Real Life Hippies

Sorry, Brave. I think I projected my frustration on you. Lately, I've been very irritated by all the newcomers here who seem to hate hippies. I guess they are just here for the drugs and sex.

 

I generally dislike many of the people I've met who present themselves as hippies because the ideology and artistic accessories they consume and identify with are supramundane and pacifying. I joined this forum in 2004 in order to communicate with fellow drifters who used Rainbow gatherings and the online forums devoted to their planning as hubs, and continue to post here because of certain friends I've made over the years (BraveSirRubin, Pressed Rat, TopNotchStoner, &c).

The only hippies I come into contact with these days are those who attend festivals as my best friend fronts a bluegrass band as lead singer and mandolin player, and although this style of music does not directly appeal to my tastes anymore, I drag myself across the states occasionally to support my friend and spend time with him (his band is opening for New Riders of the Purple Sage on New Years Eve, and he's asked me to attend). Every time I go to these shows, I am at best ignored by the crowd and by his band mates, and at worst I am viewed with suspicion while the sense of superiority felt by some of them toward me is palpable; I often dress in slacks and blazers, buttoned shirts and bow tie, and one of the most curious aspects to these events is the way in which I am perceived as an outsider by a group mentality which supposedly considers creative self-expression and non-conformity as among it's highest shared values. When you do not wear a tie-dye shirt, patchwork pants and dreadlocks, in other words the subcultures uniform, you are perceived to be tied to 'the game', 'the rat race', and your value system is assumed to contribute to a materialistic and delusional approach to life.

I've confused many of them when the conversation turns to DMT and Psilocybin and they realize that they are intellectually and spiritually inferior to me and I often find it necessary to restrict the drawing from my internal lexicon. From an anthropological perspective, these events are immensely entertaining, but from a purely ontological perspective they are depressing and confounding. The ultimatums held dearly as regards the Grateful Dead and notions of warmth and trust are disturbing and undernourished and although I try to refrain from allowing my own philosophies and ideologies (which are monarchical, and largely classed based) interfere with the experience of communal involvement, I find myself up against a brick wall with very many people who have no class, who have a very limited sense of culture, and who are some of the most hypocritically closed minded people I've ever dealt with on any semi-regular basis. Stereotyping is unavoidable and unfortunate and I do not disdain any individual or group solely on the grounds of their physical appearance or level of self-education development, but rather on their character, but I genuinely experience the sensation of being considered an outsider who couldn't possibly have even the slightest ideas of what the hippie lifestyle is about, when were these people to simply drop their preconceptions and approach me with honest query, they'd find that I've been to more Rainbow gatherings, slept outside and traveled homeless to more places, and taken more psychedelic drugs than many of them. I've never been one to be persuaded by any group mentality nor conformed to any manner of dress and behavior or dialect which is exclusive and representative of any ideology but my own, and you'd be surprised at how automatically group think applies within even such a 'diverse' and 'open minded' subculture. I mean even my best friends band mates know how long he and I have been friends and how he considers me his brother above anyone else, and they actually talk 'around' me and close me off to talk to someone else around when I try to share my thoughts around them. There have even been instances where Aura and I have been refused entrance within festivals because of how we look..

 

It's nice to see you posting, friend.

Also, thank you for a truly genuine response to my question. This is what I was looking for.

I can very much relate. I have had very similar experiences with hippies, festivals, or whatnot as you have simply because of the way I dress and present myself. I have still managed to make some hippie friends over time, yet their friends have also always viewed me with suspicion (but ofcourse, learned to trust me after finding out that I knew where to get all the good acid, man.) I never bothered to gain their trust one way or the other. I mostly avoid their festivals now (they're all grown up and put on their own festivals), but when I do go, I feel rather alienated. It is a fascinating anthropological experience though, just as you said.

 

You have to walk the walk.

Almost all good and you meet nice people.

 

Same here Pavel, I haven't talked to you in a very long time.. I missed you!

And yes, appearances are deceiving and I don't understand why it should be the case that the assumptions come right up front before any attempt at understanding is approached. It's not always the case but it happens often enough for me to notice it and feel alienated by it. My best friend that I mentioned is very much considered as a hippie by people who do and do not know him; he lives the lifestyle, has a full beard, wears necklaces with gems and his girlfriend sells stones, &c. And yet he is a huge hip-hop fan and his philosophy has very little to do with hippie and communal values; he can be quick to violence and to truly his only relation in ideology is that of self sustaining and DIY across the board, he is very much an 'outdoors man' and before he had children, he was a drifter, just like me.

 

I missed you too John! Let's be happy and cockdock.

But yeah, it's interesting that your friend's ideology does not really mesh with the "hippie ideology", yet he is accepted by all of these hippies, mostly due to his appearance. Do you think that it would be the same if he wasn't "famous" (in a band). Would the hippies be less likely to accept him as one of their own then? Do you think that someone with a completely conservative ideology, but who looks like a hippie, could successfully infiltrate that friend circle?

 

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by selling out. The way I see it, the essence of a hippie is a deep belief in the power of love and peace and a strong desire to make the world a better place. I believe Steve Jobs was such a person, altho perhaps he had some anger management issues lol.

The Buddha talked about "right livelihood". He was talking about the morality of how you made money. For instance, you can't be a Buddhist and sell weapons.

If a hippie figures out a way to make boatloads of money while making the world a better place, well, that is not selling out in my view.

 

Depends on who and under what circumstances has to do the actual work to make that money for him and also slightly what he would do with his money. If he has enough he could spend some on that expensive boat for all I care but yeah, those cheap labour practices and profit marges are certainly not morally just. I think consumers are not paying for a revolutionary product or a much higher quality as the concurrent but mainly for the brand. But yeah, he smoked weed and did acid and wore barefoot so he's a real life hippie above all. Yes, that last line was sarcastic

 

Oh, most definitely he would not be so often surrounded by so many people; he used to be heavily involved in selling LSD and the like, before his band began to take off, so it was for both of these reasons that he is always with large company.

And for your second question, well, yes I very much think so, it seems to me that anybody with dreadlocks and a tie-dye will be immediately embraced without question by so many of them, and it's simply a matter of time before the personality is questioned. The most disturbing element of this subculture is the 'warmth and trust' I mentioned earlier.. I can't tell you how many "Dreddy Papa's" I've seen with a flock of young girls around him who fawn and flaunt their liberation and open minded one-love-liness around, meanwhile the dude is the creepiest alcoholic mooch type you can imagine.

 

That makes sense.

I wonder what's the rape culture like among these hippies.

...and for "Dreddy Papa's". I think we all know the type.

 

Let's not forget that Steve Job was notoriously one of the most absolute stingy people in modern times.. In fact I recall an interview with Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, during which he recounts an experience he had with trying to relate the purposes and aims of his foundation to Steve Jobs, and the first thing Jobs said upon answering the phone was something like "I'm just letting you know right now that you'r never getting any money from me.." I would have slammed the phone off immediately if I were him; he was not even considering asking him for a donation, but simply wanted to present the foundation to Jobs awareness due to his prior interest in LSD.

 

I see now that 'wore barefoot' is probably not the correct spelling but since I am already quoted I will refrain from editing

 

First of all, there is nothing at all immoral about a high profit margin. In the absence of a monopoly, it is the mark of business genius. I am not a capitalist, but really, it would be stupid not to work for the highest profits you can, as long as it is done ethically.

I grant you that some shady practices went on in Asia, but unless you can provide a source that proves that Apple was any worse than any other computer or electronics company, I think you are greatly exaggerating, probably because you hate Apple.

 

As long as it is done ethically indeed. I dislike Apple, yes. I don't spend time hating on it though If you want to know you can look for a source. I admit I don't have one ready. It is pretty common knowledge if you are a little bit into it I guess.

 

It is completely illogical to expect people to source their arguments on the internet, when no one is ever expected to do so in day-to-day offline conversation.

 

Well, if you've got the info from an online source it is logical and handy to post it. When you have not and it is common knowledge for who ever wants to know, they should go and take a search themselves and not expect others to do so for them.

 

It's fine if you don't believe Jobs was a hippie. I might change my mind after I read the biography. But if your main reasons have to do with profit margins and using Asian labor, well I think that's crap. You can't find anything evil he did?

 

Did you see what I mentioned sunfighter, about how he was notorious for being stingy? I even gave you a source, Rick Doblin, the man singularly responsible for the progress made over the past three decades in studying psychedelic drugs and marijuana.

When you are as wealthy as Jobs was, and make it a point to refuse to give money to a cause, you are going out of your way to make it very clear that you are not interested in helping the pitiable condition of the people of this earth. I don't know if Steve Jobs was a hippie or not, but I do believe that he was a jerk. The two are not mutually exclusive but I think his misanthropy was well known and seems to me at least to stand in contrast to the hippie value system.

 

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Emil_Cioran

 

I completely disagree with you. Doesn't it bother you how political arguments in America have become so fact-free? The Republicans can lie out their asses about Obamacare and the media doesn't correct them. They say it so many times that millions of people start to believe it.

I think the essence of your reputation online is that you can back up your opinions and conclusions with facts.