- The Never-Told Story -
Few cultural-generational manifestations were as misunderstood and even
slandered at the time of their appearance as hippism, in the mid-60s. Most of
the population that led a conventional life and were, if not satisfied, at
least resigned to it, reacted at first with estrangement and then with
hostility to the phenomenon, which radically questioned in practice the
"naturality" of what until then considered socially correct.
At first it was a fashion, not very different from other immediate ones
or even from earlier times - just remember the 20s, for example - but that soon
triggered a reaction of true mass hysteria that led to the PERSECUTION of those
who adopted it and turned it into a whole lifestyle that went far beyond a
specific way of dressing, talking or having fun, as the earlier ones has been.
Well, what was peculiar about this new trend?
In reality nothing alien to the historical development of the societies in
which it appeared, but it was obvious that it had "touched" something
in the collective Unconscious of these that put them on guard, as had happened
other times in the past, especially as regards religious beliefs.
Whatever this may be, the result was that the
hippie way of life could not prosper anymore and became extinct over time,
leaving room to more conformist or light versions. But is this really so? I
think not, based on historical and sociological considerations such as the
following:
Having spent my adolescence and early youth
during the 1970s, I know that many of the achievements of (the radicals of) the
previous decade spread - or acclimatized, as I like to say - among the general
population throughout of that, which I have described as “a time of
extraordinary freedom to dress, half dress or not dress” - a direct hippie
legacy - but also of unexpected possibilities in the most diverse areas of
life, from culture to sexuality and even metaphysics, without forgetting its
decisive contribution to environmental awareness.
Many of today's youth cultural - in the
broadest sense - manifestations can be traced directly to those of historical
hippies, can then be affirmed without losing precision, which are the most
recent branches of evolutionary tree of these latter.
With the above in mind, why not take
advantage of current conditions and live our hippie vocation - internal call -
not as nostalgia but as the most natural thing in a culturally diverse world? Paradoxically,
much of this had already been achieved in those mythical '60s, despite the
furious opposition to which the Movement was subject.
So as a conclusion, I consider that the
HIPPIE ALTERNATIVE is still viable today, certainly not as we remember it from
that time, but maybe even…. ENHANCED!
What do you think, especially you HIPPIES AT
HEART?
Fernando Acosta Reyes
(@ferstarey) is founder of the Investigative Society of the Strange
(SIDLE), professional musician and student of social behavior.Image: www.wonderopolis.org
