Who lived in the 70's?How was it like with anti-war things and hippies everywhere? Who used to be a hippy too?

I was a rare specimen: a Hawkish hippie.

That didn't stop me from going to anti-war rallies to meet boys, though.

I was in my teens in the 70's. I thought I was a hippy, beads, flares, long hair . .the works.
Never touched LSD and really I was just a wee boy who though Jimi Hendrix was God.
If you are young and think it looked great trust me it sucked . .no Internet, no iPods, no digital cameras etc.

Live your own life and retain your memories in 30 years someone might ask you what it was like at the new millennium.

Love and Peace etc

I did, I did.
They say that if you were into the 70s you can't really remember them and if you remember them, you weren't that into them.
In 1970, the USA started escalating the war by bombing Cambodia. Many colleges in the country closed down in protest.
There were experiences called Be Ins - lots of incense and flowing clothing. Artwork that was very colorful and lots of tiedye.
Watch the movies about the era to get an idea of the clothing. The movie about The Doors seemed to get it right, as did Woodstock.

I graduated High school in 71. I was a hippy for a while. The whole idea was to get back to the earth. Communes sprung up, and people dressed comfortably, with beads and the general air was like the line frm the movie "First, do no harm." along with "If it feels good, do it."

You did what you wanted, so long as it hurt no one. You could harm you self, but with the groups of others willing to support you and give you love, there was no reason to. Life was simpler, slower and more focused on finding the person inside, rather than the dollars outside. It was a diferent world.

It was also a world before AIDS. Sex was part of the "if it feels good, do it" mentality. If two people were of like minds to have sex, they didn't worry about the social mores of the establishment, they jsut did what they wanted. This was when the boundaries of possession and marriage were blurred and the identity of a person was self maintained, rather than defined by the person you were with. Families were in threes and fours, and no one really cared. Oh the older people cared; they said it was terrible and they strove to get rid of it, but in the end, there was little they could do. Hippies did what they wanted to do.

And then there was the war. Hippies and young people found their voice in the 70's as it was the first decade in which 18 yr olds got the vote. They protested the war, and they pushed the envelope of social conscience. They tore at the fabric of society by using "pacific resistence". Sit Ins were started where people would clog a public building by merely sitting. When teh arrests started, there was no resistence, but they had to be carried out by two or thre people. A limp body is harder to carry than a person who resists.

War demonstrations found their way into every part of society. Movies, Music, posters, clothing and even cars as the 'bumper sticker' also found it's voice during this time. Folk music protested in the loudest voice as the gentle music allowed the words to carry the message over speakers in every car in the country. No ipods then, or even portable casette players - the closest cousin, the transistor radio was the only thing which carried the music. Radio stations played what the peopel wanted to hear. Concerts became more war demonstrations than music venues, and people came in droves. Woodstock was the biggest culmination of peace and music and anti-war demonstrations ever seen.

This was a time when the consciousness of a people rose to take center stage. Never before has a single generation acted with such single mindedness and yet seemingly without direction. It was a wonderful time to live.

First it was sex, drugs, rock and roll. Then it was bad hangover, where's by stuff, and who are you. It didn't last long as I recall before people came back to their senses.

Started out protesting against President Johnson wound up protesting against Nixon. Without drugs thats hard to do.

I graduated high school in 1973, but I had spent my high school years as a Jesus freak instead of hanging out with the hippies. Things were extremely youth focused, which tended to dumb things down.

The war was horribly divisive (which gives today a "deja vu" quality). Hippies challenged all the conventions, and the country had a hard time dealing with the extremes of conservative business/politics and free-floating anarchy.

In 1978, I went to my first gay rights protest in Washington DC, when Anita Bryant came to talk to a group of Christian Broadcasters. For me personally, the growth of the gay rights movement was the hallmark of the 1970s.

I was in my early teens in the 70s. I never tried tried drugs but I wore bellbottom pants and listened to the music.

I thought hippies were cool but I wasn't one.

Never did any of the anti war stuff.

I participated in numerous peace rallies and I was a pseudohippy

The problems occured in 1973 with the oil embargo

I returned from Vietnam to sullenness, boos and hisses. All during the 1970s I was an Army careerist and stayed busy. The best part of the 70s culture was the music

it was what many did...then...you didn't think about it ...you just were as driven by your ideas and views...

it was driven by a distrust of the "establishment" ...drugs were viewed not only as ok but actually good as a way to expand your mind....not seen as harmful..that is why so much experimentation..
we viewed our parents as wound too tight, not understanding us or comprehending what we were going through and how our lives were different from when they were kids...we thought our ways were more freeing, intelligent and desirable.....sound familar even today???

as with many young people ..hippies were just liberals to the extreme..the liberal youths of yesterday.....not from a lack of intelligence but just from a lack of perspective, maturity and experience ....things were viewed in a narrow, black or white way...therefore war was bad etc......


I agree with the comment if you are under 30 and not a liberal ..you have no heart ..but if you are over 30 and not a conservative you have no brain...