Seniors: Were the Hippies of the 1960s sort of like the Occupy Wall Street movement today?

NO not at all. The Hippies were not always the same as the Anti Viet Nam movement or the Peace movement . However they didn't riot or create hell & havoc just because they could. There was a reason and a purpose and those in the movement had a purpose unlike the Occupy Wall Street people.

Those "hippies" that were actively involved with political issues were very much like the folks involved with OWS. The main issues were different but they have the same similar detrimental effects on America. Also, the OWS movement includes all age groups, not just young adults.

I am amazed that some of you folks call yourself seniors citizens, yet don't have a clue about hippies. Just where were you in the 60's and 70's? And to dismiss OWS. If you don;t think American is being run by the rich and powerful you have to be living some where else. If you don't accept that capitalism has failed in America, that politics has failed and that corruption is common then you are still living in the past.

In the sense that it was a recognition of and rejection of corporate culture and control of the country. The big difference was so many men were drafted and being killed there was more vocal opposition to the war in Vietnam. Since it was far away and we didnt have instant images and news people didnt have information like now. In the 1960s there were other demonstrations in the country going on about freedom of speech, police brutality, discrimination, minority rights, womens rights, all of which have been addressed through legislation.

The people who are part of the OWS are not hippies. Yes, there are some homeless and students. They are also union members, unemployed people, working people, professionals, people who are against corruption and greed who believe the banks should be punished for causing the financial scandals and because of the income inequity in the U.S., shrinking the middle class that took 100 years to increase. So in this sense, the two movements are not the same.

There are some resemblances, but some differences too. Most of the hippies were upper middle class and their parents paid for college,which wasn't all that expensive compared to today. Many of the OWS young people are from lower middle class and working class families and are laden with huge student loan debts that they see little hope of paying off as they slave at their McJobs. The hippies of old were not worried about money and took it for granted; they thought it was fun live like poor people. They tended to champion the rights of people who were born less fortunate than themselves. Today's OWSers are fighting for all of us 99%ers but are also thinking about themselves, their own families, and their future children. What they have in common is the desire for peaceful protest, keeping Gandhi and Martin Luther King ever in mind.

in a political way yes. more like the civil rights movement. the hippies went the gamut from spiritual to apolitical.

It's hard to believe people of the sixties are seniors. I loved the sixties and wish I could have been alive during that era. My Mom is from the sixties. Does that make her a senior?? She's only 52! I would say it is similar, but a different movement.

Yeah, they wanted change and meant it. Like the OWS protesters, they had to camp out, find their own food; most of them slept on the ground, dealt with the police and believed in fairness.

Other than living in a tent I don't think so. Either way people are fed up and protest different issues. It is a crazy world always was, always will be.

No. Hippies were generally apolitical and non-engaged. OWS are citizen activists--more in keeping with the anti-war and student political movements of the 60s.

No - not the hippies - they were usually too stoned and laid back. It was the Student movement & college educated who were concerned about our nation.