hey topher. get ahold of me on yahoo/myspace or somthing. ill give you some brightening info, without all the opinions. =]
So... I can remember back in '67, when we used to talk about "plastic people". I think Frank Zappa coined the phrase. There were scads of plastic people who put on all the trappings of the hippie, but did not believe in even the most fundamental of hippie philosophies. There were people who wanted to do nothing more than get stoned, or let someone take care of them, or get some of that "free love". (What they really wanted was to get "free laid".) These people never did buy into any real hippie values. They just liked the look and perhaps what they saw as a sort of wild freedom. They used the hippie movement as a cover for doing what they really wanted, which in most cases was very contrary to hippie ideals. There were also the Corporate Amerika plastic people, who were the defenders of the "suburban value system". These were the people that spawned the whole hippie movement, by personifying what their kids could not bear to be. Today is no different than 1967. There are still people who get it; there are still people who just want to use it (if only for the fashion); and there are still people who are good at showing their kids what not to be.
exactly, and these people are taking how i feel, and using my form of self expression as their plastic fad.. they are mimicing superficially.
im really not taking it personally.. it just bothers me, because ive always been the kid that everybody looked at and immediately it was known that i have certain ideals. now im just being lumped in with these "plastics". but w/e im really not as pissed about it two weeks later.
I honestly find this whole topic terribly ironic. You said people used to look at you and instantly knew what ideals you have because of the way you dressed/presented yourself. Now that everyone does it you're pissed off. But you also hate goth/emo kids for trying to be different. Rethink yourself here man. That's a whole lot of hatred and insecurity for someone who claims to be a real hippie. If you're so quick to hate than what makes you different from the "posers"?
shouldnt people following the subculture be doing a good thing? as I said before maybe they will agree with your ideals. But if you're sure that they are not then it wil pass, and you shouldnt have to worry about it. In my home town there is this store, and it sells really awesome clothes, all kinda sixties and folklorist, but it asks like a hundred euro's per piece :S I think thats bs to, but although I love their dresses I simply wont pay so much and just go to the thrift store for the same clothes and pay five euros for a dress.
I also like to make clear that people are not plastic or fake hippies because they follow the subculture/fad and don't agree with all your ideals. It's just plain naive to think every hippie has the same ideals as you. Ok, I think Topher ment with this thread the more extreme followers of the teen fad, and I know it can be a bit disturbing if people associate you with them but you know, at least they like your style. You can't expect them to have the same ideals because of their clothing or association with a subculture, cause even in a subculture people do not have to think alike. Hippies are like smurfs, man. You have the grumpy one, bittered by society, the dreamy kind, the pretentious.. ah well, you get the point
