What Is The Defiance Of The Hippie Generation

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.

He traces the baby-boom generation's involvement with the civil-rights, Vietnam War, and countercultural movements in stunning detail and evidence. Anderson entails insight of how the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, where driving forces and very nearly launched a civil war. The author skewers a system that sent so many impoverished minority youngsters and white American males to Southeast Asia while condemning a national ethos of the communism. Clearly, for him the '60s are very much alive, and his passionate remembrance galvanizes the book. However, it does suffer from some

The whole hippie culture all together was totally against social norms, what society wanted to see, how everyone else lived, and what they believed in. The hippie culture’s main moto was “make love, not war”. They were strongly against war and the Vietnam War, which was going on during the same time the hippie culture was popular. They thought that everyone should have acceptance of the universe. They wanted to see change in the world, global

The “counterculture” developed during the 1960’s into the 1970’s and during this time period the American mindset questioned normal values and institutions. Over half the population was under 25, many of whom associated themselves with the Hippie Movement. Hippies were all about rejecting and rebelling against monumental societal institutions and were the focus group in the counterculture. The hippies set themselves apart from the “stereotypical man” and wanted to be untamed and wild. They valued the beauty in naturalness and stripping away “the securities of civilization that normally intervene between humans and elemental challenges (Nash, p. 267). They wanted independence and felt that the GNP was not the best indicator of American success.

The rise of counterculture in the 1960s was caused in large part by the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, military conscription, and the teenagers of affluent middle-class parents. The teenagers of those families wanted more than anything else to experience life to its fullest, before it was too late. The irony was that “ behaviors by counterculture youth were and are an easy target for criticism, especially on the part of those eager to belittle the decade’s significance ( Morgan; 170). There were two waves of the counterculture (hippie) movement; the first dealt with the shock of JFK’s assassination, government aid to Vietnam, the student sit-ins and the militant stance of the Black Panthers. All of which caused a weariness to hippie-dome

“Make love, not war” was a common slogan during the counter-culture in the 1960‘s. The national split between opposers and supporters of the Vietnam War, greatly contributed to the counter-culture. Hippies, as part of the counter-culture, were seen as outsiders as they were outspoken about their views and their lifestyle was perceived as rather eccentric to many Americans.15 While their drug use, dress, and radical mindset came as a shock to many, the hippie’s opposition to the Vietnam War and their deep concern made a lasting impact on society through their promotion of peace and unity as well as their drive for change.16 Manson, during his trial testimony, accuses the court of waging war in Vietnam, stating, “I don't understand you, but I

Many young students and people believed that they were completely entitled to their right to speak and assemble freely . The New Left emerged yet again in the sixties and was frequently associated with the growing counterculture of the time. In time, the youth of America spread their feel for a more liberal sense of mind through out the country. Adults were often in antagonism to the new styles of rebellion and the disagreement to follow in your parents’ footsteps and follow the many unsaid rules of society. The most define part of the 1960’s counterculture was the hippie revolution. The infamous hippies of the sixties were those that fought for peace and believed in the right to freedom and their entitlement to protest against what they felt was wrong and argue for what seemed to be a better society in their eyes. The hippies were the people whom led America in the liberal direction. They were never in opposition to show the public their true thoughts and feelings. Part of the counterculture and it’s mainstream of rebelling against the social norms grew strictly from the notorious hippies of the decade . The 1960’s were a time of strongly emerged liberal ideas. Although the sixties were also a very controversial time, the counterculture provided for a new spin in society and brought many citizens of different social statures together in the fight for freedom rights, the removal of U.S. troops in the Vietnam War, and many other issues of the era .

The anti-war protests of the 1960s was a response of resentment by minorities and young educated college students against the nation’s desire to participate in war against Communism in Vietnam and conduct a military draft. The protests, originally began with peaceful public demonstrations by activists, who were nonviolent; however, the peaceful demonstrators were frequently attacked and victimized by the police and other citizens, who did not share their same opinion. Throughout the peaceful protests the activists suffered many beatings in the hands of the police and as a result, many of the activists claimed the right of self-defense and turned to taking offensive actions against their oppressors including the police and other citizens. Later, the scene of violence and mayhem quickly shifted to college campuses, to which college students began protesting the draft (Gurr, 1989, pp. 183-185). At the time the average age of an American soldier serving in Vietnam was 19 and students quickly rebelled after realizing that young Americans were legally old enough to be drafted to fight and die, but were not yet legally allowed to vote or drink alcohol (UShistory, nd.).

The 1960s were a unique time of relative prosperity on the Homefront, but with prosperity came intense conflict. Protests for basic human rights, for the lives of themselves and others, happened nearly every day. Each person had an opinion, and these opinions were not hidden or censored in the slightest.

The following research project will discuss how exactly the hippie counterculture movement believed the dominant mainstream culture was corrupt, inherently flawed and how Hippies therefore challenged these values by striving for their own utopia.

John Lennon of the famous rock band, The Beatles, once said, “If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace”. This quote essentially defines the 1960s and the counterculture movement in America. After WWII people had much more free time than they did during the war, and many people decided that they wanted to settle down and start a family. This caused a large boom in child birth. The children born during this boom are known as “baby-boomers”. “Due to the baby boom between 1945 and 1955, over half the population was under 30 years old” (The American Experience 1). During this time in American history, the children of the “baby boomer” generation started rebelling against the war in Vietnam and the

The people that would become associated with the new teenage counter-culture movement were known as the hippies. The movement began in the mid-sixties in the United States. The hippies often believed in peace and pleasure. They even ushered in a new music genre of psychedelic rock. The Grateful Dead as well as the Beatles was famous artists coming from the movement and genre. The hippies created their own communities where they criticized the mainstream society and middle class. One thing they revolutionized was sex. The sexual revolution moved from traditional ways of behaving to more promiscuous activities and pleasures. The norms of American sexual culture would change greatly. Hippies were promoters of free love in the sexual revolution. They taught that the power of sex and love should be a part of everyday teenage life. In some colleges, they started to make dorms coed; in which the males and females could come together freely. “A

‘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

The second reason why the film captured the characteristics of America in the 1960s was because there was a seek for freedom. The goal of Wyatt and Billy was to get away and retire in Florida with the money that they made from the drug deal. They wanted to live freely and live the life they wanted to live. This was a direct portrayal of the 1960s in which there were the hippies and Civil Rights movements. The hippie movement was to get out of the “establishment” called by younger people, in which it was a system of older institutions and values (Pendergast, 2005). The fact that it was the privileged young people that went against the “establishment” for a freer lifestyle filled with peace and love. This was the focus on the discovery of oneself serves a strong example for freedom. The hippies’ wanted to seek for freedom was similar to the blacks seeking for their freedom. An example of that was when the nonviolent Southern Christian Leadership Conference organized a peaceful school walkout in 1963 to protest for freedom and equality (Turner). In addition, no violent was shown in the film from Wyatt and Billy because they do not want to be involved in any kind of violent that will hinder their way of free life.