Drew Bestvina

Christine Olding
College writing I
22 February 2015

Counter-culture
The people of the mid 1960s to the early to mid 1970s were a
fascinating bunch of people. The main ideals of the hippies was to be
generally happy, to be peaceful and to just love. They developed into a
counter culture by going against what the society of the time saw as
normal. They called the government and other institutions big
brother, the Man and other names because they thought they had
too much power and control.
The hippies were known for their drug use (marijuana and LSD).
The history of the hippies stems from the beatniks of the 1950s, these
people where famous for writings against the establishment and where
called beatniks because they were beaten down. The hippies then
went west and met up with a state by the name of California. That is
where the revolution went mainstream. Bands started to gain
commercial success due to the rise in the youth joining the revolution.
Then the summer of love happened in 1969. That is when Woodstock
happened; this is a huge festival of music to demonstrate peace.
Unfortunately not all protests where peaceful there were some that

turned violent like the protest on the University of California campus in

April of 69. It is said that Woodstock was the end of the Hippie era.

In the article The Hippie Counter Culture Movement (1960s) the

author talks about the hippies and how they developed and how they
impacted the future generations. I truly enjoyed this article. The article
had many informing pieces and chunks that kept my attention for
example; the sub article on the Beat Generation and the beatniks was
very informing because it gave you the origins of the hippie pretty
much. Thats interesting at the same time because it show the
progression of the hippie and it shows that they just didnt happen.
I agree 100 percent with the author when he talks about the
impact of this counter culture movement. I agree that there was both
bad and good consequences from this movement. Today we see
change from it, for example; the music industry was forever changed
by the bands of this time, also non-married couples that lived together
didnt feel excommunicated anymore, diversity acceptance that we
know today as a whole can be rooted back to this movement.
The writer of this article did a masterful job. He really captured the
essence and vision of the hippies in the many sub articles in this
article. He used chronological order very well to show the progression
of the movement and the people that drove the movement. Too
reiterate my statement earlier that the writer captured the essence
and true state of the hippy throughout the whole paper I must say that
this author showed the emotion of the hippies incredibly well. This is
shown I believe the most in the sub article Woodstock ends the hippie
era. I believe this because in this he writes

Counter culture catastrophes continued. In December 1969, 300,000 people

attended the Altamont Free Concert where the Rolling Stones, Crosby Stills
Nash and Young, and Jefferson Airplane played. The Hells Angels provided
security for the event. 18 year old African American Meredith Hunter was
stabbed and killed during the Rolling Stones performance.
By 1970, the hippie movement began to wane. The events at the Alatamont
Free concert shocked many people including some who had supported the
hippie movement. Several hippie mega-stars, including Jimi Hendrix, Janis
Joplin, and Jim Morrison, overdosed on drugs. The Charles Manson murders
also contributed to the public hatred of the hippies. Soon, hippies were being
physically attacked on the streets by skinheads, punks, athletes, greasers,
and members of other youth subcultures.

This shows how there was so much tension at the end and
people felt so strongly about there side that the hippie movement
imploded.
The writer of the Article The Hippie Counter Culture Movement
(1960s) did a very good job in writing this article. He showed the
history, progression, and the demise of the hippies. He kept my
attention the whole time I read the article which is no easy task. He
showed the emotions of the hippies and talked about how we are
impacted today. He covered it all and I applaud the writer for that.

http://www.mortaljourney.com/2011/03/1960-trends/hippiecounter-culture-movement