CarrieMpls said:

that's me then

I am at least 1/4 hippy and 1/4 witch

MY QUESTION IS: Wat is the definition of a hippie?

I can only judge from movies (cause we don't have "hippies" here), that they're people that live in trailer home "villages", away from cities, doesn't shave or keep themselves clean, (most) have rottenin teeth, fight and argue with anybody at any given time, have no self-respect or respectable behaviour.

Am I right or wrong?

JayJai said:

That's pretty far from the US sterotype of hippies, but may not be far off from a UK version. Usually when one thinks of hippies here we think of long hair, no shaving, patchouli, body odor, lots of pot, "free love" and communal living.

Wikipedia's got a lot of info on the impact of the hippie movement started in the US in the late 60's: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippy

<-- hippie fan.

People make the world go 'round.

My Mom had 3 brothers. Uncle James was a hippie; he's the only one I could tolerate. He had a sweet spirit about him that was wonderful. Nothing bothered him; whatever he had he shared with others. Unfortunately he died fairly young. I miss him very much.

When I think of hippies, I recall growing up around Uncle James and his friends. It was peaceful & fun.

I guess I have been lucky.. I have yet to know a smelly hippie personally. All of my hippie friends, acquaintances have been wonderful to me.
Open minded none judgmental souls.
[Edited 1/10/09 7:14am]

Just pass the shrooms and we can all get along!

Most that I have encountered have smelled really bad, especially the females. If somebody doesn't want to bathe on a regular basis they should at least have the decency to clean their snatch.

Most of the hippies that I've encountered are IMO posers. They lived the "normal" lifestyle for 20 something years and then woke up one day and said "I'm a hippie". Then they proceed to get all self righteous and tell people how their life sucks because they consume too much. They quit their job, stop bathing, start making their own soap that doesn't work and start getting mad at "the man". Of course, these are the cases of the so called hippies that I've known. It's probably not fair to base my opinion on hippies after these fucktards.

Let's not forget that the Manson family considered themselves hippies...

I was born and raised around hippies. And I find that lifestyle comfortable and happy and not because of weed or anything like that. The Music, the vibe and some of you have this idea that hippes are drugged out morons who cannot hold a conversation. In all actuality I know several "hippies" who are as intelligent as the next. So please do not judge people for how they live or who they are. Because the one time you may need someone may be a hippie.

armpit hair

The ones that I have encountered in India:
Simple lifestyle (day to day), peace loving, carefree attitude. Don't bathe often, smelly. Drugs, booze (Sprawled on the streets in a drunken stupor, scare the locals).

JuliePurplehead said:

That is what I see a lot of, I don't care how someone smells (to a point) or how much weed they smoke, but if I am supposed to accept them in society they can drop the self righteous bs

meow85 said:

mmmmm, I love the smell of patchouli!!

I like hippies, and freaks, and queers, and outcasts, and social rejects. . . the interesting people.

JuliePurplehead said:

most of the hippies I've known have been over privledged kids who like to put others down for being a part of mainstream society but don't think twice about using their parents money for a new car or to get them out of whatever legal situation they've happened to fall in.

they seem pretty insensitive to the financial constraits of others or to anyone else's point of view.

i don't know about how the original hippies behaved, but the ones that i've encountered in college (which has been the only place i've ever seen a hippie be able to exist) were pretty much dirty, rich brats.

JuliePurplehead said:

Good that you mention the Manson family . An ex-hippy once told me that they were one of the major reasons why the Hippy movement lost its appeal at one point because a lot of people associated the Hippies with the Manson Family.
That´s probably not the only reason but still....

Did/do 'hippies' generally work?

People take issue with others that do not work.

As a big Grateful Dead fan and one who used to party pretty heavily, I have spent enormous amounts of time around hippies. I can say without reservation that I have a lot against hippies. It has nothing to do with their smell (some smell bad, some smell fine). It has nothing to do with conservatism (I am a proud liberal; plus hippies are given way too many liberal credentials by many people). Frankly, my problem with hippies is that as a group they are very suspicious and unwelcoming. This is not to say anything about individual hippies; they can be great. However, my experience with groups of hippies shows that when they get together they will tend to not like non-hippies.
My first college roommate was a hippie (he did smell pretty bad I must say). By himself, he was pretty cool, and a couple of his friends were alright as well. Once there were about 5 of them together, I could expect to become public enemy number 1. I also have experienced these types of things with close hippie friends that I had. They would be cool with me, but their friends would not.
Obviously, this is a very subjective reason to have problems with hippies. It may not ring true for those who have never been subjected to large gatherings of hippies.
My favorite way to combat hippies was to out "Grateful Dead" some of them. They hated it when a clean cut politician-looking person like myself could name and identify far more Dead songs than them.

JustErin said:

My uncle didn't. He either alternated living with my grandparents or one of his many girlfriends. My grandfather complained, but Granny enabled him. The women didn't mind.

Darwintheorgangrinder said:

I actually thought about that, but I was thinking about the young ones I encounter as a teacher. I didn't post because and dismissed it partly as "teen angst". I have had the problem of them being way more judgemental than the people they complain are judging them.

JustErin said:

A problem that many people had with hippies especially during the turbulent period of the late 60's and early 70's is that the hippies that were in the public eye were generally upper middle class students who did not have to work to make a living. Working class folks did not care for the fact that rich kids were out protesting about how bad things were while those who really suffered in society could not afford to take time and go protest.
In my experience, a majority of contemporary hippies come from households of above average income.

ZombieKitten said:

awesome! I love this retort!

meow85 said:

I mean like not wanting to work cos it's contributing to capitalism and then bitching when they don't get welfare, as an example. That IS the law, at least here - work or apply for work, or else you're not eligible for welfare.
No it's not nonsense - perhaps you don't know that drug use corrupts the rest of your life? The drug comes first, everything else after - like personal hygiene for example. For some long hair and beard is a fashion statement, but there are no rules they have to be dirty and unkempt to be so. Personal appearance and hygiene are two things that go unnoticed by stoners pretty quickly, and I think potheads are pathetic anyways. All of them.

Teacher said:

Hey now! That's kind of extreme, isn't it? I used to smoke pot, and I bathe every day.

Harlepolis said:

There is definitely that factor. But to me, that's telling of that strange victim-elite attitude that pops up from time to time. The notion that being poor and downtrodden is somehow nobler or more authentic than being not.

I say, if someone wants to help out with a cause and their intentions are honest, who cares what their background is? Besides, someone who's background is middle or even upper class may have access to better resources in their fight for whatever their chosen cause is anyway. Some rich kid who wants to work as an anti-poverty activist, say, might have legal training that his homeless buddy chances are doesn't.

JayJai said:

You'd be wrong. Sounds like you're describing stereotypical trailer trash, to me.

IAintTheOne said:

That's been my experience too.


Also, let it be known that, aside from my college professors, everyone I know who has a Ph.D identifies as a hippie or did identify as one at some point in their life. So what's that tell you about hippies?

what makes hippies different than other hated groups?
Every group of people in the world is hated by someone.

JuliePurplehead said:

So you have to be born a hippie not to be a poser? Barring being raised by hippies because the majority of people aren't, how would you propose that work?

I have never known a hippie who didn't bathe, or work. Plenty who doen't wear deodorant, or have office jobs, but that's not the same thing.

What's the Manson family got to do with it? He was a nutbag, and his followers were stupid sheep. End of story. Isn't that a bit like inferring all punks are violent heroin addicts because Sid Vicious may or may not have killed his girlfriend, or that everyone into hip-hop is a thug because Tupac and Biggie got shot?

JustErin said:

Like I said, I have never known a hippie who didn't work, or bathe for that matter, and I was born and raised by them, and now most of my friends are 2nd- and 3rd-generation hippies.

FYI, folks, tree planting counts as work. If you have to pay taxes on it, it's work. As for that self-righteous thing? There are self-important "socially forward" types in every group.

Seems to me a lot of people have made up their minds about people they don't actually interact with, but they've done a wonderful job of illustrating my point in starting this thread. Way to go, guys.