This page's purpose: Throughout American history, mainstream media have stereotyped ethnic minorities. For forty years, that same mainstream media has shamelessly stereotyped Hippie-Americans. And a compliant Hollywood, eager to prosecute a neoconservative War on Drugs agenda, has for years made hippies the bad guys; in particular, putting a ponytail on a white, male villain has become as commonplace as it used to be to put a black hat on a villianous cowboy. Long hair on a male has become symbolic of lack of character; conversely, being "clean cut" becomes a pre-requisite for male virtue.

Now, there are other stereotypes out there that abuse female hippies as well and that should be offensive to everyone, period. Many are related to myths about marijuana and marijuana users. And then there's the hippie-female-as-promiscuous-"slut" stereotype, the hippie-as-abusive-neglectful-parent stereotype and a dozen disgusting others.

The point is, we need to start examining this offensive media and see the ugly stereotypes there. We, as a people, need to stand up and talk back on this issue. We need to make those first steps towards holding those to blame responsible--if a director, for example, in a gratuitous manner decides to assign a white, male villain long hair and has nothing at all to balance this with--no positive hippie characters--Hippie-America should know who that director is, who is being expedient, sinful and harmful to us. And that director should know that a large portion of the public thinks he or she is a bigot, that his or her behavior is disgraceful.

Remember, we are not criminals: we're a people criminalized.

P.S.--We've referred to "white" males with ponytails because there are also non-Hippie ethnicities where males have long hair. We don't, by the way, assume all Hippie-Americans are Caucasian. It's just that in contemporary television and film, when we see a white, male with a ponytail or a beard and long hair, it's usually safe to assume this character will be seen as hippie.

And the Fall 2007 award goes too . . .

CBS’s Shark!

A synopsis of the 9/16/2007 episode: Prosecutor Sebastian Shark (James Woods) cuts corners to go after a serial killer who tortures women to death as he reads to them details of their own, earlier molestations from their psychiatric diaries--though since the accused is a college English professor, and not a psychiatrist, it's not quite clear how he got ahold of these diaries to begin with. Never mind; don't ask any hard questions! The plot is so far-fetched that it’s clearly intended to create a super-evil character: a “normal” serial killer would appear almost healthy in comparison. And the professor, who also defends himself in court--almost convincingly--is bearded and has long hair neatly tied in a ponytail. His long hair, in case we hadn’t noticed, is also a prominent, identifying detail in hostile witnesses’ testimony against him. He’s also the only male with long hair in the entire program, and of course--as in the old legal-drama cliché--we're left no doubt of this monster's guilt when, in a burst of violent misogyny unleashed by the verbal lashings of Shark's tough boss (Jeri Ryan), he confesses.

And the director is Shark is . . .

Okay, let's be honest: we don't yet know who the director of this episode was--or who the writer or writers were. We'll try to research this, but for now, we do know this is a CBS show, and it seems to us that all these parties are complicit. Let's just give this stinking turd of a reward to CBS's Shark--the entire staff can feel ashamed.