“ y o u n g A m e r ic a n s ,” Newsweek states, “ They are ■ everywhere, almost 18 million young Ameri cans crowding into classrooms, spilling into streets, filling cars and stores and beaches. They have been probed and prodded and psychoanalyzed. The na tion’s official median age is 27.9 and declining. There are some 17.9 million Americans between 13 and 17, the high school years.” Today we are especially concerned about one segment of that 17.9 million Americans, that group that call themselves “ Hippies.” We feel it is vitally important today to learn to know and understand the genuine “ hippy,” the young American who is honestly in search for peace and happiness and the answer to the problems o f the world. We are not concerned about the “ early teen ager,” the youngster who is on the verge o f going astray, endeavoring to ape the image o f his more sophisticated peers, nor those adults who take ad vantage of the naivete of the young generation— the acid and dope pushers and the sick, sex-minded adults. For now, let us probe this special breed of mixed-up young Americans, the “hippies.” To discover and understand this individual, I read through stacks of papers. For example, The Realist, The Daily Californian, The Berkeley Barb, The American Observer, The Los Angeles Free Press, The Oracle, and The Western Socialist. Newsweek defines them this way: “ They smile and call themselves a new race. They want to change the United States from within by means o f a vague regimen o f all-embracing love. They are non-violent, mystical and bizarre. Psychedelic drugs are their instant passport to nirvana, a euphoric disdain for anything ‘square’ is their most common bond. Like the ‘beatniks’ o f the ’50’s, they are in the long tradition of Bohemia: seeking a vision o f the totally free life. They are, of course, the ‘hippies’.” A California sociologist says: “ They are drop outs who are turned off by wars, poverty, political phoniness and the ‘game’ that they see around them.” Sociologist Pauline Bart observes that most “hippies” are o f middle-class origin; they’ve seen their middle-class parents with their divorces and hypocrisies. Rev. Leon Harris o f the All Saints Episcopal Church in the Haight-Ashbury commu nity of San F ran cisco states: “To ‘hippies’, churches do not actually practice what they preach. They see the rank hypocrisy, the lack o f love from church people. ‘Hippies’ are against organized re ligion, but they have not repudiated God, prayer or meditation.” Others state that the “ hippies” are seeking a change o f environment. They are looking for more love and less strife. They put more emphasis on
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THE KING'S BUSINESS
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