Do all HIPPIES stink?

July 26, 2005

hip·pie also hip·py n. pl. hip·pies

-A person who opposes and rejects many of the conventional standards and customs of society, especially one who advocates extreme liberalism in sociopolitical attitudes and lifestyles.

We have all heard one of the following remarks at some point in or lives:
"Hey, let's beat up that hippie", "Call up that hippy drug dealer you know", "You stink like a fucking hippie", "If you don't get a job you are going to end up like a dirty, homeless, long-haired, hippie", "Honey, I want you to talk dirty and then pee on me like the dog who peed on that hippie in the street".

Much too often in our culture, hippies, or those who oppose and reject conventional customs of society, are viewed in the same way as a homeless person or bum on the street....and rightly so. Many times a person who ends up stinky, drunk, and soiled in the gutter does indeed exhibit some "hippie" tendencies. The "look" and "feel" of someone who is generally labled as a "hippie" does not bode well with the so called "respectable" members of society. Let's be frank, most of the time people who want to appear as hippies ...trying in vain to connect themselves to the movements of the 60's...look and smell like shit.

Moreover, most of the time these people don't have anything to offer anyone. They are just like the frat-boy who dresses to impress out at the clubs ....meaning that they saw a bandwagon that was already set out before them, identified with it, and jumped on blindly. The only difference between this type of hippie and a frat boy is that while the hippy smells like shit, the frat boy smells like a French whore....which is really just the smell of shit masked with a spay- on chemical. Go figure.

Yet, there are those out there who are REAL hippies....people who realize that the rules and laws made to control civilized society are quite possibly and most likely artificial and transparent. Some of these "accepted" rules serve a purpose, while many of them don't....and therefore are unnecessary. These people see life in a different light than most of us, and are not afraid to live in a way that is contradictory to the norm.

The problem arises when the silent majority (those who accept without question that our society operates in the only and best way possible) are confronted by the ideas, or beliefs of these so called hippies.

The primary result is fear.

xen·o·pho·bi·a (zn-fb-, zn-) n.

- Fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.

Hippies are hated and feared because they directly oppose what the majority of American culture see as truth. Hippies are seen as an attack on capitalism, democracy, Christianity, and any other symbol that goes well with red, white, and blue. Tie-dye and the dank green of marijuana ( Maria Giovanna in Italy) are not exactly part of the Puritan based work ethic that dominates our thinking.

Yet, in many cases REAL hippies...those who are seeking joy, happiness, freedom, enlightenment etc, rather than accumulation of wealth, are more content with themselves, others, and life in general. It's not that they are "better" or "beyond" material things....it is that they have geared their lives and thinking in a way that has changed their priorities.
Maybe this means not having a 40-hour work week, maybe it means not having a permanent residence, maybe it means walking around naked, maybe it is thanking the animals or plants that nourished him/her that day, or maybe it is all pure HIPPIE BULLSHIT.

On the other hand, maybe we were meant and destined to work 40 hours a week just to survive, maybe we were meant to sit in a car for 3 hours a day on a commute to a job that we don't necessarily like, maybe we were meant to make web pages and sit in front of the television for hours a day, MAYBE.......

The reason for this column is that I have been called a "hippie" quite a few times in the past 6 months. My friend Dugan even went so far to call this page a "hippie web site" because I decorated it with yin/yang symbols and criticized President Bush. I guess it doesn't take much these days go against the "acceptable" notions and beliefs of our society. Hey, if you see me as a hippie...fuck n a...maybe there are some things that I say and do that are different. That is just how I roll.

Some people (myself included) criticize me on the grounds that I am a spoiled, white kid and that I have no idea how things really work, and therefore look at life trough a tainted lens. I am not pretending that I don't come from a privileged position. In terms of how things "ARE" in the world, I know that I have had every opportunity open to me, and for this I say my thanks daily. It also makes me question why I am able to live a comfortable life, one that enables me to think about hippies, while millions of others suffer. It is for these reasons that I write this now.

Ultimately, I believe that there is no "one right" way to live, and to criticize somebody because their ideas are different perpetuates the insanity that has cost the lives millions of people in the 20th, and now 21st century.

The moral of the story is...let hippies (REAL hippies) or anyone else with different ideas do their thing. In all fairness, you and I probably have no idea why these people do the things they do. Don't be scared....be interested. Maybe we can actually learn something from each other. Or.... we can judge.

I am going to acupuncture "vu do" school. BAM! Judge that bitches.

- Tyler (Fucking Hippie)