History Mysteries: What did you remember about the Hippies in the 60s? How did you view them?

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At first the college student radicalism of the 1960s was separate from the hippie movement but gradually the two phenomena became inter-related. "Hip" was defined to be "in the know" and particularly about the drug underworld.

The appeal of the hippie mystique to young people in the 60s was social protest along with normal feelings of rebellion characteristic of adolescence. They craved for love, joy and self-realization and they believed that their needs could satisfied through drugs. The culture of the hippies involved electronically amplified rock music, psychedelic art and communal type relationships. Arguably, the spread of the Hippie movement was popularized by the drug LSD, a "conscious expanding" medicine.

From the primary sources available to me, the media at the time referred to these people as the "flower children" or the "love generation." The largest colony of Hippies was in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, which was where the Summer of Love was held.

There was a broader appeal to the Hippie movement other than drugs, there was the Vietnam War to consider. A lot of young people believed that their country's participation in the Vietnam War was morally indefensible and their hatred of the war was a major factor in their feelings of alienation from the whole prevailing system of society. For the first time, there was a fierce public debate over a war and this was due to the influx of information that was available. Causalities of the war was shown on the TV screen and people became aware of not only the conditions that the soldiers had to deal with but also the innocent civilians who were dying.

[Skippy Doolittle]

I was in the USMC during the hippie era. Spent about 14 months in Nam. Anti-American hippies caused me to have a severe hatred of all libs even to this day.

[Drunkenscent439]

all those hippies are in their 70s now, so only those older would have any real memories of them

all I remember is my oldest brother happy as hell to tear up his draft card.

[Ryde.On]

My older brother and sister were " hippies " and just like today's youth is , they were full of shyt.

Their views and philosophies were just cool excuses to be lazy , Hedonistic , self indulgent and dodge responsibility.
Same kind of bullshit as the OWS crowd.

[Sharon S]

I was part of that by then and my memory is just fine. We all were not drugged up. By we did believe in free love. lolololololol We were against the war, I am still to this day not in favor of war. Being there was an experience that I would never change. It taught me things about life that changed mine. Coming home that one night as the streets were wet with rain and it was late with no one around . The only sound you heard was your shoes on the street where you walked. It was one of the most silent nights I have ever been in. No one there to see us come home and what we had tried to do. But, we did try. I still have love in my heart for all the people who gave something of themselves to change the world.