Michael Langhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Lang_(producer)In the 1960's there was a growing subculture of beatniks and degenerates commonly referred to as "the Hippies." Strung out on psychedelic and opiate drugs, they naively envisioned bringing about peace and love through inaction and a lack of personal hygiene.
The movement peaked in 1968 and probably would have dissipated from public view like the last toke of a cannabis cigarette had it not been for a massive music venue staged in upstate New York dubbed the "Woodstock Music & Art Festival" during the summer of 1969.
Lang, the brainchild and promoter of the festival brought an estimated half-million hipsters to the 3 day festival and, while early media reports attempted to show the group as an anarchist mob, when the mud dried and the smoke cleared, it was obvious that peace and love prevailed.
Later attempts to replicate the festival did not end as well but the damage was done: The Hippie movement was legitimized.
The legacy of the hippie movement continues to permeate Western society. In general, unmarried couples of all ages feel free to travel and live together without societal disapproval. Frankness regarding sexual matters has become more common, and the rights of homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people, as well as people who choose not to categorize themselves at all, have expanded. Religious and cultural diversity has gained greater acceptance. Co-operative business enterprises and creative community living arrangements are more accepted than before. Some of the little hippie health food stores of the 1960s and 1970s are now large-scale, profitable businesses, due to greater interest in natural foods, herbal remedies, vitamins and other nutritional supplements. Author Stewart Brand argues that the development and popularization of the Internet finds one of its primary roots in the anti-authoritarian ethos promoted by hippie culture.
...and the products of that movement are the politicians of today.
