Hippies in the 1960s and

¶ … hippies in the 1960s and 1970s. Specifically it will discuss how the hippies helped shape the political world around them. The hippie movement of the 1960s and 70s changed the way America viewed the younger generation, and showed that young people could really bring change to the political system and the world. A lot of people think the hippy movement was all about free love, rock 'n roll, and drugs, but it was about a lot more than that.

In reality, the hippy movement, combined with protests, music, and a growing sense of injustice helped them fight against the war in Vietnam, and bring a new set of values and ideas to worldwide culture. The hippy movement began in San Francisco in the early 1960s. Hippies believed in peace, love, and sexual gratification, and often embraced alternate forms of religion, such as traditional Eastern philosophies like Buddhism or Yoga. Several forms of music began in the 1960s and 70s, including folk music, acid rock, and psychedelic rock.

Many of these forms of music joined together in the Woodstock Festival, held in upstate New York in 1969. Hippies and their followers used music to point out social and political injustice and to protest the war in Vietnam.

Songs like "Where Have all the Flowers Gone," "Blowin' in the Wind," and "Teach Your Children" pleaded for more love and understanding in the world, while songs like "War," "It Better End Soon," and the "Fixin' to Die Rag" all protested the war and war's violence, and helped lead to war protests and riots throughout the country. The hippies and their music made people more aware of political issues and injustices, such as the Kent State Massacre and destruction of the environment.

Many people believe the modern environmental movement began during the hippy movement, as the hippies also embraced alternative lifestyles and living off the land, instead of consumerism and capitalism. The hippies also protested other forms of social and political injustice, such as communities tearing down buildings or removing parks and open space for development, and in modern innovations that resulted in harming the environment, such as smog and industrial pollution.

Again, they brought attention to what was happening in cities and countries around the world, and the governments that were engaging in these practices. They planted flowers in vacant lots, urged people to love one another, and generally seemed to hate Richard Nixon and all the politics he stood for, from continuing the Vietnam War to hiding evidence he was behind the Watergate Burglaries. They wanted to be anything but mainstream and conservative, and so they dressed outrageously, lived outrageously, and fought for what they believed in.

The music and protests of the hippy era carried over long after most of the hippies themselves disappeared. Thirty years after Woodstock another festival took place, and it proved to be just as popular. Music festivals, featuring protest (and non-protest) music sprang up after the hippy era, and some.