Hippies: A Popular Counter Culture During The 70's

Yet, numerous Hippies associated themselves with drugs, such as; LSD and Marijuana, as these drugs were effortlessly assessable throughout that era. LSD effects the user and causes them to have hallucinations and effect the person’s mind space and perception of reality; triggering them to hear or see things that do not happen. “Drug experiences shaped many of their symbols and ideas.”(World Book Encyclopedia, 2004

Hippies represent the ideological, naive nature that children possess. They feel that with a little love and conectedness, peace and equality will abound. It is with this assumption that so many activists and reformers, inspired by the transformation that hippies cultivated, have found the will to persist in revolutionizing social and political policy. Their alternative lifestyles and radical beleifs were the shocking blow that American culture-- segregation, McCarthyism, unjust wars, censorship--needed to prove that some Americans still had the common sense to care for one another. The young people of the sixties counterculture movement were successful at awakening awareness on many causes that are being fought in modern

In this essay I will be discussing the ‘hippie’ culture and style, their impact on the 60s and their continued impact in modern life. In today 's world, hippies are known because of the distinct way in which they behave, dress and their overall lifestyles. There are also some who have come to believe that hippies are synonymous with drugs or that they have radical political views on environmentalism, capitalism, religion e.t.c. The dictionary defines a hippie as "one who doesn’t conform to society’s standards and advocates a liberal attitude and lifestyle". What I am interested in is whether this definition is true. Polhemus (2007) says "who is real? Who is a replicant? Who cares? Life is a fancy-dress party, Enjoy”. I will be discussing this quote in more depth, relating it to the hippie culture as well as explaining how the hippie culture developed and what it means to be a hippie today.

The counterculture and hippies are becoming extremely popular in our society today. The hippie culture focused on outward signs of nonconformity. The counterculture promoted rock music, free love, and the use of psychedelic drugs. Haight-Ashbury is the place is if you want to be a part of the culture, and go to San Francisco and be a part of love. The counterculture is about new ideas, and going against the social norms. The bright colors, feathers, leather, and hair. There are pop art and rock music. Go have fun, and be a part of the

Around the same time within the late 1960’s, a new hippie movement was forming, which was often described as a counterculture.

The 1960s Hippie movement was a major point in the American history. In the 1960s a certain class of young people associated their lifestyles with the ideas of freedom, peace, and love. Hippies acted against white upper middle class lifestyle because they thought it was based on the wrong ideology. Hippies were against consumerism and American suburban life of the late 1950s and early 1960s was embodied in itself the idea of consumerism. Hippies, on the other hand, felt better about communal life with equal distribution of social goods. Traditional “bigger share” and consumerist greed as concepts of American society were despised by Hippies.

The Hippie Counter Culture began in 1960. The hippie era was influenced more by personal happiness in which books, music, and fashion followed as result of their personification of a blissful society. Hippies did not care what others thought of them and their motto was “if it feels good, do it”. Hippies were seeking a utopian society. They participated in street theater and listened to psychedelic rock. As part of their culture they embraced more open sexual encounters amongst each other in their community and believed in use of psychedelic drugs which consisted of marijuana and LSD. The fashion choice that hippies dressed in was due to set them apart from the mainstream society. They choose to buy their clothing from thrift shops and flea markets (Haddock, 2011). Clothing choices are described as “brightly colored, ragged clothes, tie-dyed t-shirts, beads, sandals (or barefoot), and jewelry” (Haddock, 2011, para 7). Hippies also referred

The hippie counterculture was generally looked down upon by society, rejecting most societal norms. The hippie’s, many of whose parents were conservative members of the middle class, lived in poverty, practiced sexual freedom, used drugs, rejected conformism and protested the Vietnam War. The hippie’s represented the complete opposite of 1950’s American values. Many conservative and religious people considered Hair to be offensive and obscene, especially regarding desecration of the American flag, and a scene at the end of Act I in which the cast strips naked on stage. The show was met with protests around the United States, as well as in other countries.

‘The hippie movement germinated in San Francisco, with the Vietnam War at its core. The movement eventually spread to the East Coast as well, centralized in New York's East Village in addition to the Haight-Asbury district of San Francisco and Sunset Strip of Los Angeles” (Buchholz 858). Many hippies were angry over the conformist lifestyle that Americans were living in, and wanted to live how they wanted to live not how their employer or television wanted them to live. Hippies also took a political

Another one of the main parts of the hippie counterculture lifestyle was drug use. LSD and marijuana were the drugs most frequently used by the hippies in the 1960s. These drugs drew thousands to the hippie lifestyle and to their beliefs. Drugs were used to escape the traditional values of American society, and to see deeper into ones self. Timothy Leary, a psychologist at Harvard, is known for his experimentations with LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs. Leary would encourage his students and fellow faculty members to go on these psychedelic trips while he recorded their responses to the drugs. In 1966 LSD was made illegal in California then later in 1967 the Federal Government banned it in the United States. Even thought the drug was illegal it didn’t stop the hippies from using it. Many of these drug users died of overdosing, two of the most well known were musical artists Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

The hippies, a group of young free spirited, peace loving, drug obsessed individuals that changed the way of life in the 60’s and had a lasting impact on music, lifestyles, and much more that has carried on into modern society. The counterculture during the Summer of Love was an American revolution that would change the ways people lived for generations long after the hippies of the Summer of Love. This group of people believe in living one's life the way they wanted it to be lived without having to follow the norms of society. Peace, love, giving, and drug use were some of the their practices they are still remembered for. Although hippies were seen as a group of unclean and lazy people, the hippies from Haight-Ashbury during the

To heighten their experiences physically, mentally and spiritually the hippies used hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD. Many authorities felt threatened by the culture; they were thrown off with their radical ideas and saw them as a danger to the society because of the fact that hippies were against violence, war and many other political views.

The Hippie Movement in the 60’s and 70’s involved many social concerns and beliefs. The hippies thoughts on life was that the world should be a happy place, people from all around, every cultural everyone should be happy. They didn’t want people to care about what others thought about them “IF IT FEELS GOOD, DO IT” was often their attitudes towards things not caring about the consequences of their actions. Hippies weren’t happy with what their parents wanted them to be like but little did their parents know they had built the greatest booming economy the world had ever seen during the 60’s and 70’s. Hippies denied an institution calling them The Establishment, Big Brother, and The Man.

Francis of Assisi, Henry David Thoreau, and Gandhi, as well as others. Some people considered the hippie movement to be a religious reform. Following in the footsteps of The Beats, the hippies also used marijuana, considering it pleasurable and benign. Other than marijuana, the most commonly used drug among the hippies was the hallucinogen LSD, more commonly known as acid. They also used other hallucinogens such as psilocybin and mescaline. They used these drugs to achieve self-exploration and believed these drugs were capable of “Expanding your consciousness in order to find ecstasy and revelation within.” Amphetamines and heroin were also used in hippie settings; however, these drugs were considered harmful and addictive.

Many hippies consistently used marijuana in these communities. In the film, the usage of drugs of hippies serves as a historical evidence for the time period of 1960s America.