Some of you may be wondering (I hope, at least 2 or 3 of you) why there was no blog yesterday. Believe it or not, I just forgot! And I wasn’t even stoned. I’ll try not to make it a regular occurrence. On to today’s blog:
Recently a friend posted a picture on facebook of his mother posing at the Woodstock museum, at the site of the world’s most famous rock festival ever, the rock festival that started rock festivals. She was standing next to a board which had her name, and her husband’s on it, because they were there. Good one, J!
It made me think of the 60s and the Hippie movement and what it all meant and how totally misunderstood it is and how whenever I read anybody’s analysis of it it just ticks me off because they tend to compare it with other decades and miss the point entirely.
It was not about the long hair, the bell bottoms, the flowers in the hair and the floral patterned clothing. That was not even a fashion statement. It was an anti-fashion statement. It was a way of saying appearances are not important. To that extent, I suppose you can see
Good Times
a similarity to later generations, to the piercings and the tattooings, to the goth look, because the kids all say, “We don’t care what you think,” and “I’m just trying to be myself,” which is nonsense when you look like everybody else. But it’s a shallow, surface comparison. The 60s weren’t about appearance. I hope. Because I cringe when I see the photos. (I turned 18 in ’72, but by the end of the 60s, I was a radical 9th grader and I thought my headband was really cool)
The 60s weren’t even about the music, although they produced some awesome music. It wasn’t really about anything to do with the aesthetics, and that is where most analysts make their mistake. The 60s was a unique decade because, unlike decades that have followed, it actually had it’s own philosophy, it’s own set of guiding principles.
Appearances shouldn’t matter. Love conquers all. Share stuff. Be yourself.
That about covers it. If you believe in those principles, and live by them, then you are a hippie and always will be.
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So true. To me it was about granting freedom of thought and expression to young people and kids instead of treating them like mini-slaves…..respecting them as REAL people, not people-in-the-making. Sadly, loving, sharing, individuality and less emphasis on outward appearance soon gave way to the ultra-materialism and capitalism of the 80’s, 90’s and 2000’s, at least in the US. Our children were products of this new conservatism….and look where that has put us as a nation and as individuals…..
….also I was in Chicago, in Old Town, across from Lincoln Park, during the riot in 1968. I think I still block this out due to the horrifying images I saw there…the beginning of the end of the 60’s in time and in the country’s attitudes….sad to see…that is why I keep ‘forgetting’ it.