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Hippie (often spelled '''hippy''', especially outside the United States ) is a term originally used to describe some of the rebellious youth of the 1960s and 1970s , although the dawn of the 21st Century has brought with it a Neo-hippie movement, holding similar beliefs and values as the hippies of the 1960s and 1970s. The word ''hippie'' was popularized by the late San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen . Caen's articles were always written with the help of notes and letters from his San Francisco fan base. He is also credited as among the first to include the words '' Beatnik '' and Yuppie in his column. Though not a cohesive Cultural Movement with manifestos and leaders, some hippies expressed their desire for change with communal or nomadic lifestyles, by renouncing Corporate influence, Consumerism and the Vietnam War , by embracing aspects of Non-Judeo-Christian Religious cultures (including much Eastern philosophy), and with criticism of Western Middle Class values. Such criticism included the views that the government was paternalistic, corporate industry was greedy and domineering, traditional morals were askew, and war was inhumane. Hippies referred to the structures and institutions that they opposed as The Establishment . ORIGINS In the 1940s and 1950s the term '' Hipster '' came into usage by the American Beat Generation to describe jazz and swing music performers, and evolved to also describe the Bohemian -like Counterculture that formed around the art of the time. The 1960s hippie culture evolved from the beat culture, and was greatly influenced by changing music styles and the creation of Rock & Roll from Swing and Blues, or what is known as Jump Blues . The first use of the word ''hippie'' on US television was on WNBC TV Channel 4 in New York City at the opening of the New York World's Fair on April 22 , 1964 . Some young Anti-Vietnam War protesters, wearing t-shirts, denim jeans and with long hair like The Beatles , staged a Sit-in and were called Hippies by NYPD officers and reporters. The police fought with and swung their batons at them to chase them off the escalators and they fought back and were arrested. Before that date, the type was generally referred to as Beatnik . On the east coast of the U.S. , in Greenwich Village , young Counterculture advocates were called, and referred to themselves as, ''hips''. At that time, to be hip meant to be "in the know" or "cool", as opposed to being called a stodgy "square". Disaffected youth from the suburbs of New York City flocked to the Village in their oldest clothes to fit into the counterculture movement, the coffee houses, etc. Radio station WBAI was the first media outlet to use the term ''hippie'' to describe the poorly-dressed middle class youths as a pejorative term originally meaning "hip Wannabe s." September 6 , 1965 marked the first San Francisco newspaper story, by Michael Fellon, that used the word "hippie" to refer to younger Bohemians . The name did not catch on in mass media until almost two years later. Hippie action in the movement. Los Angeles also had a vibrant hippie scene in the mid-1960s, arising from a combination of the L.A. beat scene centered around Venice and its coffeehouses, which spawned the Doors, and the Sunset Strip, the quintessential L.A. hippie gathering area, with its seminal rock clubs, such as the Whisky-a-Go-Go, and the Troubadour just down the hill. The Strip was also the location of the actual protest referred to in the Buffalo Springfield's early hippie anthem of 1966, ''For What It's Worth.'' Summer 1967 in Haight-Ashbury became known as the " Summer Of Love " as young people gathered (75,000 by police estimates) and shared the new culture of music, drugs, and rebellion. The Grateful Dead , Janis Joplin , Jefferson Airplane and a number of other musicians lived in the Haight at the time. The outdoor Human Be-In concert started the Summer of Love. Later, the Diggers felt co-opted by media attention and interpretation, and at the end of the summer held a ''Death of Hippie'' parade. The hippie movement reached its height in the late was the last year of the Hippie Era. By 1972 many of its ideas and styles had become accepted by most of society. Because many hippies wore flowers in their hair and distributed flowers to passersby, they earned the alternative name, " Flower Children ." Time and history revisionists have obscured the true origins and influence of the hippies, whose roots stretch back 100 years to Europe. Around the turn of the century (1900), there was an active movement in Europe to return to the natural life away from the polluted, crowded cities. This movement was inspired by authors like Goethe , Hermann Hesse ( Siddhartha ), and Eduard Baltzer, who wrote about how modern man’s material yearnings were taking us away from our balance with nature and leading to spiritual and physical diseases. Thousands of young Germans, turned their backs on modern society and sought a return to nature and the pagan spiritual life of their ancestors. They embraced a variety of radical lifestyles including Vegetarianism , Fasting , Raw Foods , Nudism , Organic Farming , Communal Living , sun and nature worship, etc. These ideas were introduced into the US over several decades as one by one these Germans settled in various places around the country, some of them opening the first health food stores. In the USA, many of them lived in Southern California where they could practice their alternative lifestyles in a warm, welcoming land. Many young Americans learned from these Germans how to stay healthy and avoid succumbing to disease and urban malaise. A group called the Nature Boys took to the California desert, grew organic food and espoused the healthy lifestyle they adopted. A song written by one of them, Eden Ahbez , called Nature Boy, was recorded by Nat King Cole and became the #1 song in the USA, as America finally realized there was a new back-to-nature movement in its midst. Eventually a few of these Nature Boys, including the famous Gypsy Boots made their way to Northern California just in time for the Summer Of Love in San Francisco in 1967. The psychedelic posters that annouced concerts at the Fillmore and elsewhere in S.F. were heavily influenced by the artist Fidus, one of the original German hippies. Read more about the influence of the Germans on America's hippies here: Hippie Roots & The Perennial Subculture POLITICS Hippies often participated in Peace Movement s with Liberal views, including peace marches such as the USA Marches On Washington and Civil Rights Marches , and anti- Vietnam War demonstrations including Draft card burnings, and the 1968 Democratic Convention . Yippies represented a highly politically active sub-group. By today's standards, they're prone to Hedonism and Pacifism . The culture has also rapidly embraced Postfeminist and mostly Postmodern principles in wake of the twenty-first century. Though hippies embodied a Counterculture movement, early hippies were not particularly tolerant of Homosexuality . Acceptance of homosexuality grew with the culture, and by today's standards such issues are non-existent. Hippie political expression also took the form of "dropping out" of society to implement the changes they sought. The Back To The Land movement, Cooperative Business Enterprises , Alternative Energy , Free Press movement, and Organic Farming embraced by hippies were all political in nature at their start. DRUGS Driven by the appeal of the Sixties "psychedelic Guru ," Harvard professor Timothy Leary , who advocated use of these drugs as a form of mind expansion, many hippies participated in Recreational Drug Use , particularly Marijuana (see Cannabis , Cannabis (drug) , and Hashish ) and Hallucinogen s such as LSD (see both Psychedelic and Psychedelic Drug ) and Psilocybin (see Psychedelic Mushroom ). Some hippies prize Marijuana for its iconoclastic, illicit nature, as well as for its psychopharmaceutical effects. Although some hippies did not use drugs, drug use is a trait often ascribed to hippies. Some hippies used drugs to express their disaffection with societal norms. In addition to Leary, Ken Kesey was also an important figure in spreading the psychedelic philosophy. By holding what he called " Acid Tests ," and touring the country with his band of Merry Pranksters , Kesey became not only a "drug Guru " but a magnet who drew media attention to the fledgling movement. The Grateful Dead played some of their first shows at the Acid Tests, often as high on LSD as their audience. The use of Cannabis had been established by the Beats , and the drug appears in " On The Road " (in which it is generally referred to as 'tea'), which was widely read among soon-to-be hippies. LEGACY By 1970 , much of the hippie style, but little of its substance, had passed into Mainstream culture. The media lost interest in the subculture as it went out of fashion with younger people and even became the target of their ridicule with the advent of Punk Rock . However, many hippies made, and continue to maintain, long-term commitments to the lifestyle. As of 2005 , hippies are found in Bohemian enclaves around the world or as wanderers following the bands they love. Since the early 1970s , many rendez-vous annually at Rainbow Gathering s. Others gather at meetings and festivals, such as the Peace Fest . Many hippies of today have made use of the and Parties which promote hippy-like lifestyles and values. In the United Kingdom , the New Age Travellers movement revived many hippie traditions into the 1980s and 1990s . Today, in America, many Hippie types refer to themselves as Rainbows, for the tied dyed T-shirts they wear. CHARACTERISTICS
PEJORATIVE CONNOTATIONS The term ''hippie'' has also been used in a derogatory sense to describe long-haired unkempt drug users. Among those of the Beat Generation , the flood of youngsters adopting Beatnik sensibilities appeared to be cheap, mass-produced imitations of the Beatnik artist community. By Beat standards, these newcomers were not "clever" enough to really be "hip". On the other hand, Conservatives used the term ''hippie'' as an insult toward young adults who had Leftist , Liberal , and other progressive outlooks on life. Band members like the Beatles defied and baffled adults in adopting long, shaggy hair. Such showmanship of apathy to appearance is but one aspect hippies encompass in defiance of preconceived adult establishments. Today, in more conservative or mainstream culture, and especially in political discourse the term ''hippie'' is often used to alude to irresponsibility and participation in recreational drug use. An example is its use by the South Park cartoon character, Eric Cartman . In the " Die Hippie, Die " episode (viewable here the entire town joins Cartman in his negative view of hippies after they invade South Park for a "Hippie Music Jam Festival … [creating the largest such gathering in the history of Man." NEO-HIPPIES Neo-hippies or simply ''hippies'' today is generally used as a pejorative term for a Western spiritualist, however it is self-applied by certain groups. Often these are 21st Century people who claim to believe in some form of the hippie philosophy developed in the 1960s. Dreadlocks — especially with beads sewn into them — remain popular amongst neo-hippies. Many critics argue that these "new hippies" are making more of a fashion statement than participating in a meaningful anti-materialist movement. While there are references to the peace and justice themes advocated by their 1960s counterparts, neo-hippies have engaged in little civil disobedience or demonstrating to oppose the Iraq War and Patriot Act s I and II, compared to the 60's. Many of todays hippies are prominent in the "Dead-head" and "Phish-head" communities, as well as in the Jamband scene, in general. Many criticisms of the hippie period following the Summer of Love continue to resonate: it can be shallow, hedonistic, fueled by drugs and the same middle-class money it claims to oppose. Perhaps the two most valid criticisms are that many new hippies are not, in fact, more than superficial believers in the original culture, and that those who are true believers have largely disconnected from society. Hippies often promote organic farming, growing ones own food, making clothes by hand and "living off the (electrical) grid"; this leads to living in rural settings where these goals are feasible. Most older hippies today are political dropouts, with little to no faith in the system. Many US marijuana growers are hippies, either by adoption of the trade and culture, or because their parents did the same. Stable hippie communities built on the marijuana trade exist on the Northwest Coast of the US, (especially in and around Humboldt Co., CA), in the American South and Northeast, as well as in several provinces in Canada. Smaller hippie communities built on more traditional farming and crafts are spread throughout the US and Europe. In the US, the Art Car has almost replaced the VW Bus since these have become sought-after by enthusiasts, however a few hippie-era buses remain. In the UK and Europe, there New Age Travellers in converted buses and trucks, who are generally referred to by others as "hippies", although most of them will strenuously reject this and other labels. An interest in environmentally-friendly technology like Hybrid vehicles (not to include Biodiesel and SVO/WVO Technology ) have also gained massive acceptance and promotion. Vegetarianism or Veganism , as well as beliefs in Animal Rights , are also evident. Drug usage is just as accepted as in the "original" hippie days, although it is not considered necessary to take drugs in order to be part of the lifestyle. Some modern hippies frown upon excessive drug use because of lessons learned from the past. Some of the more conservative hippies deplore most drugs other than Cannabis and Psychedelics , such as LSD and Salvia Divinorum SEE ALSO ;People and groups ;Places and events
;Music, books, and film
;Art, philosophy, and belief
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