Creating Our Own Print

To start, what is a hippie? We recognize hippies based on their long, free-flowing hair, Volkswagen vans, drug consumption and Woodstock; everything the media has taught us to think about hippies. We fail to recognize that the hippies created the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organization, Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters’s Acid Tests and Yippies. Even though our generation may like to think we are hippies by mimicking their style and attempting to make a difference in the world we are still very much different.

One of Martin’s main arguments is drug use. For one, I think there is an obvious difference in the way drugs are used today compared to then. Yes, our generation has access to marijuana, LSD and other hallucinogenic drugs, but we now use these knowing that there are health risks. Second, I would like to think that our generation has, and will, accomplish goals greater than legalizing marijuana (which, let’s be honest, probably has a ways to go before the drug is completely legal). It’s hard to compare the results of the hippie’s protest to end segregation to our progress with legalizing marijuana.

The media encourages us to associate drugs with the ‘60s. There is no arguing that drugs were extremely prevalent then, but hippies weren’t just doing drugs for no reason. They were brought up in a time where drug use was encouraged. Drugs were thought to heal all illnesses and were not seen as harmful. The drugs they used made them feel better, encouraged creativity, allowed them to overcome societal norms and gain different perspectives. At a time when the negative side effects were unknown, who would say no to that?

Now let’s talk about music. The many great artists who became popular in the ‘60s are still listened to today. Being familiar with that music is something to be proud of, but who are we to compare Carol King to Lana Del Ray?

That’s not all; Martin had the nerve to compare Woodstock to popular music festivals now such as Coachella, Burning Man and Bonnaroo. The events are in no way alike. Woodstock was a free event that brought together over half a million people to see 32 acts including Jimmy Hendrix, the Grateful Dead and other up and coming artists of the time. That cannot be put in the same category as the musical festivals today which are basically just large scale advertisements for the companies sponsoring them. Not to mention, the tickets are barely affordable and many of the people aren’t there for the music. The festival-goers often times only care to show off their newest “festival-attire,” try some new drugs and tell people they went (see Jimmy Kimmel’s interview with Coachella attendees). For those people who attend because they truly love the music, you should be able to agree with these observations.

I would like to take the time to stand up for the baby boomers, the original hippies. Martin chooses to describe them now as “straight-laced, stubborn, narrow-minded and seemingly unhappy,” but let’s keep in mind that we wouldn’t be where we are today without them. Rather than hating on our parents and all their friends we should be praising them for the technology, arts and other discoveries that are used every day. It’s true, we may be pursuing careers they had never even thought of and chasing after dreams that may seem unimportant or unrealistic to them, but remember they were doing the same thing when they were our age. Yes, we want nothing more than to defy our parents and prove them wrong, but name one generation of teens who doesn’t.

There may be some similarities between the hippie generation and the millennials, but we are not here to follow their act. We fight for gay rights, listen to indie rock, take selfies, develop new careers and push to save our environment. There’s no telling what else our generation will accomplish. We are not the new generation of hippies, we are a generation of our own.