A Hippie is a person who was raised under the ideological system that came out of the tumultuous 1960's in North America and western Europe.They are either of the flower-child/baby boomer generation or that generations' subsequent offspring.They possess a core belief set revolving around the values of peace and love as being essential in an increasingly globalized society,and they are oftentimes associated with non-violent anti-governmental groups.There is a stigma of drug abuse attached to the hippies that is prevalent to this day,specifically the use and abuse of marijuana and hallucinagens.Many rock movements,poets,artists,and writers from the 1960's to today have associated with this movement,most prominently The Grateful Dead,Bob Dylan,Janis Joplin,and Phish.There are others too numerous to name.The movement,then and now,is considered a sub-culture by sociologists that associates itself with the left in all its political opinions.The conservative right often berates and abuses the opinions of people who associate themselves with the hippie movement and/or lifestyle,as the consider it dangerous and degenerative to a society to favor liberalism to such an extent.
"When we heard about the hippies,the barely more than boys and girls who decided to try something different...we laughed at them.We condemned them,our children,for seeking a different future.We hated them for their flowers,for their love,and for their unmistakable rejection of every hideous,mistaken compromise that we had made throughout our hollow,money-bitten,frightened,adult lives."