Hippie
movement misunderstood
Marilee
Movius
Peering
along the wall of the women’s restroom
stall, I saw a message etched in pen that
read, “You hippies are all the same.
As long as you can have free sex and drugs,
you don’t care about anything else!
We need war to defend peace.” This
person’s simple statement about counter
culture while taking a pee is false, but
the following is a very paradoxical statement
that is true.
It
was the 1960’s, in which the hippie
movement originated and flooded the United
States with the idea that a hippie’s
sole purpose was promoting drugs, sex, peace,
love and happiness. However, that has been
forever since obsolete as these items being
the only issues that the hippies care about.
By
the mid 60’s, the Vietnam War was
in full swing and many opposed the war,
including the hippies who led the antiwar
movement to what we know in history. The
hippies have been about more than sex and
drugs by protesting, fighting face to face
with the law, and this is all in the name
of beliefs and discouragement to the world
of a greedy government. None of the hippies/protestors
were alike — some were the peaceful
protestors that held signs, sang about their
disagreement, or placed flowers in the gun
barrels of officers. Others raised havoc
at school events and came in close contact
with government officials with their Marxist
views. Hippies are not a homogenous entity.
The
anti-Vietnam war activist was the beginning
of what we classify a hippie as today, which
is a person who opposes and rejects conventionalism
and advocates extreme liberalism in not
only lifestyles, but more importantly, politics.
The hippies have since been about more than
sex and drugs, who care about issues that
effect the freedom that everyone deserves
and should be preserved by the first amendment.
Currently,
our country is facing one war after another
with our Middle Eastern adversaries due
to the many issues that our government tries
to hide. The stir from Sept. 11, 2001, has
created the viewpoints — held by many
citizens — that in order to ensure
peace in our country, wars are needed. Yes,
the wars will give the rest to our minds
that we are being defended from attacks.
Yes, to defend the idea that peace exists
only when we see it not exist.
This
bathroom statement would at first seem like
a great idea to ponder, but after considering
all the details, it is clear that this person
did not do all of their homework. A person
that is very educated about the government’s
policies is often a hippie because these
people need to know what they are up against.
Each of their viewpoints is as different
as each educated college student’s.
Just as college students are grouped together
by name, so are hippies.
So
as long as long as there is a war of negativity
towards the hippies, the peace for them
will need to be defended. Not until this
war ends, will peace prevail.
Marilee
Movius is a public relations major at Cal
State Long Beach.
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