A lot of baby boomers would like to forget
that one of the watershed movements that defined the personality of this
generation was the time frame dominated by, for lack of a better word,
hippies. That term that seems somewhat
quaint and antiquated now had a tremendous power in the mid to late sixties
when it carried with it the impact of tremendous social change as well as a
massive shift in public morality and consciousness. So while this is often a time of a bit of
embarrassment for the baby boomer generation, it is also a formative part of
their history and it deserves respect for that reason.
To be fair, not all baby boomers were
hippies. I was not one, nor were many of my friends. As is often the case, the hippie
movement was something that got tremendous media coverage but it represented
only a small portion of the baby boomer population at the time. By percentage, very few of that age group
actually joined the “tune in, drop out, turn on” society of the hippies. But because hippies were a colorful,
eccentric, flamboyant and sinful crowd, they titillated the public interest any
time there was a public spectacle brought on by hippie gathering.
But despite being few in number, the hippie
culture did send waves of change into the society at the time. Part of that was because there was a general
discontent with the Vietnam War. So when
the hippie movement became linked with the antiwar movement, they blended to
where there was virtually no distinction.
Add to that big changes in youth culture brought on by the explosion of
new musical styles and changes in lifestyle and worldview that the new cultural
leaders in the rock music world promoted and you have a formula for the hippie
movement becoming a watershed shift of social values in a generation.
Rather than just look back on the hippies
with mild amusement, it may be best to review this
important part of our past and notice the good this part of our history left
for the boomer generation to carry forward.
While on the surface we associate hippies with drug use and free love
(e.g. sex), the actual movement itself was grounded in tremendous sense of value,
morality and social responsibility.
The youth movement at the time held a
mirror up to society and demanded we look. Moreover, for the first time ever,
it held public figures accountable for actions that were taken that harmed the
public good. This was revolutionary to
be sure and it has made the public more demanding and scrutinizing of the
government ever since. And that is a
good thing.
There was a strong thread of ethics and
philosophy in the hippie social system that, while different from what America
and the world was used to, was grounded in a fierce devotion to right and wrong
in the hippie or counterculture movements.
Along with a strong commitment to the values of that society, hippies
and associated societies were fearless and uncompromising in their willingness
to put themselves on the line to see their values translate into public policy. This was an element of the hippie subculture
that made it so explosive. Because the
youth movement was so willing to demonstrate and make grand and flamboyant
public statements to emphasize their political, ethical or moral outrage,
things changed in a way that the country had never seen before.
The counter culture of the sixties
literally put the power for change back into the hands of the people. And that is in step with what the founding
fathers wanted for America
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