What we have documented about the hippies seems to imply that there was a more open society in the early 70's.

Question

I was only a child. Can someone comment on what it was like to be open minded and liberal as compared to today in the US? Hopefully someone who was an adult in the 70's r late 60's.

Is it better now for minorities, jews, gays, blacks, women ....or was it better in the past?

Answer 1

Hippies were more in teh 60's.

It wasn't a more open society. Interracial marriage was viewed as wrong back then. If I took my Indian wife down in the south and even some areas in the north we'd get insulted at the least and possibly assulted.

Women are probably the best off of all the group you mentioned now. Blacks and Jews have it better but descrimination unfortunately will likely never be totally wiped out.

Answer 2

I'm 43. What you say we have "documented" about the hippies does not reflect, remotely, what went on in the norm of society. Remember, news accounts cover news - that means it is something that is different. The beliefs and culture that are often passed off as being what the 60's or 70's (or any period for that matter) were about, is more about what the fringe groups were doing and that is why they were newsworthy at the time.

Of course progress has been made regarding equality and tolerance, but it has not all been progress.

The biggest difference I note about today versus then is that parents and parenting, especially based on any sort of values set (mostly Christian back then) are at odds with the popular culture. As an example, I can tell you that I knew as a child, when I was riding my bike around town, if I got into trouble, the other adults around would get onto me just like my parents would. All of society; your neighbors and even television and the movies (remember we only had three channels), were in accord, at least generally, with parents and the raising of children.

These days, pop-culture (TV, movies, the internet) seems more and more to work against parents. Parents are more isolated and frustrated as even society seems to not give the kind of support today as back then.

Answer 3

There was a lot of momentum going on in many ways then. Spiritual centerness, the Black Panthers, the Civil Rights Movement, Kent State Killings, global warming warnings etc. It was a time when people seemed to be more politically aware and were making an attempt to change what we felt was wrong with our country. It is a time when people started seeing through the government and their agendas. It was an inspiring time and it seemed like it was a beginning of a cultural revolution which is sorely needed in this country. The blatant racism of the time has only been replace with a more subtle form that is not so much in your face. Because of the openess, gays were finally able to come out and the striving for equality for women was in full swing. Unfortunately all of this momentum died and I think it was because of the influx of drugs and their availability. The CIA made a point of getting drugs into our communities, especially the black communities. All of us were labeled communists, the government would infiltrate our groups, there was constant police harrasment, we protested the senseless killing in Viet Nam. Today, a similar type of movement would probably be conceived by the government a terrorists and would probably end up somewhere like Guantanamo Bay.

Answer 4

A little of both I think. The 70's were a fairly good time the 60's Vietnam was still going on.
Blacks were treated fair but not as well as today and that came by a lot of black folks sticking up for what they believed in and people learning tolerance and to live together as one people and not look at the color but the character of a person.
Gays were still in the closet for the most part because it was considered taboo to be Gay. I wish people today would keep there sexual preference to themselves all together. It is no ones business who you boink and no one wants to hear about it's success or failure or your sexual preference unless they are doing you, just keep that crap to yourself and move on is my philosophy.
Minorities for the most part are far better off today as far as opportunity and fairness.
It will all get better with time. The war will not go on forever and troops will come home and go away again. The United States has always thrived financially during war time. The next 10 years will be up in the air. The next 10 after that should be better. We will move more towards conservation and energy independence and public transportation that runs on electricity produced by nuclear fuel and automobiles that run on hydrogen and electricity.

Answer 5

The 60's& early 70's! oh were they different. A war we all hated( I still have my bracelet with my Mia's name on it) free love, expression, turmoil. Kids shot to death by other kids at Kent. Really psychedelic art. It is better now for some, not so much for others. The women today have no clue what it was like for women in the 50's so they say that feminism is passe. They wouldn't have the jobs or opportunities they do without us. It is better for blacks not real good but better. The first time I came south they had separate bathrooms and drinking fountains.Gays are much more open about it now. Is it great no, Is it better not like we wanted but some. Prejudice and hatred still exist but it still is better than it was then. Peace----------Make love not war---War is not good for children or other living things--WAR--what is it good for??

Answer 6

I was born in the mid 50's. The early 70's was a bad time for all minorities. I guess I was part of that hippie craze. Sex, drugs, alcohol, rock and roll, and long hair was the "in" thing.

I think we hate what we don't understand. We didn't understand minorities in the 60's and 70's like we do now. Communication is the key to understanding.

Answer 7

I was a child hippie and my parents lived in a nudist hippie communiyty, until I was a little older then we moved to a normal neighborhood, but on the weekends on our property and in our backyard with a pool they continued thier lifestyle except we had orange tres growing on the side of our house not marijuana, and the marijuana no longer had it's own bedroom, there was a pool table in the dining room and they created the community of open minded people that they wanted to have where they moved

Answer 8

It was such a tumultuous time with the Viet Nam war going on and all the experimentation with drugs and open relationships.

I think the media now has opened up more opportunity for those that were oppressed

Answer 9

Don't kid yourself it was a field shift position. The more things change the more they remain the same.

Answer 10

I wasn't alive then....sorry. :(