I’m putting together some of my blogs that tell stories about Briarpatch businesses. There were over 1,000 businesses and I have over 6,000 blogs to look through.
It makes me think.
I woke up this morning realizing that much of our modern world was created by we hippies. No wonder the perpetual anti-hippie sentiment is so great. A very American rejection of our parents.
Think about the current world and the important business categories that came from hippies.
- The smartphone is a direct descendant of the personal computer which came from the two Steves who got their electronic and marketing start at the Briarpatch member Homebrew Computer Club.
- The whole organic food world from farming to marketing. Every large food store, including WalMart has an organic section. Purely a hippie invention coming out of hippie paranoia about the ‘bad things’ in their food.
- All the food innovations from tofu and kefir to herbal teas and non-meat sausages. Also all the fancy and elegant breads.
- The vast realm of sports starting with the pre-eminent world of bicycles. Started with the hippie mountain bikes. The hippie hang gliders created a new world of boards including ski boarding.
- A whole clothing industry was developed by hippies. Not just the dominance of jeans but more importantly nearly all sporting wear and outdoor supplies.
- Charter schools grew out of secular home schooling, specifically Rasberry Exercises.
- Then there is the whole world of Armageddon. Hippie paranoia created the ‘end of the world’ industries of solar panels, wind generators, heavily insulated housing and the entire related world that has grown out of this energy fantasy and the associated recycling.
- Then we have what hippies brought back from our world travels. Thai food, yoga, martial arts, Buddhism, anime.....
There is so much more that I can’t think of now. In each of these cases I worked with one of the founding businesses including wind generators and comic publishing. My first book, The Seven Laws of Money, was designed originally to help homeschooling groups.
Thank hippies for the parts of our modern world that you like.