hey cory. i believe that they only way to show the truth is to live it. when narrow-minded people get an idea in their head, it's hard to convince them otherwise, and for the most part, aren't worth the effort. they remain narrow for the most part.
spread the love by living the love.
peace, patrick

Well "hippie" is just a word ultimately... I mean... we created it to describe the counter-culture of the 60's and 70's ... the kids of my parents generation who were "hip". But nobody uses the word "hip" anymore, so it's become kind of dated...

Today there are a bunch of small counter culture revolutions going on -- niche groups I think moreso than the broader movement of the 60's and 70's that I've heard had really been galvanized by the war in Vietnam. Kinsey published his second study in '58, the war started in '59 and then we had the sexual revolution in the 60's. Woodstock happened in '69 (the summer of love) and the Kent State shooting that inspired CSNY's Ohio happened in May '70. The war essentially ended in '75.

But with any given word, it acquires a "reputation" over time. Hence "neo hippies", because while the word has its reputation, the culture has moved on. And really, whether you're talking about now or during Woodstock, the reputation of the word depends a great deal on the group of people you're talking with. If you were a hippie, being "hip" was a good thing. Not so much if you were a square. :P So I think really it mostly boils down to just choosing the word based on the audience. If your audience is hippies, then "hippie" is gonna be well received. If your audience is people who associate the reputation of "smelly free loaders" with hippies, then you might find another word serves you better... before hippie it was "beatnick"... "progressive" springs to mind, although I admit it's not as snazzy. :)

Though we could always coin a new word to describe the current progressive counter culture -- I'd vote for "shiny" (a la Joss Whedon's Firefly).