It seems hippies were just a bunch of self-absorbed, pretentious douchebags. "Hey gang, let's burn our draft cards and go dance naked in a field. Groovy, Man."
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Something clever and witty to impress and amuse the reader.
I'm a hippie and the first thing I'll say is that the reality was/is far more complex than the stereotyped image presented in the media. Like almost any group of people, hippies are a diverse bunch. Some do drugs and some don't (I never have). Some have long hair and some don't.
Like many hippies, I'm strongly opposed to almost all wars, I am quite wary of excessively powerful authority figures, I have rather liberal views about sexuality, and I am deeply concerned about civil liberties. I believe that making love is better than making war. If you disagree with that, I don't know what to say.
I don't see how opposition to war can reasonably be seen as "self-absorbed". As an American, our two recent wars in the middle east sicken me. Yes, we've killed a lot of terrorists. However, we have also spent an astounding amount of money on these wars and have slaughtered many thousands of innocent people (thereby creating more of the very anti-American hatred that leads to terrorism in the first place) and have seen thousands of young American soldiers come home in body bags, with battle-related mental illness, and/or with permanent disabling injuries. My opposition to war is based on my concern for my fellow human beings and that is the very opposite of self-absorption.
Also, anyone that says that the hippie movement has been inconsequential needs to read more history. One need only compare American culture in the 1950's to what we see today to see that hippies have had a powerful influence. Why do you think the draft was not used in either of these wars, despite the well-known shortage of troops? You're welcome. :)
Problem is, hippies don't buy guns. You need the wars, because all that warfare ain't gonna sell itself.
War is a business. Plain and simple. And Presidents' job is to keep the particular combination of lobbies and sponsors that go them into office happy. And the biggest and richest 'sponsors' are weapons manufacturers.
I remember one of Bush's last initiatives was to set some unrealistic target date to get to Mars. I wondered why they came up with that (other than saying something a little popular, knowing he wouldn't be there to take the flak when it didn't happen). Not much later I got my answer. Lockheed Martin got the contract.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin#Lobbying
I think that's right. Iraq, for example, never posed any REAL threat to the United States. There was, however, a LOT of money to be made for companies that manufacture weapons, security companies, oil companies, and many other companies that have been involved in the "reconstruction" of Iraq. Those companies then turn around and support the politicians that sent us to war there because they made a lot of money that way. That's why Bush and many members of congress kept trying so hard to link Al Qaida and Saddam Hussein in people's minds even though they hated each other. That's also why they jumped so quickly on the idea that Saddam had WMD. It was all about convincing the American people that the war was necessary so that a lot of very rich people could get even more rich.
Now, because of the Citizens United decision, those companies are free to basically buy American elections and send more hawkish politicians to office.
I find that most wars are really about greedy people seeking more power and money than they deserve. If we don't put a stop to it, I fear that we will eventually simply destroy ourselves.
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It's simple really.
A self-absorbed, pretentious douchebag will see himself within in any random group and blurt out some self-absorbed, pretentious comment like, "they were just self-absorbed, pretentious douchebags".
Projection and grandoise delusion are symptomatic of people with self-esteem issues.
I know times are different now, but you and many other might feel different about being DRAFTED to fight in a war we had no business in...
shareI remember in film footage of Woodstock some nuns walking to the site with others due to the lack of parking. I don't think you could call them hippies.
I lived in Hollywood in 1968-1970. One problem was "weekend hippies." Some even wore wigs. They would descend on Hollywood on weekends from the suburbs to go to the Troubador and other rock music places and pretend to be hippies. really they were there to feed off the ambience and pickup up sex partners.
There were even 15 and 16 year old high school girls during the week. They would take off their bra and shoes and go around begging money to buy food. But actually they were bumming money to go to the movies and shop while skipping school.
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