Positive and Negative Impacts of the Sixties Counterculture Essay

Hippies represent the ideological, naive nature that children possess. They looking at that with a little love and conectedness, peace and equivalence will abound. It is with this premise that so m whatever activists and iron outers, inspired by the transformation that hipsters cultivated, hand over found the will to persist in revolutionizing social and political policy. Their selection lifestyles and radical beleifs were the shocking blow that American culture segregation, McCarthyism, unjust fights, security reviewneeded to prove that or so Americans excuse had the common sense to treat for one another. The infantile mickle of the mid-mid-sixties counterculture accomplishment were successful at awakening aw areness on many causes that are being fought in modern American discourse. If not for the Revolution that the flower people began, political or social reform and the Peoples voice would be decades behind. age the hippie motion has subsided, as it became alike cool and entrenched in mainstream society, the spirit of the Hippies lives on, as their work was only the framework for decades of reform to come.Civil RightsThe work that hippies did, hand in hand with African-Americans, was precise(prenominal) powerful in striking the discourse on racial equality in the US. Demonstrations reached their inspirational peak in 1964 when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marched with 250,000 people in put forward of civilized rights and racial equality. They were successful politic every(prenominal)y with the rush of the Civil Rights Act. The squeeze for equal rights has not been won, however, as most of the hippies fightings continue to be fought by the veterans and new recruits of the movement.Racism and difference ensue today as the discrimination, prejudice, and hate crimes occur at an alarmingly frequent rate. Rita Sehti, in The separate of Asian America, explains that media sensationalism, political expedience, intellectual laziness, and wake less constraints conspire to narrow the scope of cognizable racism (Sethi). But it is still a fuss of extreme magnitude in America, being fought to a greater extent(prenominal) often in courtrooms than campus jibs. Groups uniform ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunities Council), and ARA (Anti-Racist fulfil League) have come into force thanks to the social reform of the sixties counterculture. Organizations such as these continue to foster great changes in civil rights and equality.FeminismThe sexual revolution of the sixties was truly a chars revolution. Women were given the choice of getting pregnant for the first clock in history. The value of this freedom was much more(prenominal) signifcant than cont overturning pregnancy, however. It represent female empowerment and gave women a long needed boost toward the fight for gender equality. Hippies, hand in hand with conformist women, protested and battled for equal wages, spontaneous abortion rights, academic equality, discrimination, family and abused women aid, and much more. The progress the activists made for womens rights in the 1960s is unparalleled and monumental.It is now 2004. For the first quantify in history, the 1972 arrogant Court ruling on Roe v. Wade is being challenged by American politics. This court decision gave women the right to choose to end a pregnancy. The Bush administrations Christian fundamental values are infringing on the Constitutional values of America. On April 25, 2004 there is to be a national protest march on Washington DC for womens rights. This is to be the largest womens rights protest in world history. Its organizers, participants, and sponsors hope that the reflexion will speak to the American people, legislators, and media the way the feminist movement of the sixties has.EnvironmentalismAs people began to recognize their relationship to each other and their environs in a new way, a heightened Earth Consciousness was born. business concern for the environment grew because hippies saw the Earth as wat it isa  kind Mother Nature that provided for and nourished their very lives. They pioneered the ongoing and tough battle to save the earth with the founding of Earth Day, Rachel Carsons Silent Spring, and groups like Greenpeace. Environmentalists host one of Americas largest political lobbies. Groups such as Greenpeace protest with millions of members worldwide on issues ranging from destruction of rainforests, oil companies, nuclear wastes, nursery effect, and biodiversity.Political Awareness and Student RebellionRecently Ralph Nader spoke to an yearning and supportive audience at Columbia College. Nader spoke about the very same issues he lectured about in 1968corporate rule, environmental protections, military-industrial heterogeneous and unjust wars, equality and access to education, womens rights. It was an increased awareness that overtook the young people of the sixties counterculture movement. This awareness led to a social battle cry against injustices in politics.The hippies, hand in hand with college students, helped stop an unjust, costly, and deathly war in Vietnam. The hippies had the courage to speak out for the 67% of Americans that were fence to the war. An anti-war movement not unlike the Vietnam protests has progressed over the past two long time against the War in Iraq. March 20, 2003 was a national day of protest with over 25 million protesting the worldwide-disapproved occupation of Iraq. Seven-hundred were arrested in Chicago as the protesters marched on Lake Shore Drive. NION (Not in Our Name) is a prominent organization makepost-9/11 that organizes, educates, and demonstrates through direct action against the unjustified Iraq war.The hippie movement was comprised almost entirely of youth (the 18 to 30 year- old demographic). In an unprecedented and organized fashion, these young people united to make authoritative changes in the world. Youth have a powerful voice in numbers as parents, schools, and governing institutions wish not to have too much fuss in their daily lives. After the disasters at Altamont and Kent state of matter University, some of the strength of the movement faded. But not for long. Today college students lead a huge role in legislation reform. Groups such as SSDP (Students for Sensible Drug Policy) and YIRP (Youth in Revolutionizing Politics) have been succesful in gaining media and political support in increasing awareness of American political issues which affect the world.M Negativity MHippies grew up. Therein lies one major problem with the movement. The members of the counterculture were optimistic, idealistic kids. Many of them impressionable teens with a desire to conform to some group of peers. But after the fatal blows to the unity of the hippie tribesKent State massacre, mass arrests and assasinations of revered leaders and activists, government censorship, rock n roll overdoses, an influx of shady, greedy characters into the hippie community, legislation (building codes prohibiting hippie communes and open houses anti-vagrancy laws) and so onmany of these kids matured as adults and adopted totally contradicting lifestyles.Karen Thomas, old Chicago hippie activist and drug law reformer, tells of a time when she was work as an accountant at the Board of Trade. Many of her colleagues and contrast trader suit- types told of the jolly times at Woodstock and smoking grass and the GroovyLoooveDayz. This evince and embarassing 180 of lifestyles showed the Conservative world that hippies were indeed a mess of idealistic kiddies who would one day grow up. They are now working for the very companies they protested against for violations of human, environmental, womens and animal rights. The irony of the grown-up hippies is damaging today, as it discredits future youth, counterculture, social, politial, and rebellious movements.There are some obvious flaws in the cou ntercultures approach to sparking a political revolution. In some ways the philosophies of the movement were far too broad to provoke any sort of perdurable change. One must pick their battles wisely if they are to make any timely progress in legislation reform. Real love, emanation of the consciousness, and enlightenment are great for some. But it takes a bit more than a peaceful nature and groovy hair to convince those legislators in D.C. that what they are doing is wrong. Hippies never provided any long-term alternatives to the evil outline they were fighting, just colorful short-term ones.It is not far off to consider that many hippies felt drawn to the idea of protesting for cause of unpurified motives. Perhaps they were drawn to the excitement, the glory of speaking before an enthusiastic crowd, and the prestige of recognition in the scene. Allen Ginsberg once lamented that too many of the protesters in the sixties seemed to be doing it because it was a good excuse to be spiteful. Many hippies had uncontrolled anger and emotion that interfered with the clarity of their message. Long-time organizer Saul Alinsky, in his book Rules for Radicals, asks if you are willing to cut your hair to make yourself more effective. That is a pretty good indication of an activists train of sacrifice and dedication.The hippie movement both amused and scared parents, educators, police, and government officials. They closed in on the hippie movement once and for all with the Draconian drug war launched by Richard Nixon in 1969. His administration set for an unprecedented amount of federal budget to be applied to pushover down on cannabis arrests. The drug war was used as a crutch to stop the hippie movement dead in its tracks. And it has do a pretty good job, with over five million marijuana arrests over the past decade (Sidenote Ninety percent of these arrests were for nonviolent, simple posession charges).