Hippy is often used as a derogatory form of the term Flower Child. The term flower child comes from the use of flower power, which is anti-violent protest, especially the act of putting a flower in a gun as a protest against the war.
The original flower child movement was made of people who promoted love over hate, wanted to end the war, were very intelligent and politically active, were unsatisfied with todays culture and wished to expand their minds and those of the people around them. They tended to be very liberal democrats, or more commonly, socialists. They were very concerned with the world around them, not just war, but poverty, womens rights, civil rights, youths rights, and the preservation of the environment.
The term hippy more commonly refers to drugged out dirty teenagers, or later joiners of the movement who just wanted to be cool and did not really care about all the issues. Most hippies will not be offended by the term, because in its originality, it was interchangeable with the term flower child.
There tends to be a very misunderstood association of hippies with drugs. In the original movement, many of the young people were very dissatisfied with their morals and religions being taught at home, and were searching for something new. They turned to nature and ancient natural spiritual beliefs, eastern religions (especially Buddhism), and of course, mind expanding drugs such as Marijuana, LSD, and Mushrooms. It is important to remember that drugs such as LSD were not made illegal until 1965, well after the beatnik and folkie beginning of the flower child movement, and that these drugs were often used in spiritual practices as ways to make it easier to open up the mind and journey within oneself. Did all hippies do drugs? Pretty much. Did a whole lot of them stop: Yes, although marijuana use is still common among modern hippies, the majority have learned from those before them, and stopped the use of these heaver drugs. And don’t make the mistake of inferring that all hippies these days smoke, pot is at least 5 times more potent and often laced with more dangerous drugs, so huge amounts have chosen to stop, or never began.
Another common mistuned standing is the idea that all hippies are dirty and smell. We must remember, most hippies were baby boomers from suburbia in their earlier lives, so yes, they showered. This idea comes from the fact that most hippies believed that all people should be equal, and there for many did not own many outfits and would let them get torn, stained, and patched before buying new ones. Also, music was a way of sending a political and spiritual message to the world, and therefore hippies flocked to concerts. Huge outdoor concerts were common, and there werent the most appropriate showering facilities at these places. Im sure there were also some who saw showering more than once a week as a waste of precious of time. Keep in mind, that this is still the amount of times between bathing in many modern European countries.
There are countless famous flower children, but the most famous would have to be John Lennon, and Donovan. John Lennon of course was a member of the Beatles, and ran mass protests throughout the 70s, along with making some of the most famous protest music such as All We Are Saying is Give Peace a Chance and Power to the People. The Term Flower Power was first used in an article about Donovan, his roots as a beatnik show the beginning of the movement, and he was a bit of a spiritual leader for the masses.
Apathy isnt it, and we can do something. Ok, so flower power didnt work, so what? We start again. -John Lennon
