Talk:Hippie

North Beach

I am puzzled about the reversion of North Beach as the central neighbourhood identfied with the Pre-hippie Beat Generation in the opening paragraph. There were a few Beat connected people who lived in the Haight in those early days but apart from NB more of them lived near Fillmore, around the lower Mission Street areas and in other low rent places. Outside North Beach you were more likely to find Beat "community" clusters in Sausalito, Big Sur or down in Venice West. Altcult101 (talk) 13:55, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

I reverted because it was an unsourced change. All the research several of us did already, pointed to the Haight for the hippie origins on the west coast (note "hippie", not "beat"). If your version is correct, there must be WP:RS reliable sources supporting your change. Til Eulenspiegel (talk) 14:09, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

This controversy seems out of character for the peace loving communities of the beats and the hippies (hey wait? that was an illusion?). But, then those who were there have been shouted down here before. There are many examples of 'beats' transforming into the hippie genre (GEK III comes to mind). It was only a matter of the timeline. NB was there in the early 60s (say 63) for the early adopters of the mood. Was the HA thing more connected with the influx of those musically inclined than with the philosophical aspects? jmswtlk (talk) 15:25, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this isn't a beat community, you know. And no controversy, all we need here are published sources. Til Eulenspiegel (talk) 15:31, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

There’s a bit of a misunderstanding. But in spite of that it is incorrect that the term hippie was first applied to evolved Beats who had moved out to the Haight. The much younger, post-Beat people that created the lifestyle and look were mostly State College (and other college) students and their friends. Once the scene was underway and there was more going on in the district than another slow day at The Blue Unicorn a number of BG associated people came out to play. Some of the younger people who had previously been hanging out in North Beach did move to the Haight, but in the early 60s they were part of the speed and weed scene there and were around Beat hangouts like Mike’s Pool hall, The Hot Dog Palace, The Swiss American Hotel and a squatted closed-up shop, The Church of the Last Exit. And they weren’t Beatniks either. Also it’s curious that hippies were able to live in Greenwich Village in the mid-60s. I know there were a few music clubs they gathered in and also Washington Square, but it was a very high rent place by then – so thought the East Village was more likely? Altcult101 (talk) 16:51, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Criticism

I really do think there should be a criticism section, due to the prevalence of depictions of hippie culture throughout media both good and bad. Sorry Orangemike wake up. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.18.245.208 (talk) 07:13, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I somewhat agree. Criticism is welcomed, but it is best contained within subsections by topic. I myself have tried adding lots of criticism, but it has either been removed or moved to a subpage, so there is a legitimate need for it in the current article. As someone who has approached this topic from every conceivable angle, I think the most important criticism regarding hippies surrounds their relationship with soldiers from the Vietnam War. If they were truly all about "peace and love", they would have heaped this upon the returning soldiers, but according to most commentators, this didn't happen. The second most important criticism concerns the irresponsible use of drugs, which while a valid form of "yoga" and spiritual introspection for some (see Huxley's thoughts on the matter, etc.) was a dead end for most. The third most pressing criticism, concerns several different things, including the treatment of minorities, women, and homosexuals within their subgroup. However, this should all be couched in terms of the hippies as a youth movement, since their mistakes were really those of children rebelling against their parents and lacking direction, a neotenous stage for young adults growing up in the 1960s and early 1970s. Viriditas (talk) 21:18, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

Criticisms have their place; it's just that that place is not in a separate "Criticism" section. That's as true of hippies as it is of, say, Richard Nixon. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:23, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm not sure if this would be mentioned under a criticism section, but I do think there should be some mention of the term "hippie" as a pejorative, particularly by right-wing political figures.

Style

lol, it seems like this article was mainly written BY hippies. Like this:

"Aftershocks (1970–present) By the 1970s, the 1960s zeitgeist that had spawned hippie culture seemed to be on the wane."

doesn't that sound like it was written by a hippie? I'm not complaining, I just think this is interesting. ☻☻☻Sithman VIII !!☻☻☻ 18:33, 29 August 2010 (UTC)

You realize you're on Wikipedia, don't you? Jersey John (talk) 07:30, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Eight Finger Eddie

Hi, I'm posting this here as this page has a lot of watchers, one or more of whom may be interested in creating an article on Eight Finger Eddie, founder of the hippie community in Goa who died recently. There is an obituary here and lots of stuff available online which I cannot access due to my location. Best, Philg88 (talk) 23:39, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

Photos

I think some of the photos in the article are not of hippies at all. What proof do we have that the Swedish guy or the girl from 1969, for example, were hippies? There were zillions of people who dressed and wore their hair like that in the late 1960 or early 1970 without them being hippies in any way.--Mycomp (talk) 07:45, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

merge Flower child to hippie

I can't see that the article (Flower child) offers anything that can't be easily included in this article. - TheMightyQuill (talk) 07:44, 22 December 2010 (UTC)