Viva la "ageing hippies"

[stellanoir]

Okay, I'm not quite old enough to be qualified as a hippie but had a tremendous amount of respect for their calls for the withdrawal from the Vietnamese debacle when I was very little.

I'm sick to death of people making comparisons between Iraq and Vietnam.

Get it. Iraq is far worse.

We are infuriating and assaulting one third of the world's population. Vietnam was comprised primarily of Buddhists. They are the most forgiving of faiths. With all due respect, that cannot be said of Islam.

When I look at the picts on DU of Camp Casey I & II, I see a fantastic and wondrous crossection of America. Not a bunch of over aged hippies."

Please consider not letting this be minimized by the media.
These are people of all ages. Furthermore, the so called "ageing hippies" did in fact, do a good and righteous thing. They stopped an idiotic war.

This is far more widespread.

Ageing hippies have morphed into yuppies and freaks and CEO's beyond belief. The minimization of the forces there is far beyond despicable, But most of us do not believe in war or that violence ever creates anything, but more violence.

We will prevail. It'll just take some time.

[hippiechick]

1. Wow, that's a broad brush statement ...

... Ageing hippies have morphed into yuppies and freaks and CEO's beyond belief ..."

[graywarrior]

3. Yeah...that's not true.

although, I am a freak.

[tx_dem41]

4. Let's review the evidence:

Dylan as your avatar. Duct-taped duck in your sig line.....

Yep, you're a freak. :)

[cascadiance]

31. I was probably the tail end of the Vietnam generation...

Just missed the draft when it was ended in the 70's before I graduated from High School. I did however live in Thailand as an overseas brat during the height of the Vietnam war and even visited Cambodia there before John Kerry went there (though I don't remember exactly when! :) ).

Even though I wore the military fatigues with peace sign patches, etc. and the long hair when living overseas later in Turkey, I'm probably even more of a hippie today than I was then. I NOW wear things like provocative political t-shirts more than I did then and spend a lot more time being an activist now than I did then. I was still trying to decide between being a Republican and a Democrat as a kid growing up where I'm a solid Dem now.

Some of us "sold in" instead of "sold out" in being hippies over the years! I proudly wear my "newer" old Woodstock t-shirt these days!

And I do agree that this time around, it's a lot worse than it was then, even though the media tries to avoid making that depiction now. We're faced with more dangerous forces in more different places than we faced then (whether it be a corrupt media, corrupt elections, far more different criminal actions by a government with even deeper corporate pockets than before, etc.).

It's going to take all of us to get out of this mess. We need to not push away ANYONE that will work with us in getting these SOB's out of power now!

[tinfoilinfor2005]

2. My kids always called me "the original flower child"

and weren't surprised when I attended a vigil for Cindy the other night (and the one who lives close to me would have come along but for a sick baby).
There were plenty of my age group present because we were the ones who lost friends and brothers in Viet Nam and we were the ones who swore we would never let it happen again. So I think we were there on a blood oath. And I was pretty proud of us.

[mcscajun]

5. *Some* aging hippies *may* have morphed into yuppies and freaks

and CEO's beyond belief...many more have NOT.

We've held onto our ideals as tightly as we could while trying to make a living for ourselves and those we love.

Let's not tar a whole generation for some high-profile sellouts.

[nevergiveup]

6. Well said mcscajun Amen!

[Generic Other]

7. A kick for aging hippies

[nofurylike]

21. whoohooo! blast from the past! i love those aging hippies!! thanks! eom

[Generic Other]

24. Ken Kesey's electric kool-aid acid bus for all you youngsters

:smoke:

[sniffa]

8. here here

:applause:

[BrotherBuzz]

9. The Vietnam war was a proxy war....

Even this aging old hippy and dumb draftee that added "no value, no advantage, really, to the United States armed services..." understood that that there were other forces at work over there. Think USSR and China. It's all about subjugation, and I see no difference between Vietnam and Iraq. But then, I did say I was dumb.

[Eloriel]

11. Au contraire. There's a BIG difference.

Vietnam was jungle; Iraq is desert.


:evilgrin:

[uppityperson]

13. And Iraq had WMDs, VietNam didn't

:spray:

[BrotherBuzz]

17. LOL, you BAD!!!

:spank:

[uppityperson]

10. I'm a middle aged mom, aging hippy, respectable person

It depends on who I talk with and for what reason. If someone wants to downplay me as a "aging hippy" whether morphed into a CEO freak beyond belief or not (:rofl: wtf?), I am instead a middle aged mom. The problem with labeling people is we have a tendency to not be just 1 thing.

I also think it is a mistake to compare VietNam and Iraq for the purpose of saying which was worse. It doesn't matter which was worse. Both are bad and need/needed to be stopped. Don't spend your time and energies arguing this because it is a non-issue. The problem is not which was worse, however that is measured, but they both are really really really bad.

And in case you missed it, it wasn't just "beautiful flower people" (whatever that was) that protested VietNam and helped get us out of that. Like now, it was very widespread.

Peace

[Eloriel]

12. I'm saddened by your post

I find it simply wrong, insulting, misguided, divisive, arrogant. I can't imagine what you were trying to accomplish by it, but surely insulting a large swath of DU members -- us aging hippies -- couldn't have been part of that goal, could it?

[Generic Other]

16. "They stopped an idiotic war."

i TOOK THIS AS A COMPLIMENT , ELORIEL. aND IT IS TRUE, SOME HIPPIES GREW UP TO BE yUPPIES AND ceoS.

Sorry. Cap key on.

Thanks goodness so many more of us still have consciences.

[stellanoir]

26. I was merely insensed by the denigration

of the posters in Crawford being demoted to "hippie status" when it simply wasn't true. And shouldn't have been an insult in the first place. it's something to be proud of, not ashamed.

[niallmac]

14. Just a word about islam from an aging hippie.

I agree with the spirit of your post but some of the generalizations are just that.

"We are infuriating and assaulting one third of the world's population. Vietnam was comprised primarily of Buddhists. They are the most forgiving of faiths. With all due respect, that cannot be said of Islam."
Please read of Saladin the Kurdish warrior who faught in the Crusades and decide who was the first to be unforgiving. I believe all people of the planet share an equal desire for peace and an equal capacity for empathy and nurturing. The ass hats that manipulate tribes, nations and religions want nothing of the aforementioned to get in the way of their thirst for power.
I have traveled hither and yon and been the unsolicited and honored guest of both hindu, buddhist and muslim alike. On the people level this planet has a lot going for it.

[knowbody0]

15. the alternative to aging is dying

[donkeyotay]

18. Thank the deity that only the hippies are aging

The love-it or leave-it crowd are just as youthful and thoughtful as ever. What a relief.

[nofurylike]

19. viva! eom

[jimshoes]

20. Huh

They say aging hippie like it's a bad thing????? We were the cool kids back then. We still are.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. I'm an aging hippie

and I didn't morph into anything. Just more of the same.

[Contrary1]

28. Me too...

what's inside the package has never changed. It's the package itself that's morphed. ;)

[proud patriot]

23. as a child of aging hippy parents

Long live the hippies

[wli]

25. the time for tolerance of the neofascists is over

Zero tolerance. Sue them for every offense they commit, at every opportunity. Countersue for malicious prosecution. Videotape every police officer at every protest.

Never forgive, never forget. Rush Limbaugh and Mann Coulter deserve the same as Julius Streicher got, and the upper echelons of the neocons considerably more of the same.

[BeFree]

27. Zero Tolerance

I like that! We should have Zero tolerance for lies coming from our government.

To the OP: proof that we old hippies are cool is the fact that not one of them mentioned that you mispelled ageing. That's cool!

[JVS]

29. Vietnam wasn't an attack on Buddhists, it was an anti-communist.

And communists know how to bear a grudge.

[Bluerthanblue]

30. depends on what you call 'aging' AND hippies

as a child of the 60's, coming of age in the face of vietnam, i was a hippie.- Many 'flower children' are still flower children- and those who 'fell away' have returned, or 'awoken' as life has come full circle.

Grouping ANYONE (including hippies) or what YOU consider (old) in my day it was anyone over thirty, which clearly makes me 'old'- as 'less than you' or somehow 'morally defecient' is flat out WRONG.

There are plenty of consertive pro-war YOUTHS today- as there are plenty of anti-war, free thinking YOUTHS. classing people by anything other than their stand on issues as individuals is predjuce. And as unfair as anyone 'we' claim to reject.

Joni Mitchell, CSNY, Joan Baez, Ritchie Havens, Jackson Browne, geez even Ben and Jerry were AND still are people who embrace the same liberal agenda they always have- Eric Clalpton, Bob Dylan, Dead Heads, while most of these folks are musicians, John Lennon, Oko, and PP&M -i 'fell away' only to 'return' to what i knew was 'me'- after a crazy ride in 'notfundementalist hell' and have reconnected with some of the folks who shared the same vision right on through- never having 'sold out'-

The beauty of today's movement IS the diversity- Those 'normal' folks you see, may indeed be 'former hippies'- and the young kids, are there, in LARGE part, as a result of the 'awakening' that the 60's and 70's ushered in. i'm not saying that everything that those years 'wrought' was 'good' but it opened up the concept of BUCKING the ESTABLISHED 'norm'- regardless of the concequences.

As for Iraq being far worse than Vietnam.... well, i see it as worse, ONLY in the unbelievable fact, that America, BEGAN a war of 'choice' against a soverign nation, which was already suffering, and did so for purely material motives.- 'We' weren't fighting 'communism' or pretending to 'help' a nation being besieged by 'foreign invaders' WE ARE the foreign invaders.-

And while i have GREAT respect for the Vietnamese, don't think that the Viet cong didn't 'fight- dirty' or 'do terrible things' not only to their enemies, but to their own people- JUST as the Muslims have.
i sincerly believe that we are being fed a line of shit about the desire for the nation of Islam being willing to do anything to take over the world- Some, on The 'religious right' is NO less desirous of spreading THEIR 'religion' as rabidly as what 'we' claim the Muslims do, and some Zionists see their 'way' as the only way.

We are a diverse community joined together by the common thread, of wanting to allow people to live their lives in relative peace, and with the necessiary provisions for a chance to live. There isn't some kind of 'dress code' 'acceptable religious affiliation' and 'agenda' about how each one of us choose to live our lives unless our living infringes on the 'freedom' of others- ie dictating by LAW who one may love, what one may do with their bodies, and harming others just because the are part of a 'group' (like old hippies) you just happen to 'not like'-

Sorry, you hit a very discordant note with your post. Not everyone 'sold out' and those who did, haven't stayed 'sold'- Bush, Cheney, Rove, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Rice, Powell, et al, were NOT 'hippies'- if they had been, then maybe we wouldn't be discussing this right now.

peace-
an aging hippie, who isn't ashamed to be who i really am. (at long last)