Rival Rainbow hippy factions brawl
The Boulder Daily Camera reports that five members of the peace-and-love espousing Rainbow Family were arrested after brawling at a campsite near the Colorado mountain town of Ward. One man was hit in the back of the head multiple times and had to be airlifted to a Denver hospital. He may have also been stabbed in the neck and is unable to speak.
Sheriff’s officials said everyone allegedly involved in the fight was part of a “splinter group” of Rainbow Family members who earlier this month were kicked out of a campsite in Pinedale, Wyo., after the group became “very violent” during a national assembly.Rainbow hippies arrested after Nederland brawl (Boulder Daily Camera)...
In 2006, a member of the Rainbow Family angered over another family member’s refusal to help him “regulate” others camping at Ruby Gulch stabbed him in the neck, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Court records show that Joshua Sunchild Silva, known by his Rainbow name of Karma Chip, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and was sentenced to six months in the Boulder County Jail in the stabbing of Gilbert Hernandez, 31.
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And this is why I don't like hippies.
This is about as funny as the two guys in Boulder who got into a squabble and ended up simultaneously tasering each other with 50K volts http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/may/19/taser.fight
ach thats really sad, Baldhead , coz I met some Hippies yesterday and they spoke very fondly of you....
good taser story! Re: "hippies"; the word never had much meaning and has lost that little it had by now. It really ought to be retired - or forgotten by people now finding themselves in their thirtieth year of working for the income tax department.
There comes a time in every Hippie's life when he/she has to put down the bong and begin crackin' skulls.
Either that or they just to add more "Frozen Dead Guys" to the Day.
I'm guessing Meth has infiltrated "The Family"
...Knives? Whatever happened to hitting people over the head with protest signs? :-/
"Hippies, hippies all around me! They say they wanna save the Earth, but all they do is smoke Pot and smell bad."
- Eric Cartman
Boozy psuedo-hippies who didn't fit-in with the rainbow types. Really closer to "punks" or petty criminals.
While it is possible to be a young hippie, these folks are not it.
...thus proving my theory that TC Boyle (Drop City) is one of the Top Ten genius novelists working today.
Karma Chip?
KARMA CHIP?
Either it's
A) worst name ever for a snack food , or maybe a tie with Pirate Booty, which incidentally does not taste like pirates OR booty )
B) worst name ever for a hippie in the bad attitude that goes around comes around category
At least in Atlanta, "Rainbow Family" seems to be a catch-all term for kids who use lots of psychedelics and beg for change in the more counter-cultur-y parts of town. They're not squatters - they usually stay in a campsite for a few weeks, then move on to another city.
Nice kids, with some of the craziest stories I've ever heard.
Entryism's a bitch.
this is just a clarification question from me: i thought the peace-love-music type of people were spelled "hippie" -- this spelling here makes me think these people have large hips. which is the correct spelling, or is there even agreement?
All the rainbow family members i met were insular and prone to mistrust and violence. but whats new for street kids?
"insular and prone to mistrust and violence"
like the neglected children of the wealthy?
I just don't want to read about the Radical Faeries strangling each other with their fishnets or gouging eyes out with their stilettos.
@#13
Just an alternate spelling, so both hippy and hippie are OK.
Naw, there's no agreement as to spelling. Many use ''hippy,'' but they're usually the same people who can't spell for shit anyway. I like to think a hippy is a hippie with a fat ass, but it's really an adjective. Of course the people who use it don't know what an adjective is either. . .''just some shit from 8th grade, dude,''
As a rainbow, I think it important to note that the article metions it happened at "A camp". For the unfamiliar, i will tell you the camp area is synonymous with a shadow - it is separate yet attached, it is dark and it will always follow you around. That is where it happened. Nuff said.
I'm not signifying, Mark. Your post's headline just got pushed along by my sweeping indictment.
@ #14. That has been my experience also. I ran across a bunch of camped out "Rainbows" doing a solo hike through the Ocala forest. Unfriendly and menacing - I moved on as fast as my legs would take me.
Doesn't surprise me in the least. I was at this same Rainbow Gathering in 1996 and was overwhelmed by all the just-under-the-surface aggression. I wrote it up if anyone feels like a first hand account:
http://wrybread.com/WrybreadWriting/notesfromroad/37.shtml
Excuse the 1996 web colors...
Must have cashed in his karma chips on that one.
So very A-Camp.
ALTAMONT!
hey #4 way back when it mattered they had a funeral for the concept of "hippie" buried the name in a big wooden box for the press. That was when it became fashionable to dress like a hippie.. so that means the movement sacraficed itself very quickly.
as for these rainbow people I havent met them but I know many a cult dresses itself up as peaceful, there are many examples, and painting it like a hippie commune is dang simple.
so don't call them hippies. I am a leftie and still hate pretentious people by any label though.
-KJ
Well I'm glad I'm not a hippy. I used to think I might have to be one.
#8, Unfortunately I've heard from some people I know with ties to the Rainbow Family that Meth has definitely infiltrated a lot of people within the group.
Also, being a kid who traveled/lived on a school bus for some time, I always try to keep myself as far away from becoming labeled as a part of the Rainbow Family as possible. Every run in I've ever had with those people has been somehow unsettling.
Methamphetamine: it's not for amateurs.
Did anyone pay attention to #19's comment? It really sounds like these are the actions of a group that the main Rainbow Family wants nothing to do with (without, you know, getting into, like, a whole major power trip, maaaaaaaan). Think of any particular movement, organization, or activity that you're involved in, and the individuals or small groups that try to spoil it for everyone, and then imagine someone writing up an article that lumps you and your friends in with them. Don't harsh the mellow, dudes.
FWIW, the first rainbow gathering was organized by returning Vietman veterans who wanted to celebrate the 4th without the fireworks. I guess they'd had enough for a lifetime. Yes, that war was fought by hippies.
A-camp: The 'A' is for alcohol. Alcohol isn't generally tolerated at a gathering, but in the spirit of tolerance, they set an area aside for boozers. Usually near a parking lot so somebody can go on a beer run.
I attended one gathering, '01 in Idaho, and found it to be extremely enjoyable and peaceful. But like any ideology, the 'hippie' thing with its peace, love and sharing is infested with posers and leeches and hypocrits. At least with Burning Man, there's no ideology, so no possibilty of hyprocracy.
Good lord! Somebody got whacked with a shovel at A-Camp. Why, that hasn't happened for, like, four years straight. Who knew all those alcoholics would misuse their shovels.
I go to the Gathering every year. Y'all are seriously, seriously clueless about what it is and what's going on. I don't know that explaining it would help.
We aren't a cult.
The people who you read about in the article were kicked out of the Gathering, right? That's what it says right there. Well, if it's who I think it is (the Peace Pole firepit folk?), we kicked them out for being violent. And then they went someplace else, and were violent there. How is this our fault or our problem?
The only thing interesting about this story is that, for some reason, the Rainbow is getting all sorts of news attention right now. This is nothing new, nothing at all. The fact that it's on boingboing is the only new thing.
I went to the rainbow gathering for the first time this year in Wyoming. The whole community was working really hard to keep violent people out of the camps. I want to make a few things clear:
1. this is not my normal kind of outing
2. The people there are not a cult but a gathering of hippies, gutterpunks and onlookers like myself looking for a new experience in life
3. There was a violent camp known as Death camp that readily dealt out violence and chaos and were a huge problem.
4. A camp is for booze! it is not allowed in any other camp. this is the place where rowdy bikers go to party for a week. It's like drunken hell's angels action for an extended period of time.
5. Cops shot kids in kiddie camp with some sort of projectile! KIDS! I was shocked! Any forest ranger or police officer had the ability to look at a public map and figure out where certain people were hanging out, it's not like Rainbow was secluded or rude.
I judged this kind of thing before I went. It's just like any society, but condensed. So before you judge, think of your town and the crazy crap that goes down. Crazy people get in, and make every one look bad.