I never really understood or knew much about the hippie movement. To my knowledge, bunches of young people camped out on grass, made flower necklaces and took incredible amounts of drugs starting with acid/LSD. PBS’s program on the “Summer of Love” gave me an entirely different perspective.
The program itself deals with the seed of hippie, short for hipster, planted in San Francisco during the mid-60s. Depression, war, cold war, nuclear arms, prejudice and Vietnam all weighed heavily in the minds of the youth. They wanted to create a utopia where money is meaningless, and people started treating each other humanely again. Instead of whining about it, the hippies in San Francisco actually did that: they passed out free food, started communes in the large Victorian houses that dotted the Haight and rejected the industrial goal of the almighty dollar. They even had a free store, where people took what they needed and dropped off what they didn’t.
When word spread of the Summer of Love festival in San Francisco that would bring together youth from around the nation to celebrate peace, love and their philosophy, hundreds of thousands flocked to California. You can watch the program to understand exactly what happened and how the utopian plan went awry.
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I started to understand the whole picture behind the hippie movement. In fact, I started to see its impact today. A few months ago, I had dinner with a friend and ended up chatting for about 2-4 hours on the merits of Hillary and Barack. This was before Super Tuesday and Obama’s nomination.
We agreed that Hillary took the more formal approach, doing things by the book and making the change necessary by using “the system” instead of changing it. Barack focused more on bringing people together to solve problems. At that point, before her reputation became “crazy bitch” (which is fucked up in it own right, and I won’t go there right now), I adamantly supported her cause. To me, it’s cute to have Barack come in and make his nice little speeches and talk about ‘change.’ I wanted a person who knew the system and worked it. I wanted Hillary to clean up the international messes we’ve made with Turkey, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, to some extent China and the list goes on. I wanted her to fix the economy with a long term monetary goal and create an opt-in (not mandatory) universal healthcare plan. Obama can come in and decorate when we’re back out of the hole.
After the PBS program, I realized the importance of a trickle-down effect. By inspiring the American people, Obama influences and brings more to action than Hillary’s step-by-step programs. He moves us because Barack gives us what we so desperately need: honesty, proven (not marketed) integrity, hope, faith and momentum all wrapped up in a nice package that says “look, America’s electing a black president; we can’t be racist!”
I think the quote on the Obama site is particularly apropos for what I’m trying to say:
“I’m asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington… I’m asking you to believe in yours.” - Barack Obama
Because of the American Experience PBS program, I’m a supporter by choice and not by lack of it.
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