What is the meaning of 'Get high! and farewell dinosaurs zippie'?

October 16, 2015 2:58 PM

This woman was at the Democratic National Convention - Miami, 1972. [Source - the image in question is about a third of the way down the page]
posted by srboisvert to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

Zippies
posted by user92371 at 3:10 PM on October 16, 2015

I'm not sure about the "Get High" part, but it seems likely that the "farewell dinosaurs" part is in reference to the new inclusion of women and minority groups as delegates and other efforts to decrease the power of the old boys network in the party.
posted by Missense Mutation at 3:21 PM on October 16, 2015

The Yippies (of which the Zippies were an offshoot) were pretty white-guy-heavy, so the dinosaurs are more likely old-fashioned insufficiently anti-Vietnam politicians. As for "get high," I'd guess it means just what it says, and is a goofy pun because y'know, balloon.
posted by thetortoise at 3:53 PM on October 16, 2015

Best answer: Ooh, this is interesting:

At the 1972 Democratic National Convention, held in Miami Beach, Florida, the younger faction of the Youth International Party, the "Zippies" (or Zeitgeist International Party) broke with the older YIP members. [Yippie leaders] Hoffman and Rubin, who conditionally supported the peace platform of Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, were seen as establishment "sell-outs" by the younger YIP faction, whereas the older Yippies objected to the Zippies' outrageous street comedy, which they viewed as overly cruel satire.

-- from Conspiracy Theories in American History: An Encyclopedia, ed. Peter Knight

Sounds like the "dinosaurs" may have been the Yippies!
posted by thetortoise at 4:18 PM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]

Okay, last comment: I dug out my wife's old copy of Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 to see if it had any more leads, and Thompson doesn't mention the Zippies, but he does talk about all the drugs at the DNC and mentions a guy giving people free hits of liquid THC. Which kinda supports the "get high" bit.
posted by thetortoise at 4:37 PM on October 16, 2015

Best answer: Seconding thetortoise; it seems as though "the Yippies staged a Senior Citizens Rally [in Flamingo Park during the convention], and the Zippies joked that the likes of Rubin and Hoffman were already senior citizens themselves."

More about the rally, from Abbie Hoffman FBI Files: "On July 9, 1972, from about 2*30 PM, a smoke-in was held at Flamingo Park which was promoted by the ZIP faction of the YIP and supported by YIP." (Seach "flamingo" and "zippie" for more.)

Best guess: This is a senior citizen at the rally/smoke-in, and she's holding a joke balloon, made by the Zippies.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:32 PM on October 16, 2015 [2 favorites]