How did hippies show disrespect to the authority?

Question

im writing an essay on the negatives of the 1960's. i need all the dirt on the hippies. was there ever an instance where they burned the flag? started violence? i know they are generally peaceful but.... in any way or form possible how did they disrespect the authority? please and thankyou

Answer 1

Well the one that came to mind first was by using the term "pigs", to describe the police.
I would however say disdain would be more appropriate a term to describe our feeling toward authority.
We just wanted to be allowed to do our thing. We wanted to expand our minds, stop the war, and be free and not controlled. So many of the freedoms young people have now were won then. Many have been given back or legislated against. I could go on by why. If you were not there it hard to understand.

Answer 2

OK I was a hippie. Please remember that you are speaking in generalities. Not every hippie was a disrespectful, drug using pervert. Many hippies worked toward changing the world in a very peaceful way, others were more radical in their approach to change. Yes, flags were burned, bras were burned, people were burned. It was a time when people protested an unjust, unwinable war. That's why the flags were burned-to make a statement about their non support of the government. I was looking for social change. I didn't want to get married and turn out to be Mrs. Cleaver (that would be the perfect homemaker and mother to the Beaver a TV show). I wanted equal rights for women and have spent a life time demanding equal treatment and the right to be whoever I want to be. Much of the good accomplished has been forgotten even tho' hippies changed the very society to you live in and all that seems to remain is the stereotype of the hippie. So here's your dirt. A good hippie ignored what was expected of him/her in society and dressed to express his views. He held sit ins to protest various standards and shenanigans of those in power. That would require a group of people to sit down and refuse to move and block whatever was perceived as wrong with many at colleges and city halls. More radical groups blew up buildings and murdered people. Check out the Black Panthers and that was not to say they were the only radical group but they represented the militant blacks and those that cared to follow them. Dr. Martin Luther King believe he could further the black cause by holding peaceful marches and preacing peaceful change. You need to read about the march at Selma where the whites and the local law threatened their very lives. Blacks were murdered, hung, tortured as they demanded the right to vote and equality for themselves. Their were riots where LA - Watts burned. Women jumped on the bandwagon as blacks forged the way to equality and pushed for their rights too. Oh and look up Patricia Hearst-daughter of newspaper publisher, kidnapped and forced to commit bank robbery. She was later caught and it there was always a question of whether she was a participant or a prisoner. While hippies wanted peace, it was a very violent time. Change always is. The drug, sex, and rock n roll hippie was the one that dropped out, turned on and swore no one should ever live over the age of 30. A lot of those were the people that really didn't try to affect any change just went with the flow and a lot of the rest are running big corps and big business today. Some just existed and pushed for free love. The real activists pushed for that change. The bigger dirt of the day was that if you objected to the war, you could not support the troops. Many men and women went to fight and came home to nothing. No tickertape and no parade. Men came home from war with big problems and no appreciation for job done. The community had no use for them and no jobs. That was the basis for the Rambo movies and many others. There are many period movies-fiction but based in facts of the day. Check them out and PBS has a real eye opener about the civil rights movement. There's just so much to say and I've got Christmas cookies to finish baking. The movement in those days changed society and turned it upside down.

Answer 3

We need a few more hippies today. They were on about issues such as Vietnam and peace and creating a freer better world rather than consumerism, money, greed and self interest . Unfortunately the execution left something to be desired which may be in part why we are now consumer junkies and captives to the talking heads on TV, Govt and corporations

Answer 4

The hippies were about demonstrating disrespect for authority while still respecting the individual. Their bad rap came from the war on drugs which was started to try and undercut the whole hippie revolution.

Answer 5

Well, many of them burned their draft cards (which is illegal), and there are instances of people trying to physically halt shipments to American troops in Vietnam by rail and by boat. Of course, the way they dressed and their priorities were a symbolic challenge to authority, but I don't know if that's what you are looking for.

Answer 6

I think they basically just sat around and did drugs and had sex with each other. Oh, and they dressed funny. In that sense, they defied authority by breaking the conventions of getting a job, getting a haircut, dressing normal, and not having random drugged-out sex.

I think Cartman said it best in an episode of South park: "Hippies- They say they're all about peace and love, but really all they do is smoke pot and not shower."