hippie

Originally a term thought to be used by Harlem's black neighborhoods to describe the white "flower children" who could come and go without trouble. From the 50's; stemmed from the bohemian movement started by professors and students in the San Francisco bay region who were experimenting with acid's effects. The idea spread in the mid to late sixties with the help of the Grateful Dead and the Merry Pranksters as they toured the country, and eventually organized the Electric Kool Aid Acid Tests (a book was named after these). As the Vietnam War continued, those opposed to the war joined together under the leadership of such people as Abbey Hoffman, who helped radicalize the anti-war movement of the seventies. The police, or the "fuzz," eventually tried to stem the prolific drug use by recriminalizing marijuana, and making LSD illegal, thus uniting "hippies" and their activist counterparts, the "yippies," under one common struggle aimed personally against them and their friends' "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness". Also during this time was the sexual revolution, which got women out of the kitchen and into the workforce, and eroded many taboos of the time. Generally, there was a move toward utopianism, where everyone would have everything they needed to survive - thus, people often only had one set of clothes, which were dyed and redyed, patched, mended, faded, torn, and dirty. As with the rampant homelessness and vagabond life, soap and trimmed hair were considered secondary, and sometimes unnecessary in the great scheme of things. As time went on, the touring Grateful Dead had a major following which brought new generations into the movement; the Rainbow Family continues the utopian tradition today; and organizations such as NORML and Greenpeace came from 1970's idealism. TV shows such as Southpark portray hippies as tie-dyed, pot smoking, dumb high school dropouts, who can organize a gathering, but don't actually do anything to stand up for what they believe in or are protesting. This is a typical stereotype across American media. Often, the "hippie" stereotype includes a teenaged to 50-60 year old adult who believes that peace, love, and happiness is there for anyone who wants it. They tend to be non-conformist, are considered liberal, and left-wing politically, often, if registered to vote, are independents or democrats. They don't regularly cut their hair or buy new things, and tend to wear the same, faded clothes for years, some of them patched and re-dyed many times. Many are environmentalists, pacifists, and nonviolent.