Hippies

830 Words2 Pages

During the 1960s, a new culture spread throughout the United States, stirring up the Flower Power movement as well as the aversion from the typical American lifestyle. These “Hippies” as they were known, didn’t want to fit in with the mainstream crowd. The name “hippie” was taken from the term “hipster”. It described how the Hippies believed that we should make love, not war, their vocal opposition to the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, and the increasingly rocky road to shared civil rights among all Americans led to this new, alternative form of activism. But the Hippie movement wasn’t just about experimentation. The concept of Flower Power also emerged as a passive resistance to the Vietnam War during the late 1960s.
The nineteen sixties were a very noteworthy time in America. It can be best culminated by the drastic social change led by the hippies. Before this time period the United States was dominated by clean-cut, conservative culture. Americans generally lived in a conformist society where most people lived out social norms, including the hard working business that and stay at home mom. Then the sixties came around. The hippies love the free-spirited lifestyle that ousted them completely from mainstream American culture.
They didn’t like the life their parents had left them and wanted to live in their own Utopian society filled with peace and love. They despised the greed that they saw in corporations and businesses. Other beliefs that they had were the acceptance of all people, equality and involvement in eastern religions such as Buddhism. They were experimental to music and other forms of art, and liked

to live communally and enjoyed being in harmony with nature. They believed in free love. This comp...

... middle of paper ...

...s of gathering established in Chicago's Old Town, in Atlanta's 14th Street, In New York Cities Greenwich Village and, what was the informal capital and cradle of that movement, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. Hippies wanted a society that was based on love, trust and tolerance. Therefore, they couldn't accept the war in Vietnam during that time period and a lot of them took part in several peace demonstrations. The Hippie era was accompanied by many mottos like " Killing for peace is like fucking for chastity" or "Tune in, turn on, drop out" which found their origin in the opposition to the ongoing war and their attitude toward life in general. In order to accomplish their intends of world peace and love, they turned to Rock'n'Roll music, colorful clothing and appearance, the liberal use of "soft" drugs like marijuana and LSD (also known as acid) and the practice...

Open Document