Zippie
Encyclopedia
Zippie is a term used to describe a person who does something for nothing, i.e. zip. Any supporter of free culture, free food, free books, free software is a zippie.

The origin of the word is an evolution of the term yippie, which was coined by the Youth International Party
Youth International Party
The Youth International Party, whose members were commonly called Yippies, was a radically youth-oriented and countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the free speech and anti-war movements of the 1960s. It was founded on Dec. 31, 1967...

 in the 1960s. In subsequent years, zippie became a term used to describe a 1990s technoperson, in contradiction to yuppie
Yuppie
Yuppie is a term that refers to a member of the upper middle class or upper class in their 20s or 30s. It first came into use in the early-1980s and largely faded from American popular culture in the late-1980s, due to the 1987 stock market crash and the early 1990s recession...

. In the 1990s Fraser Clark
Fraser Clark
The late Fraser Clark was the founder and editor of Encyclopedia Psychedelica and a key advocate of the rave movement, hosting regular small underground parties which laid the way for the launch of the first large legal festi-rave club in central London, Megatripolis in 1993.He advocated a new form...

 and others, created a unique subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

 that combined the "1990s techno hemisphere with the 1960s earth person".

1972

Zippies reached international prominence during the American 1972 Democratic National Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

 and 1972 Republican National Convention
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention is the presidential nominating convention of the Republican Party of the United States. Convened by the Republican National Committee, the stated purpose of the convocation is to nominate an official candidate in an upcoming U.S...

, held in Miami Beach, Florida, USA, when the term was silk-screened on t-shirts and worn by counter-culture activists and groups working to end the US involvement in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

.

1994

In May 1994 Wired Magazine published an article titled "Here Come the Zippies!". The cover of the magazine featured a kaleidoscopic image of a smiling young man with wild hair, a funny hat, and mechanical eyeglasses. Written by Jules Marshall
Jules Marshall
Jules Marshall has been an editor for Mediamatic Magazine since 1989. Trained as a journalist and a contributing writer for Wired, he has also written for Time Out , i-D, Weiner, Sydney Morning Herald, Blvd...

, the article announced an organized cultural response to Thatcherism
Thatcherism
Thatcherism describes the conviction politics, economic and social policy, and political style of the British Conservative politician Margaret Thatcher, who was leader of her party from 1975 to 1990...

 in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...

.

There's a new and rapidly spreading cultural virus ripping through the British Isles. The symptoms of those infected include attacks of optimism, strong feelings of community, and lowered stress levels. Will their gathering in August at the Grand Canyon be the Woodstock of the '90s?


The article describes zippies, according to 50-year-old Fraser Clark, as "Zen-Inspired Pronoia Professional", or "hippies with zip". The UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 media tried to pin various labels on the Y Generation such as cyber-crusties, techno-hippies
Electrohippies
The Electrohippies Collective is an international group of internet activists based in Oxfordshire, England, whose purpose is to express disapproval of governmental policies of mass media censorship and control of the Internet "in order to provide a 'safe environment' for corporations to do their...

, and post-ravers, the zippies advocate Fraser Clark
Fraser Clark
The late Fraser Clark was the founder and editor of Encyclopedia Psychedelica and a key advocate of the rave movement, hosting regular small underground parties which laid the way for the launch of the first large legal festi-rave club in central London, Megatripolis in 1993.He advocated a new form...

 espoused a philosophy known as pronoia
Pronoia (psychology)
Pronoia is a neologism that is defined as the opposite state of mind as paranoia: having the sense that there is a conspiracy that exists to help the person...

 and embarked on an expedition to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. This tour was dubbed the Zippy Pronoia Tour to US.Other uses of the term are "Zen Inspired Peace Professional."
These zippies were a New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...

 kind of hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

 who embraced Chaos Theory, Blakean revolt, modern mystery's such as New Age Paganism
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....

, trance music
Trance music
Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s.:251 It is generally characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 bpm,:252 repeating melodic synthesizer phrases, and a musical form that builds up and breaks down throughout a track...

, rave
Rave
Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

 culture, smart drinks, free software, technology and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

ism in an effort to bring about a better world.

A group called "The Zippies" were behind one of the first acts of electronic civil disobedience with a collective online action against the 1994 Criminal Justice Bill
Intervasion of the UK
1994 electronic civil disobedience and collective action against John Major's Criminal Justice Bill which sought to outlaw outdoor dance festivals and "music with a repetitive beat". Launched by a group called The Zippies from San Francisco's 181 Club on Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, 1994, it...

.

1999

An offshoot of the Zippie movement in Northern Ireland again blended Frazer Wright subculture music ethos with the spirit of 21st Century free-thinking generation. Combining new ideals of politics and philosophies to evolve the Northern Ireland peace process on street level. Later spreading to the West coast of Ireland with the primary message of peace love and welcoming of anything free.

2004

In his book The World is Flat
The World Is Flat
The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century is an international bestselling book by Thomas Friedman that analyzes globalization, primarily in the early 21st century. The title is a metaphor for viewing the world as a level playing field in terms of commerce, where all competitors...

, Thomas L. Friedman describe zippies as a "huge cohort of Indian youth who are first to come of the age since India shifted away from socialism and dived headfirst into global trade and information revolution by turning itself into world's service center".

See also

  • Club Kids
    Club Kids
    The Club Kids were a group of young New York City club personalities mostly led by Michael Alig and James St. James in the late 1980s and early 1990s...

  • Counterculture
    Counterculture
    Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...

  • Electrohippies
    Electrohippies
    The Electrohippies Collective is an international group of internet activists based in Oxfordshire, England, whose purpose is to express disapproval of governmental policies of mass media censorship and control of the Internet "in order to provide a 'safe environment' for corporations to do their...

  • Rave
    Rave
    Rave, rave dance, and rave party are parties that originated mostly from acid house parties, which featured fast-paced electronic music and light shows. At these parties people dance and socialize to dance music played by disc jockeys and occasionally live performers...

  • Subculture
    Subculture
    In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...

  • Hippie
    Hippie
    The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK