Stasis in The Flowering of the Hippies

I think that the stasis in “The Flowering of the Hippies” worked as a definition of the hippie movement. When this article was written, the hippie movement was just moving into the area of San Francisco, drawing a lot of attention (as can be seen in the photos in the link attached) as Harris said it “was so very visual that photographers came from everywhere to shoot it, reporters came from everywhere to write it up with speed and opportunists came from everywhere to exploit its drug addiction, its sexual possibility, and its political or social ferment”. This was a new scene that was being introduced to the public and Harris worked to create a definition of what the hippie movement was and how the public should perceive it. He defined it as temporary and transient, composed of people who were going through an identity crisis. They identified themselves as hippies because they were otherwise unsure of their futures and couldn’t commit to social norms. Harris defines the movement as something the public should take notice of and calls attention to the diversity of clothing, activities, drug practices, and music that the hippies brought to the city but that’s it. He characterizes the hippie movement that should be confined and insinuates that the reader shouldn’t partake in it by negatively characterizing the hippies themselves. By publishing the article when the movement was new in the public scene, he influences the opinion that the public has on it and makes them collect information and make observations about the movement with a negative view already embedded in their minds. This view was then expanded on by the people who could see the validity in it but with the basis that Harris created himself.

Photos of the Hippie Movement becoming prevalent in San Francisco where this article was written: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/15/haight-ashbury-in-the-1960s_n_1967664.html?slideshow=true#gallery/256953/6