[itistoday]

Weren't they great? It was probably the only time in America's history that people of all races and religions were accepted with "love" among a people. Sure they had their problems, like stealing animals from scientific institutions, but at least one knew one would be welcome with them.

Why can't people today live like that? Why can't Israelis and Palestinians just live together? Why is it that after 9/11 people in America would stop visiting Arab stores, vandalize them, etc? Many people all over the world hate Americans because of their elitist attitude.

And why is it that some people hate hippies?

[paul w]

Because they were getting laid, stoned, having fun while everyone else was stuck in their Eisenhower uptight lifestyle.

They were eventually beaten into submission or assimilated. They didn't win.

[bstone]

Many still exist and get together every summer:

Rainbow Gathering

[Busemann]

Originally posted by paul w:
They were eventually beaten into submission or assimilated. They didn't win.

freedom failed

[zigzag]

Originally posted by itistoday:
Weren't they great? It was probably the only time in America's history that people of all races and religions were accepted with "love" among a people. Sure they had their problems, like stealing animals from scientific institutions, but at least one knew one would be welcome with them.

Why can't people today live like that? Why can't Israelis and Palestinians just live together? Why is it that after 9/11 people in America would stop visiting Arab stores, vandalize them, etc? Many people all over the world hate Americans because of their elitist attitude.

And why is it that some people hate hippies?

Sorry to disappoint, but although that was the hippie ideal, it never really materialized because the hippies failed to take the totality and duality of human nature, including their own, into account. And although they were the most notable utopists/seekers of the past half-century, they weren't the first or the last. Utopists/seekers come and go with regularity - the hippie movement has effectively been supplanted by New Agers (many of whom are, of course, old hippies). When the New Agers get bored, they'll move on to something else (are crystals over yet?).

Hippies are hated mostly because they were so naive and tended to make a lot of really dippy music. That isn't to say, however, that the movement had no value - many aspects of hippie culture have been absorbed into mainstream culture, and a lot of it was just plain fun.

Edit: I'm reminded of a particularly compelling passage, from Hunter Thompson when he was still fresh:

We are all wired into a survival trip now. No more of the speed that fueled that 60's. That was the fatal flaw in Tim Leary's trip. He crashed around America selling "consciousness expansion" without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait for all the people who took him seriously... All those pathetically eager acid freaks who thought they could buy Peace and Understanding for three bucks a hit. But their loss and failure is ours too. What Leary took down with him was the central illusion of a whole life-style that he helped create... a generation of permanent cripples, failed seekers, who never understood the essential old-mystic fallacy of the Acid Culture: the desperate assumption that somebody... or at least some force - is tending the light at the end of the tunnel.

[itistoday]

Zigzag, I agree completely. I don't think that taking hits of acid is the right way to go about it. I just find it difficult to understand all these people. They're fighting and fighting for several decades now... over what?? It's rediculous. Mass stupidity comes to mind.

[bubblewrap]

They grew up, got jobs and blended into society.
And learned to take baths.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by bubblewrap:
They grew up, got jobs and blended into society.

That's exactly what happened, in most cases. They learned that The Establishment is not some arbitrary thing; that it does not exist for no reason at all. And, ironically, that understanding gave them greater peace than they ever found in their love-ins.

[JohnSmithXTREME]

I've no living recollection of the hippie days, being a child of the 90s. However, I can confidently say that we are better off without them. The few genuine hippies I've seen are very similar in a lot of ways to homeless people, and I find it hard to take them seriously.

[bstone]

I can easily affirm to you that modern hippies are some of the most loving, caring, gentle, beautiful people ever. If you come to a Rainbow Gathering you would soon find out jus tthow true this is- beyond any dreams. You might think I am referring to "free sex" but just the opposite.

[bubblewrap]

If I could stand the stink of Bertchouli oil...

[BoomStick]

The hippies here are spioled rich kids that drive Mercedes and BMW's.

All they are about is spending their parents cash on dope.


I've worked with real hippies and they were just about identical.

Gotta have a pound of dope a week to keep their "concousness expanded".

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!