Louisiana’s school voucher program is already on the ropes, but the folks who run it are still trying to educate the youngsters about history besides Jesus riding a dinosaur and there be dragons off the edge of the Earth. Here’s their entry that explains those odd people known as “hippies.”
They went to Canada or European countries to escape being drafted into military service.
Many young people turned to drugs and immoral lifestyles’ these youths became known as hippies. They went without bathing, wore dirty, ragged, unconventional clothing, and deliberately broke all codes of politeness or manners. Rock music played an important part in the hippie movement and had great influence over the hippies. Many of the rock musicians they followed belonged to Eastern religious cults or practiced Satan worship.
And then they grew up, got jobs, started families and companies, and a lot of them voted for Reagan and Bush.
But the music was pretty damn good.
Love the pic.
I’m confused, is that you MB?
Yep. Freshman year in college, 1971.
I had a classmate – an Honors Program student, no less – at university who did his best to convince all of us that rock music was inherently Satanic. He even unearthed some “research” about how the rock beat was asymmetrical to the heartbeat (which was apparently proof).
These Louisianans, though. Sounds like they’ve never been out in the country or worked on a farm or oil rig (“dirty, ragged, unconventional clothing”) or eaten at the local Waffle House (“deliberately broke all codes of politeness or manners”). And I LOVE the implications of youth without guidance (“Many young people turned to drugs and immoral lifestyles”) – have they mentioned this to “Huggies” Vitter yet? Not the least judgmental, are they?
One of the hippies we raised lived for a while in a commune in Boston while wandering through Antioch College. Tried Primal Scream Therapy. Skied a lot, taught tennis for time until he decided “tennis is just a game”. Got a “real” job, finished college, got married, bought a three-piece suit and is now about to take early retirement from his successful career in commercial real estate. His younger brother followed more or less the same path. Both confessed they’d been stoned their entire senior year in high school. The younger one retired at age 45 after serving as corporate VP for Msft. and has been living a productive life, raising three kids, serving on their school’s board and raising money for it – among other good works. The in-between-brother is MB,PhD. and you know about his wasteful ways.
Not too shabby for a Boomer mom and pop of the post-WW2 generation. I would have been a hippie but was born too soon.
And what do we call the people who stayed in the US but avoided the draft and then started or promoted their own wars….?
Oh, that’s right, PATRIOTIC AMERICANS!