Hippies: an Important Influence upon Society Nowadays - Research Paper Example

Hippies: an important influence upon society nowadays Introduction: The World War II and US engagement in the Cold War were crucial factors that impacted considerably over lives of common people from different layers of social existence, namely cultural perception, religious interpretation, nationalism and economic crisis, which mainly was created due to arbitrary actions of the state by involving into several international political affairs in order to secure a stronger and more influential position in the world politics. Though very aftermath the Great War II, perception of common people about the United State’s social structure and cultural realization started undergoing some kind of transformation in an implicit manner, however, it is since the 1960 onwards these aspects were perceived in a more conspicuous manner (Browne 386). The Hippie Movement, which actually was a result of contemporary American counterculture, definitely played an important role in determining the nature of such perception of socio-cultural affairs and protesting against those through in their typical way of Hippie philosophy. History of the human civilization would show that each of the humanitarian movements has its own philosophy and specific ways of protesting against the anti humanitarian forces. Likewise, Hippies also used to believe that love, thinking beyond the realm of religious orthodoxy and realizing different layers of personal existence are the most important and essential ways to make the existence better for common people in social context: “Adherents of the hippie movement were often characterized by unconventional hairstyles and clothing; experimentation with drugs, meditation, and other methods of enhancement of personal awareness; investigation of alternative religious beliefs and practices; and experimentation with nonconventional forms of sexuality and family life” (Browne 386). If an attempt is made to understand the features of ippiHimdkhkdklhcnxjmvnbvhcvjm kcljdjfgjirurigurgkjghjHippie Movement on a broader spectrum, it can be realized the basically traits of this movement were reflecting over certain important factors of human existence while trapped within a situation of socio-cultural, political and economic dilemma. Like the other humanitarian movements it also attempted to solve these problems in certain respective ways, which may have not received adequate support from conventional perspective but especially among contemporary youth section the kind of impact that the movement created, was realized both implicitly and explicitly in the longer run. The American people attempted to find a way out of the oppression that they were encountering since the 50s and ideological principles of the “bohemian aesthetic movement” (Browne 386), of which experimentations with drugs, inclination towards rock music and sexual liberation were essential traits (Howard 246), provided them with the “alternatives to the American Way of Life” (Etulain 413). While one hand, artistic figures like Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were playing the role of intellectual catalysts for the movement, on the other, musical personalities like, Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and early influences of British rock music were acting as dynamic inspirations for the movement. The core philosophy of Hippie Movement was to ensure complete freedom to all people in terms of their psychological, spiritual and physical perspective. All forms of socio-institutional pressures and oppressions were contradicted by this movement and in this way the Hippie Movement also celebrated the eternal human desire to be free; consequently, within the domain of American cultural cosmopolitanism, ways of the movement received such response that traits of the impact can still be realized in different spheres of social existence, starting from fashion, to cultural experimentation, to art and philosophy of life. Bohemianism, Hippie Movement and the Society: Origination of the word “Hippie” has been generated from “hip”, which was widely popular among San Francisco opium addicts during early part of the 20th century. Scholars also find a close link of the term with that of “hipicat”, a West African terminology that suggests to an individual with “eyes wide open” (Falk, and Falk 185). Jyotsna Sreenivasan’s reflection over the term finds a close association with the West African terminology as she has suggested that a hip is “someone who is aware of or tuned-in” (Sreenivasan 162). During the 1960s, flourish of the Hippie Movement within the domain of American culture provided the entire scenario with a new impetus and also initiated certain novel outlook towards interpreting different issues of human existence in the contemporary times. It has already been suggested that liberalism lies at the core of Hippie Movement and ideals of the liberalist approach, though it received a diverse and personalized treatment from participants as well as enthusiasts of the movement, also helped to a considerable extent in altering various conventional perception towards social existence, gender, power and politics. During the 1960s, Haight-Asbury became the main center for Hippie Movement, which was gradually taking stronger shape due to arbitrary actions of the government in order to attain a more powerful and politically secured position at the international level. Vietnam War is one such incident that can be cited as an example in this context. Indulgence in this act not only caused the nation huge amount of financial loss but at the same time a great deal of American youth section was exploited in name of nationalism. The Hippies strongly protested against this act and also regarded the War in Vietnam as a crime against humanity, resulting in alienation of American from rest of the world. College students, who occupied a major portion of the Hippie Movement, expressed their anger against political institution and at the same time were also ready to indulge in direct conflict with political and legal institutions in order to prevent the nation to undergo any more damage: “Opposition to that war was chiefly fueled by the anger of college students (but others, as well) over the drafting of young men for duty in a war that had hardly any popular support. The “hippies” led the anti-war movement in the 1960s and 1970s, and were willing to fight physically with law enforcement officials” (Falk, and Falk 185). This observation becomes important in context of the discussion as it reflects a different scope to interpret the Hippie Movement, which is quite different from the general perception that sexual practices and drug abuses are its only features. Pondering over this observation, it becomes clear sex and use of drugs can be interpreted as methods of protest against socio-institutional arbitrariness; at the same time, participants of the Hippie Movement also elaborated their consciousness about cotemporary existential crisis, which was mainly a result of politics. By practicing the socially unacceptable norms, the Hippies were actually emphasizing on the theme of humanism and empathy towards each other; consequently, they also opined that to save the nation and fellow human beings from scope of political activism, virtues like love and empathy are only avenues. Use of drugs, according to the Hippies, provides people with a flexibility of mind and what commonly is known as sex, is actually physical manifestation of love that exists as a sharp contrast against any kind of anti humanitarian act. However, participants of the Hippie Movement were not always non violent. While some of the hippies used to believe in protesting in a non violent manner, for which they used signs, placards or placed flowers in gun barrels and inviting police or military personnel to join them, others took the path of ransacking schools or destroyed bureaucratic documents. However, despite its different forms of expression, thematically, Hippie Movement can said to be a form of protest that “… [opposes] war and is active in supporting lifestyles and political views that are sometimes called extreme but are always concerned with issues of freedom and the right to self-expression” (Falk, and Falk 186). The Bohemian approach towards life or the philosophical ideals of Bohemianism also received a new light of interpretation due to emergence of the Hippie Movement, “Hippies gave bohemianism a new, immediate expressivity. They represented a counterculture, rather than a politically active movement…” (Brake 93). Traditionally, a bohemian is considered as a person, who is carefree and does not really engage himself in any kind of social confinement; however, philosophical interpretation of bohemianism received a further and expanded scope of interpretation through Hippies as compared to other bohemians the Hippies created a separate cultural trend and tendency of escaping the realities of life through intoxication received a different scope of realization. According to Young, “The bohemian seeks his identity through the pursuit of subterranean values. He is intent on creating a culture which is short term, hedonistic, spontaneous, expressive, exciting and unalienated…” (Cited in Brake 93). At the same time, the trends of Hippie movement, especially abundant use of chemical drugs received such popularity that such habit has been regarded by scholars as “[a] ‘negotiated’ version of the basic values of self-exploration and self-improvement found in middle-class life” (Brake 93). While remaining within domain of a social structure, Hippies also had their respective social divisions or hierarchy just the manner general trends of the society function. In this perspective, hippies can be divided into four categories, namely, the visionaries, the freaks and heads, the midnight hippies and the plastic hippies (Howard 247). The visionaries were those who used to provide the Hippie movement with intellectual and creative impetus and also used to inspire the rest of the community regarding future of the movement and inspiring them to required steps to stop the society from being deprived of the universal theme of love and mutual co-habitation. The freaks and heads are considered as those who popularized use of drugs, especially chemicals and marijuana. The midnight hippies acted as a link between people from general trend of the society and people belonging to hippie cultural division. Finally, the plastic hippies protested against the postmodern trend of immense hedonism and also emphasized over the fact the common people show restrain themselves from remaining as a slave in the hands of the modern commercial process. Ideologically they were right as hedonism and inclination towards capitalism were considered as essential factors of creating segregation between common people, belonging to different cultural and national domains (Howard 1969). Thus, pondering over these aspects, it can clearly be observed that span of the Hippie Movement actually shows a far broader scope that just limiting itself within the domain of sexual practices and escapism with the use of drugs. Though on frequent occasions, impact of the Hippie movement is associated with these two aspects but in reality and from cultural perspective, it can be said that hippies created a separate cultural identity despite belonging to a specified cultural framework. On one hand they showed their socio-political awareness and on the other, by protesting against arbitrary actions of the state and by discouraging people from being engaged with meaningless consumerism, they actually provided the universal theme of humanism with a different manifestation. Drugs, Rock n’ Roll, and Liberalism: It has already been mentioned that liberalism from legal, social and political perspective belongs to the core of Hippie Movement during the 60s and 70s. The cultural trends that hippies established received huge acceptance among common people, especially among youth section of the society and also received manifestations in different forms, such as, use of drugs, indulgence in sexual practices or rock n’ roll music. Judging these traits from conventional social perspective, it can be said that hippie approaches entirely defied general social trends; consequently, it also is natural that most of the people would not appreciate hippie trends as those essentially contradict their conventional interpretation of social rights and liberties. There is no denial of the fact that since ancient times common people have emphasized over proper celebration of human rights, freedom of speech, expression and belief. However, even in the era of human rights flourish, it cannot be said that such practices have been granted from a benevolent perspective; rather numerous such incidents are occurring everyday that keep assuring us liberalism and respect for human rights are at stake. In this perspective, importance of the hippie movement receives a new dimension of interpretation as it emphasizes over the theme of liberalism from a very natural perspective. One of the major proponents of the Movement, Timothy Miller, in “The Hippies and American Values” clearly suggested that all practices should be encouraged only to the extent that those do not become barrier for others in the context of attaining their basic rights, “If it feels good, then do it so long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else” (cited in Issitt 15). The very statement can said to be encompassing the essence of hippy movement within its scope and also shows quite explicitly that rebellion of hippies is actually directed against any such efforts that aim at violating their “natural impulses and desires” and also restrain them from celebrating “any tradition, philosophy, or activity (e.g., drugs, sex, music) that had the potential to heighten the pleasurable experiences of life” (Issitt 15). Such emphasis on liberalism from individual perspective clearly finds a close association with that of the classical liberalist approach which has been provided with a stronger foundation by great western scholars and philosophers, Adam Smith and John Locke. Hippies, though had different ways to express or exercise such liberalism, however, also used to believe like the classical liberalists that if an individual wishes to pursue his happiness in his own ways and such pursuit does not violate others sense of liberty, rather, contribute to the “cooperation for mutual goals”, then he should be encouraged for the same and such encouragement will also lead to the development of an ideal society. The universal practice of smoking marijuana or use of chemical drugs, such as LSD or methedrine, receives new perspective of interpretation under such liberalist approach. It has been argued that unless a person is capable of interpreting his situation from different perspectives of social existence, it would not be possible for him to empathize and fight for the entire humankind. Drugs were considered by hippies as a catalysts that inspire common people to explore different layers of their social existence and in this context consumption of chemical drugs such as LSD and methedrine were encouraged by hippies as they considered that these drugs “allowed individuals to test their realities” (Farber 23). At the same time, Professor Leary’s experimentation of LSD over common people showed that among criminals that it creating certain positive impacts and they, through the process of self-cultivation, are exploring the reason behind their inclination towards criminal activism. Clearly result of such experiment showed that LSD has capacity to help common people to explore different realms of their subconscious and in this course of self-realization, as it also was argued by Professor Leary, an individual can be provided with proper guidance, then creation or ensuring a better social existence is possible. It was also been argued by Leary and associates of his experiment that LSD also is capable of enhancing the possibility of spiritual exploration of an individual (Farber 23). Thus, LSD was accepted widely by hippies as its use had the capacity to enhance the philosophy of universal humanism. It is not that use of other drugs, namely, methedrine, cocaine or heroin was not there but compared to these as LSD was less harmful and also perceived as capable of producing certain positive and constructive outcomes, the use of the latter was encouraged to a further extent among hippies (Howard 251-52). Emergence of rock n’ roll as a dominant musical genre, loved and supported pervasively by the hippies, also added another dimension to the anti-authoritarian and anti-institutional approach of the hippie movement. While on one side hippie intellectuals were supporting the use of drugs to explore personal horizons of individual psyche, emergence of rock bands, their anti-establishment lyrical qualities and musical orientations and finally explicit elaboration of these themes in their personal lives also provided hippie movement with huge impetus, enhancement of which went, on certain occasions, even to the extent of frenzied musical appreciation or perfect imitation of the musical icons. Though the first influence of rock music came from the Britain and world famous band The Beatles played the pioneering role, quite soon great bands were also formed in America. The artists, through their music and lyrical qualities, were also emphasizing on the issue of bohemianism and hippie ideologies, such as, individualism, personal liberty and freedom of expression. While punk was used as slang in the American cultural context, through the tradition of rock n’ roll, it received high appreciation among common people, especially among young generation. Later on, popularization of the punk culture as a specific musical genre within the vast arena of rock musical experimentation occurred through American artists. From the perspective of fashion also, traits of the punk and rock n’ roll culture, starting from hairstyle to apparels to publicity of tattoos also occurred in such wide way that apart from America, nations like, Britain, Germany, France and youth of several other western nations also chose such styles as reflection of their liberal approach towards both life and society (Welters, and Cunningham 795-96). Conclusion: The Hippie Movement, which commenced since the early 60s and continued till the late 70s, can be considered as an effective element from the American cultural perspective. Though the movement, to its highest potential continued only for few years, however, in terms of its influence on various domains of American social existence can considerably be perceived. Starting from expanding the scope for humanism, protesting against arbitrary actions of the state, discriminating factors acting as barriers against mutual cohabitation of common people, formation of new musical genre, interpretation of aesthetics and spiritualism, even from the fashion perspective, the Hippie Movement casted tremendous influenced on contemporary social structure and its effects can also be perceived among people of next generations. While on one hand, several scholars have criticized the essence of hippie movement as essentially self destructive and emphasizes only on immoral existence, hippies on the other hand have repeatedly asserted that they actually aim towards ensuring a better existence for common people and also protect them from arbitrary actions of the state by enhancing the scope of liberalism and universal humanity. Works Cited Brake, Mike. Comparative youth culture: the sociology of youth cultures and youth subcultures in America, Britain, and Canada. London: Routledge. 1990. Browne, Pat. The guide to United States popular culture. New York: Popular Press. 2001. Cunningham, Patricia Anne. and Welters, Linda. Twentieth-century American fashion. Oxford: Berg Publishers. 2005. Etulain, Richard W. Beyond the Missouri: the story of the American West. New Mexico: UNM Press. 2006. Falk, Ursula A. and Falk, Gerhard. Youth culture and the generation gap. New York: Algora Publishing. 2005. Farber, David. “The Intoxicated State/Illegal Nation: Drugs in the Sixties Counterculture”. Imagine nation: the American counterculture of the 1960s and 70s. London: Routledge. 2002. Howard, John Robert. “The Flowering of the Hippie Movement” (1969). On Bohemia: the code of the self-exiled. New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. Issitt, Micah L. Hippies: A Guide to an American Subculture. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. 2009. Sreenivasan, Jyotsna. Utopias in American history. Oxford: ABC-CLIO. 2008. Read More