Robin Burden answered
Everyone will have their own opinion on what the hippie movement was all about.
However, I believe that the hippie subculture was a reactionary movement: A counter-culture that was in direct opposition to the mainstream social attitudes that were damaging our country (and our planet) during the 1960s and 1970s.
What did the hippies stand for?
Whenever I think of the term 'hippie', the words 'peace and love' spring to mind. And, in a sense, that's exactly what the hippies stood for!
What were the hippies all about?
Hippies were known for their love of life, peace, love, and music. They were also known for hedonism and drug culture, for poetry and spiritualism.
However, if you look at the reasons that the hippie movement gained such momentum, it becomes plain to see that there were two serious issues that led to people becoming hippies:
However, I believe that the hippie subculture was a reactionary movement: A counter-culture that was in direct opposition to the mainstream social attitudes that were damaging our country (and our planet) during the 1960s and 1970s.
What did the hippies stand for?
Whenever I think of the term 'hippie', the words 'peace and love' spring to mind. And, in a sense, that's exactly what the hippies stood for!
What were the hippies all about?
Hippies were known for their love of life, peace, love, and music. They were also known for hedonism and drug culture, for poetry and spiritualism.
However, if you look at the reasons that the hippie movement gained such momentum, it becomes plain to see that there were two serious issues that led to people becoming hippies:
- World War II was a time of horrific violence, an all-time low for all humanity. The hippies were from the generation of people who grew up after this terrible event, and their philosophy was directly opposed to the suffering and austerity that their parent's wartime generation had accepted as normal.
- Capitalism was another factor that caused the hippie movement. Following World War II (especially in the United States), consumerism took hold. People became obsessed with making money, and this was a philosophy that hippies were completely against. Rather than trying to make money at every opportunity, they believed in communal living, sharing resources, and helping each other out.
- The capitalist ideals that the United States held dear also put the country at loggerheads with Communist countries like Russia (or the USSR) - and directly led to wars in Vietnam and North Korea.War, and these two wars in particular, were something that hippies were completely opposed to, and protested vehemently against.
