In the 1960s USA a new movement appeared among young people. They rejected mainstream society and social habits, believed in the power of love, wore unusual clothes, had long hair, took both legal and illegal drugs and expressed sexual freedom. They gathered into communes, which were like big family groups. Soon their ideas spread from San Francisco, CA, to the whole US and to Western Europe. These flower children (the term comes from their symbol, the flower worn on their clothes or in their hair) believed in flower power, which stated that "peace and love is more important than military and commercial activities, and if enough people shared their ideas, wars would stop and the world would be a better place."
             The term hippy had been played up by the media of the 60s to describe these young people growing their hair long, listening to rock music, practicing free love, going to demonstrations and concerts. Literally it comes from the Beat generation word 'hip' or 'hipster', which means 'to be wise'. Hippies, however, preferred to be called the beautiful people. At the real beginning of the movement, the media had started reporting only the negative sides of hippy life, i.e., living in the street, antiwar movements, drug overdoses, pregnant teens, which all came to mean something negative to a great number of Americans. This idea has been going on, today the use of the term 'hippy' can still raise fears and resentment among people. There were a great many popular US poets, writers, singers, actors among the members of the hippies. They appeared and performed at hippy concerts and celebrations (like the Be-In). Among the most famous hippies and the ones who supported their movement are Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Allen Ginsberg, Jimi Hendrix, Aldous Huxley, Janis Joplin, Jack Kerouac, Ken Kesey, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Frank...