In short, a series of "why not do it as long as I like it" and the wanton indulgence of hippies have brought bad influence to American society, making hippies synonymous with debauchery, depravity and hooliganism. American people's attitude towards hippies and hippie culture has changed from initial sympathy and understanding to disgust and opposition.
In the west in the 1960s, such a group of young people grew up from the beat generation of the postwar baby boom. They despise tradition, abandon morality, consciously stay away from the mainstream society, and express their rebellion against the real society in a unique way that the mainstream society can't see. These people are called hippies.
The 1960s was a decade forgotten by Americans, but it was the most active, turbulent, eventful and chaotic decade in America. In such a confused society, American youth launched the hippie movement with their special values and lifestyles. Subsequently, hippie culture spread in the United States and even the whole western world.
In the historical atmosphere of student rebellion, the hippie movement began to take shape in the 1960s and became a common practice. At that time, many young people rebelled against society and tradition with extreme or non-mainstream behaviors such as strange clothes, long hair and beard, wearing miniskirts, taking drugs, listening to rock music, dancing swing, homosexuality and living in the countryside. 1967, a 16-year-old middle school student named Mike Mertelj from Massachusetts, USA, left home and traveled all over the country, hoping to find friendship and brotherhood.
1968, he returned to his hometown of Leiden, and together with seven college and middle school students who dropped out of school, he established the original group village-"Leiden Commune". They live a simple life, with men and women separated, drawing water from the stream next to the wooden house and cooking with wood. The main foods are potatoes, corn and soybeans. Under the guidance of slogans such as "back to the prehistoric" and "Looking for Friendship", social activities have mushroomed in the United States. At first, the cluster villages were mainly built in the Shanshan Ridge area of San Francisco, the sunset area of Los Angeles and the East Village of new york, and later spread all over the country.
1970, there were more than 200 social villages with 40,000 members in the United States. 197 1 year, with nearly 3,000 social villages. Living in the group village advocates a life of returning to nature, implements public ownership of property, children and even sex, and attaches importance to education and environmental protection. Members of the collective village want to create an alternative life. They think, "We live in America, but we don't belong to America".
This activity lasted until the late 1970s and early 1980s, and quickly spread to Europe. In the Federal Republic of Germany, there are about 1 10000 such collective villages whose members are young men and women. They abandoned all the shackles of modern civilization and lived freely and "primitive".
Hippies are also keen to vent in extreme ways. They seek fantasy and excitement from drug abuse. In the 1960s, drug abuse even became a fashion for young people. Hippies are eager to accept it, even as a sign of being a qualified hippie (they are called "freaks and heads").
According to the statistics of Newsweek, 1969, 3 1.5% of the students in 57 universities in the United States were infected with drugs. Some people call this phenomenon "drug culture". As the "Peach Blossom Garden" of hippies, hippie commune has become a gathering place for drug abuse, and almost all communes do not prohibit or prevent drug abuse.
According to statistics, in the early 1960s, only 4% of people aged 18-25 had smoked marijuana; After 12, the proportion of smoking marijuana rose to an astonishing 50%. Especially among college students, more than 60% have smoked marijuana. Some hippies are still addicted to male and female sex and homosexuality, in order to pursue pleasure, get rid of distress, despise and resist traditional sexual concepts, and endanger the harmony and stability of American society.
Many hippies come from wealthy white families. They abandon wealth to feel and praise poverty and experience a simple and casual life. It is precisely because these rich children have enjoyed the comfortable life of the mainstream middle class that they are likely to become rebels of this comfortable life that stifles people's creativity, and only those who really feel the mainstream culture can see its disadvantages and criticize it.
Hippies believe that the United States is a world full of conventions and stereotypes, which has become the sum total of stereotypes that suppress people's personality and persecute individuals' free life. Only by escaping from this society and getting rid of all kinds of connections with the real society and the real cultural model can individuals and American society avoid entering a dead end.
In order to effectively resist this society with highly developed science and technology and extremely rich material, but the human spirit is controlled, they put forward the slogan of "back to the prehistoric", hoping to find spiritual strength in prehistoric times. They especially appreciate "governing by doing nothing" and think that only a simple society and a simple life can guarantee the dignity and freedom of citizens. As a result, they set off a "life revolution" against the mainstream, elite, technology and material society from life.
Although from the form of expression, the hippie movement is contrary to the student resistance movement that actively participates in political life and criticizes the government. Instead of participating in the transformation and improvement of society through active social propaganda, it is passively resisting society in a secluded way.
Hippies are like a group of trapped animals running around in social life, trying to release their passionate youth in some way. The ubiquitous rock music, Harley-Davidson motorcycles, cowboys, sunglasses and route 66 all bear the spiritual core of hippie culture-rebellion, individuality, uniqueness and freedom.
Hippie culture, as a popular culture, has a great influence on American society, especially on young people. At the beginning, the inseparable connection between hippie culture and mainstream culture determined the inevitable struggle between hippie culture and mainstream culture. However, due to the defects of hippie culture itself and the inclusive absorption of mainstream culture, hippie culture was defeated and finally could not move towards the mainstream road.
In the anti-war parade, many anti-war songs have become classics that have been sung so far, and they are also the code words for hippies to meet. The Beatles and Bob Dylan, Dzhanis Joplin's blues, Jamie Hendricks and Jefferson Spaceship's psychedelic rock are all hippies' favorite music.