hippies
Who were they?
Hippie was the colloquial name for the American youth who dreamed of peace and unity. People all know the stereotypes of the young man or woman, long hair, colorful clothing, smoking marijuana, but there was more to the hippies then meets the modern eye. Each facet of the stereotype had its own purpose.
Hair
These young men and women grew their hair out long because the traditional society told them not to. Long hair was the newest way to protest the establishment and what was going on in the world. Hippies believed in peace and love and regardless of how clichéd that may sound, the hippies were trying to revolutionize the stuck up society they were in.
Colorful Clothing
The War in Vietnam had sparked a lot of needless violence in the world and these young men and women were beginning to see that violence was not the answer. Violence had caused nothing but pain and suffering; so the hippies decided to head in the exact opposite direction and replace violence with love. The goal was that pain and suffering may be replaced by happiness and unity. Their colorful clothing was symbolistic to their whimsical and love based lifestyle.
Marijuana
Finally there was marijuana. Marijuana was a relatively new drug with very few major limitations on it at the time. Hippies believed that if something had no known side-effects, gave people a sense of euphoria, and calmed people down, then what was wrong with it?
Helpful videos
First of all, if you are interested in getting a little laugh while still learning about the hippies, take a look at this video! It's about a group of people on a bus being educated in the art of hippie slang. One old woman is reading off a sheet of hippie terms and is trying to understand them. Also, this video if a part of a continuous cycle of videos, and although some are not as interesting, they are all helpful in the study of hippies. http://www.history.com/videos/history-uncut-hippie-talk#rewind-breaking-news---haight-ashbury
Second, if you are interested in learning even more about the hippies, then this video if for you. It is long because it is a full length documentary about the hippies.
Click this link to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeBGTAM4hJQ
Second, if you are interested in learning even more about the hippies, then this video if for you. It is long because it is a full length documentary about the hippies.
Click this link to watch it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeBGTAM4hJQ