don't stereotype me!

i think it turns out i'm not a hippie.

i can't say what you think in reaction to that. there are certainly many people in my life who would say, 'yah, i've been telling you that forever,' and other's who would call bullshit (as esther says, 'if you're not, then what the hell is going on?'). historically, i'd be one to defend my own hippiedom, but i think i'm going to officially change my stance. and here's why:

i love to talk about words, and the evolution of spoken language. i am a firm supporter of the idea that there is no "proper" form of language except the modernly, popularly accepted version. words mean what people use them to mean, not what they used to mean historically, and more importantly, not what you think they SHOULD mean. i want hippie to be a description of my understanding of a movement of the 1960's, a self-actualizing, personal freedom espousing, (what doug called) pacifist anarchism counterculture. sure, they had an aesthetic. sure, they smoked a lot of pot, dropped a lot of acid. yeah, they had their own genre of music, and their own unique style of dancing (the hippie shuffle??). but the aesthetic, the drugs, the "culture," to me they're not the defining characteristic of this movement. as maude would say, they're incidental, not integral. and i get defensive about people using the word hippie to define a fashion style (fashion scarves, patchouli oil, anyone?), or people using the word hippie to define pothead burnouts.

but i mean, what is that? why should i get defensive over a descriptive word? if i'm in the minority with my opinion about what that word means, or at the least that it should be a more exclusive term, then by defending my own hippiedom all i'm doing is making MOST people think i'm something i'm not. the truth is i don't care about the style. i don't wear patchouli oil. i don't even smoke pot. i mean, yeah, i hardly shower, turns out i'm a vegan, obviously i care about nature, and politically i'm so far left i'm starting to loop back around the other side. but that doesn't mean i should stereotype myself.

turns out i'm just me. i'm probably mostly unique (and i don't know if you know this, but i'm pretty awesome, too), and if there are a lot of elements of me that come across as hippie, and if i find a romantic value in the historical movement that was once the hippie counterculture, then that's just a part of me. it doesn't make me a hippie. it doesn't mean i believe in astrology and tarot cards and reincarnation, or that i'm gonna spend my money on patchwork skirts and hemp necklaces, or that i really wanna get effed up and go to that reggae concert and shuffle with my eyes closed...

stereotypes are fun. but, it turns out, they're a little shallow. i'm over it.

but you can still call me a hippie if you want.