Hippies ruined the 70's and they are still at it.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   It was "Down with Everything!" back in the 70's. Yes, they had love-ins and wore flowers in their hair and fought for human rights. But they went too far in many ways.
   "Love The One You're With" was taken literally. "Make Love not War" was taken literally. The right to abort became a birth control method. "Burn your bras!" was taken literally. We need to get over the influence of the hippies, which is still being promoted, and determine how we can go "Up with Everything!"
   For instance, femininity does not equate with blatant sexual freedom and flaunting of the body.
   Peace does not equate with rolling over and getting your stomach rubbed in every political situation.
   Human relationships which produce children should not be left to the barnyard mentality of loving the one you're with.
   
   I hope the youth will feel free initiate the necessary changes, (based on common sense, logic and true love,) which our society must make.

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      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I am a hippie an find this offensive. hihihihi. Right on to Right on Responsibility. Social and fiscal responsibility are mine and I own them.  Right on free this and free that, as long as I pay for it!
      
      I do not want nothing I did not earn. I want my life. I want the one that I fought hard for and I want my children the ones I stayed up with all night and I want my wife, the one I would die for in fire.
      
      right On Kathryn I want to be a real American and be proud of what I have earned.
      
      Just my hippie perspective

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Right On, Eric!
         
         After researching what a hippie truly is, I discovered they were very idealistic and utopian. Most sources have nothing negative what-so-ever to say about this counter culture group that so many of us baby boomers emulated.
         So, to all those who are hippies at heart, actual hippies, hippie emulators or non-hippies who are just people:
         Shine on and keep on trucking!

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      rhamsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I grew up in the sixties and seventies. I was fifteen in 1970. I grew up watching the body counts on television from Viet Nam while eating dinner. I think to understand the swing to the left you have to include the war as a determining factor. We had the Gulf of Tonkin lie that gave Johnson the "excuse" to escalate our involvement. This was a very sick lie and cost so many lives as a result. You also have Nixon who lorded over a group of criminals to burglarize and then he lied about it. These were presidents who were supposed to be our moral compass and they lied to us and harmed us as a result. I think that more than anything these events were the beginning of the protest movement that blossomed into all out questioning of all authority including the "morals police".

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Starting with Woody Guthrie and the beatniks, the hippies were born to protest. They protested when there was nothing to protest. But, most importantly they protested when there was something to protest, like the senseless killing in the Vietnam war. But, I wish we had acted more swiftly and quickly. Either that, or just stayed home watched out for ourselves.
         
         Here is Neil Young rebelling against nothing much in 1988: Of, course he is Canadian.
         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSSvzCNBvlQ

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            rhamsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Canada had it right they sent a few troops during the Paris peace accords but for the most part they opposed it.
            
            Speaking of Neil Young. Every time I hear this song I am reminded at how audacious I was to think my life mirrored my parents back then. I did not have a single clue of what age held for me and my views.
            
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=An2a1_Do_fc

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               Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Really? I felt far removed from my parents and all they stood for. I was much influenced by hippie culture. I emulated it, however, not knowing the actual philosophy or political stance. (Now, I still do not feel old.) So, you and I were 14 in 1969. What did we know?  For me, only, that the White Album was great.
               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIulu1QwWQY

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                  rhamsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  For me at fourteen I was worried about fighting in war I had grown up watching. Right before my eighteenth birthday they abolished the draft. I was relieved to not have to go but saddened that a quirk of fate sent many others. If they had a draft today where congressmen's children were not given special consideration we might have a few less wars. Will we never learn?

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                     Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Learn what? How much the government is out of (our) control?
                     
                     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TcO6C0DAlE

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                        Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        The political activities of the Koch brothers include the financial and political influence of Charles G. and David H. Koch on United States (US) politics. This influence is seen both directly and indirectly via various advocacy and lobbying organizations in which they have an interest.
                        
                        The Koch brothers are the sons of Fred C. Koch, who founded Koch Industries, the second-largest privately held company in the US, of which they own 84%.[2] Having bought out two other brothers' interests, they remain in control of the family business, the fortune which they inherited from their father, and the Koch Family Foundations.
                        
                        "Members of the Koch family have given to conservative and
                        libertarian policy and advocacy groups in the United States,[11] including think tanks like the Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute, and more recently Americans for Prosperity.[12] Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks are organizations with links to both the Kochs and the Tea Party movement.
                        
                        According to the Koch Family Foundations and Philanthropy website, "the foundations and the individual giving of Koch family members" have financially supported organizations "fostering entrepreneurship, education, human services, at-risk youth, arts and culture, and medical research." Wikipedia
                        Hmmm... whats up, Ry Cooder?
                        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TcO6C0DAlE

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                        rhamsonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        The government is totally available to be under our control. Unfortunately ignorance and greed has taken over and so many are looking to stick the golden goose at least one more time before it gasps and dies. Citizens United did more damage than we may ever know. The money that runs this oligarchy took advantage of a situation created by some of the biggest criminals we have ever seen in office. America sleeps while the fox raids the henhouse and yet we buy the lies and media bulls#it that serves as information. When we are told something we are expected to accept at face value what is being reported. Yes not much has changed since the sixties and seventies except there are a lot more gullible people as the population has increased.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   Hippie: (esp. in the 1960s) "a person of unconventional appearance, typically having long hair and wearing beads, associated with a subculture involving a rejection of conventional values and the taking of hallucinogenic drugs."
   Dictionary.
   "The hippie (or hippy) subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The word 'hippie' came from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village and San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. The origins of the terms hip and hep are uncertain, though by the 1940s both had become part of African American jive slang and meant "sophisticated; currently fashionable; fully up-to-date". The Beats adopted the term hip, and early hippies inherited the language and countercultural values of the Beat Generation. Hippies created their own communities, listened to psychedelic music, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as cannabis, LSD, and psilocybin mushrooms to explore altered states of consciousness."
   Wikipedia

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   "The hippie movement was partially a reaction to the Vietnam War and the draft. Young men burnt their draft cards or fled to Canada. The anti-war, pacifist motto of the hippies was “make love, not war.” Protests of the war were common, especially on college campuses. Women's rights and racial equality were also very important issues that the the hippies supported. However, many hippies, while politically aware, chose to “drop out” of society instead of engage actively in protests and political struggles."
   
   Read more: http://www.ehow.com/about_6324209_60_s- … z347nG2tly

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   Just as today's "hipsters" don't often refer to themselves as such, hippie was initially a derogatory term used by few actual hippies. The term was coined by writer Michael Fallon, to refer to members of organizations such as LEMAR (Legalize Marijuana) and the Sexual Freedom League, as well as the San Francisco counterculture as a whole. Hippies, however, are credited with popularizing labels and nicknames such as "teeny boppers," the younger generation of hippies who listened to music such as the Partridge Family and the Monkees; Jesus Freaks," freaks," vocal promoters of Jesus and Christianity and "yo yos," those who were only hippies when convenient. Hippies also coined some derogatory terms: ...the government was referred to as "the system" or "the man." Persons who followed societies expectations were labeled "squares," or "straight," a word that is more commonly used today to refer to heterosexual individuals.
   
   Read more: http://www.ehow.com/list_7475210_hippie … z3481CPiCo

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      Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Kathryn, our little hamlet, had party lines (telephones) and two channels of TV into the 70's we were so backwater that we protested the Vietnam war after it was over. Fruit in the winter came from the preserves we made in the fall and we still darned socks and had sock hops when disco was cool. We wore beads because we made them with our Navajo brothers. When draftees finally came home from the war they told us we were hippies and so we said "peace love and dope". A lot of real hippies moved into around our neck o' da woods cuz they fit in. And we said "right on". I reckon we were not so much a part of the counter culture as we were the catch up culture.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Sounds amazing.
         Early 70's: What music did you guys share? I hope you had some record players around! I would actually lug around a portable record player to play my scratched up records whenever we girls would go camping. I spent some time in Oregon traveling in a VW Bus. There was a 3 day music event called Pig Stock in Camus Valley, Or.

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            Ericdierkerposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            We sang our music mostly until about 72. Before that it was those funny 45'd and 78's I think and KOMA out of Oklahoma City. My dad played Motown and Glitz City as a horn so music was not lost on us. Elvis and Hank Williams visited our playtown live. I remember dancing to Red rubber ball and Crimson and Clover for my "inauguration" dance as 8th grade president.
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xA0WM9iC-E In about '68
            But we knew Bob Dylan and got early notions of Inna Gadda Da Vida. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIVe-rZBcm4
            Radio slipped us out of Sleepy Hallow just enough, but it was way way late night.
            I remember my first hearing of a bombing on radio. It was out of Da Nang and a carpet slaughter near Hue. Thank you Dan Rather and Walter on radio. (and bless Edward Morrow)

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               Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               When I was ten, I had hippie counselors at camp. They would have us sing "Blowin' in the Wind" (Peter, Paul and Mary) and other anti-war/folk songs.
               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ld6fAO4idaI
               and Yes, thank goodness for KMET!  and on AM, The Rabbit, KRLA: little transistor radio under the pillow. 
               No wonder you are such a trip, Eric. Thanks for the walk back into your amazing life.

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   Okay. Stop flashing the peace sign, take of the rose colored glasses, tie back your hair and get back to work.
   
   The first mistake the hippies made was advocating free love.  They had no regard for the commandment: Thou shalt not commit adultery. How dare they? That is a boundary which must be followed if we are to "go up."
   
   The second mistake was political pacifism. Sometimes your government must act aggressively, decisively and swiftly within established principals and laws. These laws and principals must be understood and respected by all.
   
   The golden rule was abandoned in favor of freedom of expression as far as women's sexuality.
   
   TWISI

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   Taking mind altering drugs are beyond common sense. The human brain develops until an individual is twenty five. Why tamper with the brain and impede its development. It is the most vital tool we have for survival, peace and happiness!!! WHY?
   
   Pot should not be used by anyone, but especially not by the youth. THC is not good for developing brains or psyches. It is also not good for developed brains and psyches. Research is going on in Denver. They will let us know the results soon.
   TWII

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   Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

   By the way, Your intuition is right about God.

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      bethperryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Kathryn, I agree with you on practically everything you've said except the "Pot should not be used by anyone". My mother is losing her eyesight to cataracts, and even her surgeon says he wishes it were legal to prescribe in our state for glaucoma patients. Not that I want to see any mind-bending drug (natural or otherwise) abused.
      
      But I'm right with you on the hippie thing. I can admire a lot of the music of their day, but their irresponsibility, arrogance and later hypocrisy does not impress me at all.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Yes. It can be medicinal. Maybe it should be legal for adults who can make up their own minds about it. It should not be abused. But, look what happens with alcohol.

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   rebekahELLEposted 10 years ago

   After reading your initial post, I thought you obviously don't know what a true hippie was/is or what the hippie movement meant.   While hippies lived openly, they actually did the same things more conservative people did behind closed doors. 
   It wasn't simply a movement, it was breaking through the status quo, questioning authority, desiring freedom and peace for humanity, opening the mind, exploring the meaning of our existence as a species, and it produced some of the greatest music/art we still enjoy.  Any counter culture group of people are always going to be blamed for the ruination of society, when in reality, it's quite the opposite.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, I agree. Perhaps the good aspects of the movement out-weigh the bad aspects...and we can still rectify the bad aspects by reestablishing necessary and common sense boundaries.
      
      You might like this, RebekahELLE:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpjscJmSg8g

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Here is someone who brought forth the positive aspects of the movement. Where did the hippies go? They became parents and raised beautiful and conscious children. He also touches on the polarity of life. It is really worth sitting through this entire interview.
         
         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjWTFlg2Er0

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   FatFreddysCatposted 10 years ago

   I thought Disco ruined the '70s.

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      Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      oh, definitely.

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVpDOIPx_sY
         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdLgFOzwhjE

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            GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Loved your selections - great music.
            
            But I will see your two...
            
            Celebration - Kool and the Gang
            
            My Girl - The Temptations
            
            And raise you three - come on, can you really deny the fun of this one...
            
            Disco Inferno - The Trammps
            
            Here, let Kool tell you why disco worked...
            
            Get Down On It - Kool and the Gang
            
            And finally, although this 1987 piece might seem to be cheating - disco was its father...
            
            Time of My Life - Dirty Dancing
            
            Oops, Fatfreddyscat hijacked the thread with his disco response - back to the 60s and the hippies - like most things, the romanticized Hollywood version of hippie life was a long way from the real world on Haight Ashbury, and the sustenance existence of the communes.
            
            GA

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               Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               Love it!  (Thanks for lightening the mood.)

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      GA Andersonposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Ha! That's probably because you couldn't do it. Disco was a high-octane blast.
      
      GA

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         So, you are just a young kid, after all!  (Anybody younger than me is a young kid.

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      bethperryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Freddy, we still had AC/DC, Queen and KISS. Not all was lost to the demon disco!

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         Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Oh, we did recover. Disco was very short lived, after all! Fun while it lasted!

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         FatFreddysCatposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         True. Don't forget Aerosmith, the Ramones, and Ted Nugent, too!
         
         ...I'm still on the fence about Styx and Journey, however.

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            bethperryposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Yeah, I loved Aerosomith back then. The Ramones were good, too. We also had the awesome Cheap Trick.  Journey, I liked them. I happened to meet Nugent once, though; and he impressed me about as much as the lead singer from BOC..cough, cough..I'll be kind and just say he had a strong fan base among my friends.

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    Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

    Turn it Up! Ry Cooder in 2012:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFMi_dZx … 64FCE064E1

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    Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

    Rush Limbaugh is an example of a non-hippie/ boomer. Why is he so vilified? I feel that it is taboo to even mention his name here.

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    Kathryn L Hillposted 10 years ago

    Yes, I killed a perfectly interesting thread.

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