What Exactly is a Hippie?

A hippie is a person who rejected established institutions and values and instead sought to create love and understanding for everyone. This is indeed an interesting view on the world and seems to be kind of what we as a class are trying to accomplish ourselves. The established institutions of today run on money and greed for its stability and this causes a lot of pain and suffering for others and for our planet. Wouldn't a world that was peaceful and provided a healthy world and healthy living be a nice place to live in? Hippies have been portrayed as burnt out crazies who contribute nothing to society but wasted space by the media although they seem to have a pretty good idea.

In the movie "The Men Who Stare At Goats" a secret military organization created by Jeff Bridges character teaches non-violent solutions to war situations. Called the "New Earth Army", the soldiers are taught psychic powers for non-violent combat which is pretty ridiculous. They are also taught to communicate with nature and the military personnel chosen for this new organization who had never thought about what people were doing to the world were then enlightened. The soldiers were taught about preservation of natural resources, our impact on the world, and how we should be able to coexist with all other creatures, even our enemies.

This movie reminded me of our class and how we are being taught of our impact on the environment and how to exist in this world without being so destructive. Is the hippie mentality that idiotic and wrong? The characters participating in the "New Earth Army" in "The Men Who Stare At Goats" were made out to be crazy in the eyes of outsider Ewan McGregor due to their belief in psychic powers. During the movie I asked myself "why must the people trying to save the Earth be the crazy ones?". If people were introduced to an environmentalists viewpoints in a better context than psychic warriors then I believe more people would be open to the ideas of a hippie, at least the good ideas. In my opinion if the preservation of our world was conveyed in a context that appealed to peoples own ideals and beliefs then we can change the way people treat the Earth.