The "Hippie" generation came about during a turbulant time in our Society here in the US.
After WWII, Americans became far more free to live their lives as they wished. War over, and the "good times" came about. Good paying jobs, great increase of family growth. The "American Dream." White house with a picket fence, two kids and a car in the garage. Fathers were paid well enough for the mothers to stay home and care for the children. For awhile, it was the American Dream!
Then, Politicians and Big Industry began to enter into World Politics. Along came Viet Nam, and everything went to hell! For the first time, war was on TV every day all day long, and Americans were watching their young men die on a daily basis. As well, the Socialist Movement began to take seed and grow. It started in our Universities and Colleges. Young men and women leaving home for the first time, found themselves in a situation where there was no one to tell them what to do, think or say. The Socialists took advantage of this and began their campaign to overthrow America without firing a shot, just as old Nikita said in the UN Assembly.
Racial unrest was growing as blacks were fighting for equal rights. Black Panthers causing havoc on the West Coast, and radical movements all along the East Coast and South. Martin Luther King Jr. rose to be a Leader for Racial Justice, and preached peaceful solutions/demonstrations. He was assassinated, and fuel was added to the racial riot fires burning across America.
Drugs became the "escape" for many, many of our youth. As well, Hollywood and the Music Industry became far more Socialist in their messages through film and song,
Sex, drugs, rock and roll was the "battle cry" of the American Youth.
The birth of the hippie movement in living color through the eyes of the "acid induced haze" of those living it. Their desire was "to be different," Yet, in their effort to be different, they all became memeograph copies of eachother. "Different" only meant anti American. Socialist radical extremism rose to gain control of our Institutions of Higher Learning...........
Many, many died, and died far too young, yet their Legacy is very much alive today. For through their efforts radical socialist extremism now controls our Nations Public Education System from Kindergarten to University. They took charge of our Political Policies and now control our Government. They control Hollywood, and the Print Media and the majority of the Electronic Media. They are now infecting our Congregations with their Socialist ideologies. There is no part of our lives that these Socialists do not have an effect, or do damage to.
I think it was Churchill that said: If you are under 30 and you are not a liberal, you don't have a heart. If you are over 30 and you are not a conservative, you don't have a brain.
I could write100 pages on how the "Hippie Movement" came about and what caused it, but I fought that fight many years ago. It is good to learn from the past, but it is death to "live in the past."
Fix your eyes on Jesus! Live for Him! Do what He has purposed you to do!
MARANATHA!