Hippies

Whenever we think of the nineteen sixties, hippies are one of the first things that comes to mind. We think of the hair, the clothes, "free love" and the powerful anti war movement. Not many people realize this, but the hippies of the 60's were part of the counter culture. Their views and philosophies didn't reflect the common consensus of the time. I learned in a couple of my humanities classes that the mainstream culture of the nineteen sixties was actually pretty conservative. When it came to culture, music, religion, and overall political views, the hippies really were in the moral minority. That doesn't make their impact any less either way. Hippie culture emerged as a result of a growing inclination towards going against the views of the mainstream mentality of the time. I really do love a lot of the things that the hippies stood for; peace, love, hope, and freedom are ideals that I think pretty much everyone can stand behind. There were however, many negative things about the hippie scene. One big one, is the obvious drug culture that they widely espoused. I'm not saying it was completely wrong for them to take part in such practices, but I feel that the image drug culture cast upon the movement made it seem immature and irresponsible. That brings us to another negative trait; the perception of laziness and a lack of direction. Many people at the time, and some today, considered the hippies to be bums that didn't want to contribute to society, but I would argue that by spreading their lifestyle and perspectives, they did a lot more for society than many realized at the time, or even today. Another thing that some might consider good, while others would see as bad, was the whole concept of "free love" and sexual liberation. During their time, I'm sure many in the mainstream society were repulsed by the open sexuality that the hippies displayed, but I think that their mentality on the matter of sex wasn't vulgar, in fact, I think it was ahead of its time. Nowadays, at least in my generation, there isn't nearly as much of a negative stigma surrounding sex, and I think that is largely in part due to the progress that was made by the hippies. My generation is more understanding, accepting, and loving than many previous generations and I think a lot of that comes from the fact that many of us were raised by members of the hippie movement of the sixties. No matter what you think of them, hippies were a cultural landmark of American society and history, and I think that we are now, more than ever, coming to truly understand all that they actually did for the betterment of society. Their art, their music, and their lifestyle continue to inspire people to this day, and it's because of that that I feel they are a topic worth appreciating and talking about.