So I’m simply amazed to read that Craig Newmark wanted to get rid of Craigslist’s peace symbol icon because “he felt the hippies had been discredited.” Discredited? I think the reverse is true.

Sure, there were recreational hippies, just as there are tourists to any philosophy. How many recreational (Sunday) Christians fill the pews each week?

But the core of the hippie philosophy wasn’t about casual sex and pot-smoking, or even a movement against “conventionality.” It was a movement toward a more authentic and meaningful life. Hedonism? That’s not what I saw. I saw people who got up every morning at dawn so they could get in some farm work before heading off to regular jobs that paid the bills. There’s not a lot of time for hedonism when you’re a “lazy hippie” working 10-14 hours a day.

Stewart Brand’s Whole Earth Catalog was a precursor of the Interet, yes, but one could argue pretty strongly that the hippies invented the 21st century. Open source software, the environmental movement, sustainable agriculture, sexual and religious tolerance, Barcamps, music festivals, co-ops, D.I.Y., etc. Make up your own list. These are all direct descendants of a hippie culture that sought to find authenticity and make real the promise of “love thy neighbor as thyself.”

All that said, I should clarify something: my commune upbringing was fraught with the same human weaknesses and many of the same bad behaviors that kids raised in mainstream culture experienced. We had fights and intrigues. People were manipulative, passive-aggressive, aggressive-aggressive, and often just plain jerky. Being utopian was no path to utopia, and the commune ended up being a windfall property scam for the members who held on like grim death when things came apart.

But its past time that we started considering the hippies for what they were: pioneers.