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When I was growing up in the 70's and 80's it seemed like the people slightly younger than my parents, such as the hippies, were more free, wild, liberated, etc.
The older generations were "square". This seemed natural.
But now it seems like the 1960's were more of an anomaly.
So how do younger people view that time, when older people were "less square" than they are? It seems to defy logic or something.
What do you mean older people were less square? The hippies were the young people. Their parents generation were very much against what they were doing.
You have to remember as well, that the catalyst for that generations activism and rebellion was the Vietnam war, and peoples views about the Vietnam war colored everything.
I think he's saying that his Gen X parents were more "square" than the hippies (Baby Boomer Gen).
The Gen X experience was a whole thing of latchkey kids, while their Boomer parents (previously hippies) went to work for corporations and became totally uncool. Must have been weird mixed messages in the house (music, etc.)
Very few people who came of age in the 60's were hippies. According to Wikipedia "In 1968, self-described hippies represented just under 0.2% of the U.S. population and dwindled away by mid-1970s." Most of us liked the rock music, the colorful styles, pot and/or alcohol, women's liberation, the greater sexual freedom of that period compared to our parents' generation. Many sympathized with the idea of ending the war, racial integration, peace and love. Probably like many teens and young 20's of today. But the vast majority also joined the establishment to the extent necessary to get a decent paying job, a spouse, kids, a house. I have grandchildren who are teenagers now. I don't think think there's much difference in their lives than in mine in the 1960's. I anything, I'd say my children, who were born in the 70's, were wilder than we were. As children and teenagers most of us were still under the influence of our parents' generation. Our parents had lived through the Great Depression and WWII, and were stricter and less permissive as parents than we were.
I think he's saying that his Gen X parents were more "square" than the hippies (Baby Boomer Gen).
The Gen X experience was a whole thing of latchkey kids, while their Boomer parents (previously hippies) went to work for corporations and became totally uncool. Must have been weird mixed messages in the house (music, etc.)
The OP *is* GenX, if they were growing up in the 70s and 80s.
Some of our friends went to Woodstock, did the thing, actually ended up in a way in the oh so dear 6-figures - what do you try to figure out? How do "younger people" understand that generation"? We used to talk to each other.
26-year-old here. I would say I view the original hippies as a necessary response to the ill-fated Vietnam War. Of course there were also a large aesthetic component, which on some level was probably just a way for people to look cool and get girls to sleep with them. It's the same way today with how a lot of BLM and Antifa people embrace Marxist "arm the working class!" and "kill all cops!" rhetoric. Most of them aren't really serious about it, they just want to be cool. Doesn't mean that the core ideas these groups formed around aren't important.
As for hippies being less "square" than most Millennials and Zoomers are? I think in large part that's just because fashion in the US seems to naturally shift between "sloppy" and "put-together" every so often. In the late '60s, maybe the late '70s (punk fashion), and then throughout the '90s and '00s, disheveled styles were more in vogue. Nowadays I even see grade-schoolers with permed hair and pressed button-up shirts. It'll shift in the other direction soon enough.
26-year-old here. I would say I view the original hippies as a necessary response to the ill-fated Vietnam War. Of course there were also a large aesthetic component, which on some level was probably just a way for people to look cool and get girls to sleep with them. It's the same way today with how a lot of BLM and Antifa people embrace Marxist "arm the working class!" and "kill all cops!" rhetoric. Most of them aren't really serious about it, they just want to be cool. Doesn't mean that the core ideas these groups formed around aren't important.
As for hippies being less "square" than most Millennials and Zoomers are? I think in large part that's just because fashion in the US seems to naturally shift between "sloppy" and "put-together" every so often. In the late '60s, maybe the late '70s (punk fashion), and then throughout the '90s and '00s, disheveled styles were more in vogue. Nowadays I even see grade-schoolers with permed hair and pressed button-up shirts. It'll shift in the other direction soon enough.
Your timing is off. The hippies came before the war became a social issue. Civil rights protests happened in the early-to-mid-Sixties in SF, Berkeley, etc. (I am from West Coast, so only remember timeline of mostly West Coast stuff).
It would be really useful to have a linear time line of when things happened. It seems like a big jumble right now.
The Summer of Love was in 1967 and I was there (the bands, the scene in SF, etc.) It was very exciting to see the artistic part of it unfold.
I relate to Gen Z more than any other generation - they seem smarter, more social aware, and obviously more politically active, and I appreciate that. I have resented that Gen X, the Silent Gen, and the Millennials have been so silent about political and social issues, and I honestly don't get it. It's like they (collectively) don't care about anything, really (I know that is a sweeping, rash generalization).
A good example of my OP is the movie "School of Rock" where Jack Black plays a Gen-X substitute teacher who teaches a class of young people about rock music. How do those young people view the Gen-X and Millennials who listened to rock music?
While the young people in the modern classroom are portrayed as "square" since they seemingly know nothing about rock music.
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