Peace Not War: The Hippie Culture

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Recommended: Introduction to the Meaning of Life

What is the meaning of life? The fundamental question humanity has been asking since the beginning of their existence, but always left unanswered. So why does this question need to be solved? Why cannot all live in peace and freedom, where each one of us is happy and part of the flow? This new idea of peace and love appealed to many young adults in 1960s and created a subculture called “hippie”. As the hippies’ culture became prevalent in the society, their new unique perspective induced many Canadians to change their views in drugs, pacifism, and human rights. The era of hippies was also the time period when teenage drug consumption was at the peak. Nonetheless, it was not a coincidence. The hippie culture promoted consumption of drugs—especially …show more content…

Their ideology in peace impacted many Canadians to participate in the peace movement and support pacifism. Hippies demonstrated passive resistance to violence by using “Flower Power” as their slogan. They wore flower in their hair and distributed flowers to the public to protest against violence. This odd movement proved citizens that peace can be achieved through non-violence and inspired many people to participate in the movement. As a result, hippies provoked a mood in society that guided many citizens to take part in the peace movement. Another symbol that represented hippies was the peace symbol. Even though hippies were not the creator of the symbol, hippies were responsible for creating a trend. Hippies wore peace symbol, and used it to express their idea of the society. And, later on, other groups used the peace symbol to show their rejection against possession of nuclear weapons. Therefore, many symbols used in the peace movement resembled hippies because of their …show more content…

They believed in harmony and co-existence in nature, which are beliefs mostly adapted from eastern religion, especially Buddhism. And John Lennon, a popular hippie musician shared this philosophy on media, by singing “Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. And no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace.” The lyrics from Imagine described how there should be no borders between people, and suggested all people should live together peacefully. As a result, many people took interest in issues related to violation in equality, and some stood up for the minority. Citizens, often university students, formed groups and demanded government for resolutions in unfair treatments. And by 1962, Ontario became the first province to protect Ontarians from any discrimination by passing the Ontario Human Rights Code. Even though not all the people in this group would define themselves as hippies, but they were certainly influenced by widespread hippies’ ideology in their age group. Furthermore, hippies who believed in free love brought up the sexual orientation issues to the public, and stood up for their rights. “The 1960s saw the first gay rights organization” , many people who were not part of the LGBT community, still stood up for the gay rights. Therefore, hippies’ counterculture

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