Where did all the Hippies go?

I remember being a lil Beer_Guy and seeing hippies on the news and hearing that they love each other and they love everyone.
Then all of a sudden, no more hippies....
I thought this was all great, a non religious peace fest.
I feel like I would have been a great hippie, where did they go?
Lately I've seen buttons and bumper stickers that degrade the hippies but I don't understand why? I wish I had been born earlier, maybe in the early 50's then I would have been around for all that.
Can anyone clue me in as to what I missed?
Especially about the current trend of degrading hippies, I think that's all pretty wrong.
Anyone?

Hippies haven't gone anywhere. The hippies are everywhere! OK, maybe the hair is shorter now and the jeans don't have as many patches but I assure you that hippies still exist.

I am a hippie....I'm 53 years old now but I still, periodically, allow my hair and beard to grow. I, more often than not, allow myself to "get into a good head space". I still "groove" to the old music and a lot of the new stuff as well (music is ageless and timeless). I recycle and I conserve. I still get together with my "hippie friends" for drum circles, guided meditation excersizes (OOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM) and I try, with all of my might, to care for my fellow man, my next door neighbor and the homeless guy in the doorway.

But being a "hippie" is still more than hair, "chillin", music, the environment and all the other trappings that are usually associated with being a "hippie". It's about a spirit, a state of mind, a single, focused belief that the world is a good place and it could be a lot better. It's about enjoying life NOW and it's about leaving a world behind that others can enjoy. It's about loving and respecting yourself and about loving and respecting others. Its' realizing that there is a lot of pain and suffering in the world and that I can't do anything about that but there is a homeless dude I know downtown that could use a meal.

Being a hippie, like I said, is a state of mind that encompasses all ages and whose one common trait is that of loving freedom and reveling in the joy that comes from the simple knowledge that "we are all in this together".

......now I'm off to listen to some "Big Brother and the Holding Company" while I fire up some pachouli incense, brew some tea and do some serious "chillin'....I mean meditating......ooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMmmmmm

That's the answer I was hoping to hear.
I guess, in a way.... I'm a hippie too!

BTW, Big Brother and the Holding Company and Buffalo Springfield are two of my favorite oldies bands.

Hippies got haricuts and real jobs when they got tired of living in a van, eating granola and wearing torn bellbottoms

Originally posted by RWPBR
Hippies got haricuts and real jobs when they got tired of living in a van, eating granola and wearing torn bellbottoms

Hmmmmmm. I beg to differ.
All "hippies" did not get haircuts. Some just got a good trim.
As for "living in a van"....well I never lived in a van but the idea of traveling across North and South America in a van certainly appeals to me. Now all I have to do is convince my "not a hippie" wife. Oh, maybe I should start hunting for a bumper sticker for the van...."Don't bother knockin' if this van's a-rockin'".

And Hey, torn or not, a good pair of old jeans (even bell bottoms) can be damned comfortable.

Hippies are certainly frowned upon by big buisness and the government.

They arent consumer whores, which doesnt help the economy.
They tend to try to be self sufficient, again, bad for the economy.
They push for eco-friendly answers, which again usually hampers the economy.
They like to live "off the grid", the government doesnt like that either.
They demand to know the truth and will readily stand up for what they believe in, again, the government hates that.

I can see the government having a hand in turning the publics oppinion of hippies sour.

Originally posted by Beer_Guy
I remember being a lil Beer_Guy and seeing hippies on the news and hearing that they love each other and they love everyone.
Then all of a sudden, no more hippies....
I thought this was all great, a non religious peace fest.
I feel like I would have been a great hippie, where did they go?
Lately I've seen buttons and bumper stickers that degrade the hippies but I don't understand why? I wish I had been born earlier, maybe in the early 50's then I would have been around for all that.
Can anyone clue me in as to what I missed?
Especially about the current trend of degrading hippies, I think that's all pretty wrong.
Anyone?

They got terrified.. the evil that didn't want them to live scared them to death... so they gave birth to gifted children who aren't afraid of the 'evil'... who embrace the evil, who will destroy the evil from within the evil..

You see how scared the 'leaders' look when they give speeches now? .. they're just waiting.. patiently .. for .. LOVE to take-over..

The hippies got it wrong... they thought it was free-love.. sexual intercourse.. and drugs... but its way bigger than that.. the media put the worst spin on it, they looked at what they deemed the negative changes.. and promoting that line of thinking.. the promiscuous sex.. and drug use.. (because people have to get things out of their system) ..
but these 'new' hippies.. half of them don't even do drugs.. half of them could care less about sex... but it doesn't mean they don't have sex or won't do drugs... their focus is just different.. its on accepting and understanding everyone.. and helping them.. you wonder why these kids don't like working? don't like school? .. don't like control? .. because they want to help, they want to heal, they want to learn.. they don't want to be told what to learn, or who to help.. or how to heal..
You cannot control these people..
They only multiply... they encourage each-other.. they love eachother.. and share among themselves.. helping and giving to those who need and without judgement. or atleast they share their difference while complying..

They're here...

I remember being little and "hippy watching". Like when my mom took me to the grocery store or anywhere in town. There would usually be some long haired, bell-bottomed wearing hippies for me to look at. I'd tell my little sister "Look, there's some hippies!" I'm sure some of them thought we were rude little girls stareing at them.

I loved their clothes, they were so colorful and bright and all the beads they wore. I wanted to dress just like them and sometimes I tried to. I wanted to be exotic and colorful too.

And I also remember seeing alot of hippy hitchhikers when me and my family used to go down to florida to vacation. Thumbs out and long hair blowing in the wind.

There were some really funky colored old houses they painted up and lived in too in the town we lived in. Rainbow colored houses that shocked their non-hippy neighbors. Some would be lying out on the roofs sunbatheing as we drove by.

They were certainly fascinateing creatures to us little kids!






[edit on 1-12-2006 by elaine]

We're still here.

We're still tree-hugging, poetry-quoting, environmentally conscious liberals (and so are most of our children.)

We were a minority, actually, and today the ultra-conservatives often demonize us. But we're still here, still protesting wars, still trying to urge the people of the world to play nicely in our big global sandbox.

...and kickin' a lil' tookus on World of Warcraft. Better than illicit substances, man.

Originally posted by RWPBR
Hippies got haricuts and real jobs when they got tired of living in a van, eating granola and wearing torn bellbottoms

Actually, my hair is long enough to sit on. Still.

Check Capitol Hill, in DC..

Some have new offices, some have bigger offices. As of Nov. 06.

I have also heard they are spending our tax dollars on Black lights, and "keep on Truckin'" posters..

Hippies stink.

Well, I'm not nearly old enough to be an original hippie,
but I do have a good amount of the qualities.

Does that make me a hippie? Or a noeHippie, or something else?

Originally posted by iori_komei
Well, I'm not nearly old enough to be an original hippie,
but I do have a good amount of the qualities.

Does that make me a hippie? Or a noeHippie, or something else?

It makes you stinky.

Originally posted by thehumbleone

Originally posted by iori_komei
Well, I'm not nearly old enough to be an original hippie,
but I do have a good amount of the qualities.

Does that make me a hippie? Or a noeHippie, or something else?

It makes you stinky.

I don't see how, I take atleast one shower every day,
and I am very hygenic.


No, I do not stink at all.

Originally posted by thehumbleone
It makes you stinky.

Since, it might seem, that "hippie philosophy" is often recorded via the "bumper sticker" medium, haven't you ever read that we save water "by showering with our 'honeys'"

Trust me, if you had a 'honey' you'd want to shower often

Oh oh....I gotta go. I think I hear the shower running.......time to get 'squeakie' clean

Originally posted by benevolent tyrant

Originally posted by thehumbleone
It makes you stinky.

Since, it might seem, that "hippie philosophy" is often recorded via the "bumper sticker" medium, haven't you ever read that we save water "by showering with our 'honeys'"

Trust me, if you had a 'honey' you'd want to shower often

Oh oh....I gotta go. I think I hear the shower running.......time to get 'squeakie' clean

Gee, you sure like to make a lot of assumptions.

Eww, two dirty hippies showering, yuck.

[edit on 2-12-2006 by thehumbleone]

Hippies never left the planet. The ideal of such is still alive and kicking, although society has tried to gear us toward the idea that such open thinking and living are outdated concepts whose time is up.

Myself I like the phrase "go where there is no path, and leave a trail" The trail has been blazed and those who move among it's currents are generally a happy bunch it can be tough going against the norm. Alot of people think I am "way out there" and actually I hope that it is true.

Tune in, turn on, and drop out. Drop out of the Matrix (we can all relate to the over used term, matrix, I suppose)

And lets face it folks, acid did open us to a new way of *seeing*

Lot's of young up-coming hippies who aren't making the same mistakes.

I think the media moguls lump them into the same category as Osama binLaden, so their numbers and opinions are under-represented on the news and in TV, etc. - in order to minimize creating more followers.


I remember when afros were a revolutionary act, a reclamation of black ideals of beauty. Now you only ever see straightened hair.

Hippies are just known by another name these days:

Liberals