I Ate a Hippie - Democratic Underground

H2O Man

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Mon Jul-12-10 08:49 AM
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I Ate a Hippie

{1} “Many of us are, again, hunters and gatherers. Poets, musicians, nomadic engineers and scholars: fact-diggers, searchers and re-searchers scoring in rich foundation territory. Horse-traders in lore and magic.”
--Gary Snyder; Earth House Hold; 1968.

I was never a “hippie” in the literal sense, though often other human beings mistook me for one because I have always favored long hair. It's not that I don't like short-haired people: I do. In fact, many of my best friends have short hair. And, if I lived in a neighborhood, I wouldn't mind if a short-haired family moved in. But, I do not live in a neighborhood – I inhabit a margin of society, and in my experiences in the general era of the hippies was such that a few short-haired people who mistook me for a hippie were of a mindset which caused them to attempt to push around or beat up a hippie for fun and recreation. Always and without exception, at these times the mistaken person(s) found out that rather than a hippie, I was an extremely angry and frustrated farm kid who loved to fight, and who had nothing to lose – except possibly that giant chip on my shoulder – and that they had made a serious error in touching me in an aggressive manner.

A wonderful OP/thread regarding the nature and contributions of hippies that I enjoyed reading yesterday and this morning touched me in a different way. Maybe, to quote John Lennon, it's because, “I'm not half the man I used to be/ now that I've become an amputee,” in the sense that I have largely moved beyond the angers and frustrations of the past. I'd like to take an opportunity to say a few things about the hippies from my generally comfortable margin.

One thing that struck me yesterday was that there are definitions that others subscribe to, which are very different than my own. This is a common reality one encounters on the Democratic Underground, and one that tends to create much disagreement when unaddressed. For the sake of this OP, I think of the hippies in the context of what Gary Snyder spoke of in his classic 1968 book. For those who do not have a copy of “Earth House Hold,” a more current book I enjoy is “HIPPIE,” by Barry Miles (2005).

There were also “Yippies!, “ the more political though closely related group of the same era. And later the “Zippies,” an off-shoot that subscribed to works of Thomas Forcade, and eventually the “Yuppies,” who subscribed to the dollar.

Now, back to the hippies. One misconception about hippies began as a lie: while some hippies were “spoiled rich kids” who rejected their parents' values, many were middle class at best, and many were poor kids. The rejection of parental/societal values is, of course, a common theme of youth in an industrial society. Thus, the hippies were quite simply a segment of America's children.

I suppose there is some merit to the “snotty-nosed brats” position. These young people had the pleasures of “civil defense drills,” where they could either seek the safety of hiding under their desks in the classroom, or sticking their heads between their legs in their school's hallways, just in case the USSR decided to help Americans become an extinct species by way of nuclear attack. Race relations across the nation were great, except for some communist-inspired efforts to disrupt the Norman Rockwell picture of the 1950s. Young women enjoyed the freedom of choices of what TV dinner to make for the family. Young men could aspire to a job where they could wear a neck tie, that wonderful fashion statement that suggested nothing if not the collar and leash of domestic Lassiehood.

This was the red, white, and blue bliss that featured none other than Ronald Reagan serving as the spokesman of consumption, during those commercial breaks during “Father Knows Best.” Everything was wonderful, except that the pesky Viet Cong were intent upon rejecting the American way of Life magazine. They had to be stopped. Luckily, VP Nixon was in charge of all covert operations in Central and South America, which was actually double-lucky, because most Americans weren't able to find Viet Nam on a globe, and because what they didn't know surely could not hurt them. Everything was good in those Death Valley Days.

But then Lee Hardly Oddball and other communist-inspired civil rights activists upset the apple cart.

{2} “Psycho-politicians are using the Beatles music to hypnotize American youth and prepare them for future submission to subversive control. (It is) a systematic plan geared to making a generation of American youth mentally ill and emotionally unstable.”
--Rev. David A. Noebel; Communism, Hypnotism, and the Beatles.

America's children were warned. Rev. Noebel also published the classic pamplet, “The Beatles: A Study in Drugs, Sex, and Revolution,” (Christian Crusade Publications). And Rev. Cecil Masey preached from his Colorado pulpit that Jesus wore a crew cut, and delivered sermons on the dangers of long hair. Despite these inspired teachings, many young people in the 1960s began to question the very foundations of American culture: the assassination of JFK, “better dead than red,” the need to protect the flag in Vietnam, and Rev. Jim Crow. Clearly, what Rev. Noebel referred to as “little Ringo's jungle beat” was responsible.

It was, of course, far more widespread a threat to Reagan's America, than simply a bunch of kids wearing colorful clothing and listening to loud music. There were beatniks, civil rights protesters, ungrateful Native Americans and Mexican Americans, the Weather Underground, and many other groups and even individuals who questioned the comforts of a rigid society. They protested segregation, the draft, the war, and “the system.” There were communes and concerts and street theater and more.

The utter sadness that Ma and Pop felt from their children's betrayal of faith in the American sitcom is found in “She's Leaving Home,” which the Beatles mistakenly included on Sgt. Peppers. They had done their best, but college professors and British music made America's youth vulnerable to submission to subversive control. These children refused to submit to the wholesome control of the neck tie and bra.

Surely the hippies are primarily responsible for all that went wrong in those days. They threw money into the NY Stock Exchange; exercised their Constitutional rights by holding peaceful protests; joined forces with the Civil Rights movement; embraced Muhammad Ali, and wore colorful clothing. Thus, they caused the deaths of Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy; they caused patriotic policemen in Chicago to riot; and killed themselves and others at Kent State. Read between the lines of “The Strawberry Statement.”

Luckily, there were patriotic and decorated war veterans such as Dan Quayle, George W. Bush, and Dick Cheney, who would use their experiences to not only lead this nation, but also expose those dirty hippies for what they were: losers. The changes they made did not cure all of humanities' ills for eternity. Losers. Some dropped out of society, joined communes, and made candles. Can you imagine what type of weakling makes candles, instead of drilling for oil? Losers. Some had children and eventually joined the system. They became day care providers, teachers, lawyers, and organic farmers. The lowest of the low.

{3} “How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?”
--Lennon/McCartney; Baby, You're a Rich Man

Today, at a time when our nation faces problems similar to those of the 1950s, there are people who still listen to The Beatles. It's important to remember that songs such as “Baby, You're a Rich Man” are actually about being a hippie, not an oil executive, and hence are still subversively dangerous. There are parents and grandparents who really believe it would be grand if the younger generation would rebel against the comforts of Reagan's America today. These elders recognize that there was and still is value in their experiences, things that today's youth could learn from. And, although a resurgence of a hippie-type youth culture could not possible cure all of the world's ills, it has the promise of some benefits.

There are clearly those who agree, and those who disagree. Even here on DU. Yet, perhaps that is the way it is supposed to be, for a true democracy is only obtained through constant struggle.

Peace,
H2O Man