gapingvoid: "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards"

so true... they really smell bad.

Is it because they don't go for that marketing stuff?

"Hippies don't go for marketing stuff"? In you dreams ;-)

It's kinda sad, really.

You read things like The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and such and you realize that hippies (like beatniks before them) scared the living fuck out of people until they expanded from a group of vocal and highly political artists and writers to a bunch of angsty stoner kids not wanting to go to Vietnam. The whole thing finally parodied itself and now you buy your Birkenstocks and Volkswagen van down at the Gap. I'm sure you're familiar.

When you can buy Happy Hippie Patchouli Stink down at the corner store, suddenly your image goes from "visionary" and "revolutionary" to "half baked communism from a fully baked greasy fart."

It's a good story to learn from. Anything can go from underground craze to serious threat to sad joke. I'm sure you can find somebody who worked for a failed dotcom circa 2000 and they'll be happy to concur. In the end, all you can do is be sure to maintain some perspective.

hang on a minute hugh aren't you about to ape ken kesey and the merry pranksters and travel around the country on a "love bus" giving away LSD, sorry, stormhoek ?

Yes, Jem, and everybody will then hate me, as well ;-)

'Boo!' said the Hippy and promptly turned into a CEO. His son works at Ikea and refuses to tidy his bedroom, which his Mother refuses to go into.

Meanwhile their daughter tunes the radio from the situation in the middle east to the sounds of DJ Wally remixing the ballads of Bob Dylan.

Dad, tired of consuming news on his PC, listens to American Pie, changing the words for his amusement. "And in the streets, the children screamed, the lovers cried and the bloggers blogged." Does he remember being a hippy? Probably not. Does anyone?

What makes a Hippy? Is it the clothes? The smell? The politics? Are there any real Hippies left? Are there any real Hippies right? How many Hippies became liberals, and how many neo-cons? How many became Muslims? Was it just Cat Stevens?

Do Hippies have casual sex, or a lot of formal sex?

Dad hadn't had sex in 6 months. But his job with the civil service almost put forebearance in the terms. Mum didn't mind, she had the memories of her rebellious youth to maintain her through the drought. Although modern pornography would probably make her faint.

Daughter had an eating disorder to occupy her, and Son just wanted to do all the drugs all the time. And he did. From ecstasy at the fair to LSD at the 9 hour Dostoyevsky marathon play by the Moscow Arts Theatre. It was all the sensations, always.

Dad flicked the news stream back on, and tutted at the half baked whinging short sighted liberals trying to save the world in a week. Then he went wide eyed with amazement at the neo-cons negligence, superiority and belligerence. He'd have to redraft that bill. There must be a third way.

When he thought about it, he saw they all loved each other. Not in a Hippy way, but in the real way. The way when you don't need to say or do anything. Was that the third way...? Perhaps the bill...

What do hippies stand for that is so awful?

They prioritize being human over being a consumer.

They prioritize people and relationships over coolness.

They try to walk lightly on the earth and not cause more destruction than necessary.

They favor natural products over super-size, super packaged, super-marketed pieces of landfill-destined crap.

They provide a handy outlet for people who feel the need to put someone else down as a way to feel better about themselves.

They love you anyway, man.

Learn well from the hippies. In your heart you know you are one too.

If they're so wonderful, then why aren't you a hippie yourself, Frank?

Or maybe you are. If so, Congrats! You just spent the last wee while praising yourself to the skies ;-)

"They prioritize being human over being a consumer. They prioritize people and relationships over coolness."

Amen! This hippie couldn't agree more - I'm trying to pass this on to my children too. But I'm don't want to be, anyone's "handy outlet" for negative energy - that's where this hippie draws the line :)

HAHAHA,joke no more