

I feel more comfortable being around old school battle worn hippies of the 60's and 70's...cause they have seen and felt how far this country has really come...they were around when lynchings were still going on...they have seen the horrors of man, and or this government at it's worst...

That can't be replicated...
Is todays hippie movement hollow...and self serving.
Is 'Peace, Love, and Joy' for self and others, still the Hippie Anthem?
And if not, how would you best describe todays Anthem?


I also notice the hippie movement has splintered off into like dozens of sub-movements, each with it's own unique feel, purpose and intensions.

It's a very broadband community...so broad infact that on the furthest ends of the band, many would not recognize one another as being fello hippies...
Which again leads me to ask...What is a 2010 hippie...
And how have you earned your hippie badge...??

 

It doesn't really matter who gets called a hippie, or what you mean when you use the term-
it's just another label, and if some of us choose to willingly take it on, its because we feel some connection to the movement that started in the 60s, its music, its attitudes, its politics, and we want to show solidarity with ALL the hippies of the past 40-some years. But it's just a label and doesn't necessarily mean anything, and shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Also, I don't see the counter-culture being as shallow and self-serving as you do...maybe it has to do with location or something like that, but I live in an outskirt of Philadelphia teeming with hippies (as many outskirts of Philly are) and many of us are politically active, work together for sustainable gardening and organic eating, work on some small environmental projects, make art together, make music together, support local business, and go to festivals; even my hippie friends in my hometown (the lehigh valley) do all this...

It's not a matter of "earning a hippie badge," its a matter of living free, expressing yourselves, and making sure others can do the same.

One thing you are right about though- the network is HUGE

 

I put up with alot of bullshit from alot of people to be myself, a peaceful person who happens to have dreadlocks. You think people don't despise and spit on people like this? You must live a very sheltered life. It's more accepted thanks to the hippies before us to be the way we are, we had the path laid for us but we still have to walk and we still have to deal with people who don't agree with us, or think we're disgusting. Real hippies don't die, they just lay low until the laughter starts up again. Maybe we weren't born in the 60's or waving peace signs to end the vietnam war but our generation has it's own problems. Those of us who stand up and fight for our rights to be individuals are hippies.

Or Neo Hippies...Or Neo Crunch, the point is whatever you label it, it's all about peace love and harmony.

 

I start fires.

 

I bought my badge at walmart.

 

"earn"? "badge"?

This evokes the concept of placing a premium on what other people think.

I can't argue with your characterization of today's "hippie" movement though I'd wager that it's not all that far off from the original movement... for most it's a fashion statement; a fad to be discarded when the next big thing comes around... a market to be exploited and manipulated. At best a form of group think to be placated... or distracted by relatively trivial issues so that political agendas that hold nothing good for us can be pushed more easily through...

 

I appreciate your response, and as a result went back and re-edited a few things...I guess I was a little harsh...I was just frustrated at the lack of meaningful depth in some of the posts I was reading...

Hippies use to be 'Deep, they use to always have something meaningful to say...and I hate to see that legacy tarnished...
I'm kind of a Bridge hippie in that I was young enough to be influenced by the original bunch, and old enough to have seen the new generation develop.
I mean sure, it's easy to romanticize about the past...and it's easier to put frosting on events that are 40-50 years removed...
But Hippie is still a sacried term to some...many lost friends and colleagues in the original movement, like at Kent State where blood was spilt...

So maybe some come here with unrealistic ideas, expecting to find those same emotional ties, and are instead frustrated by certain Beavis and Butthead antics and remarks...
But again, I appreciate your response...I guess I just needed to know that some on here were still capable of meaningful dialogue...

 

The youth of the 60's are in their 60's. Thanks to the work of many brave people civil rights moments gained traction. They certainly weren't all hippies. Most of the hippies I've met from the day seem to want to take credit for the brave work of a few.

Today, of course hippy is a youth fad, just like jocks and hipsters and skateboarders. Which is fine, people follow trends no matter what they say. You can take all the pretension that goes with those fads though.

 

i don't remember what i had to do; webelos was a long time ago.

 

Didn't realise it was like the Brownies.

 

You are what you eat?

 

LMFAO!

 

i joined hipforums

 

Passion, that's what i like to see...Passion...I was beggining to think ya'll were dead...

I read your post...and appreciate the passion...passion is what moves things...passion is what fuels movements....and I'm glad you have it...

 

I picked druggies without a cause

of course this is just an outsiders view as I am not a Hippie and I have no real life experience knowing any in person...the only hippies I know are on this website

I have met some great people here who are real hippies...but they are definitely the minority so I had to vote the other way.

 

What you should have added to your poll ,is both young and old males who claim to be hippies because all they are doing is looking for free love. Things are no different now than they were in the sixties, just a bunch of horny kids looking to get fucked with no commitments.

PAX

 

hehe... my thoughts exactly.

Some consider me a hippie, some don't... no one knows.

 

I don't like lapels

 

Yes, sure, I understand your dislike of lapels, but without them collars would be stunted. Coats around the world would almost be.. well, just another shirt.

 

I only wear v neck shirts. and big fleece of grandmother.