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Show The SaU Lake Tribune. Monday. August 6, Both ayts: Hippie and Straight BYU Student Hitchhikes IF ay To Mass of Statistics Degree By Max B Ktmd'-onJ- r Tribune Staff VV their One man better judgment stopped for Mr Alcorn and as he got mto the car, the motorist blandished a foot long piece of lead pipe "You see this be asked to which Mr All urn replied in the affirmative nter Can a find hippie love, adventure and happiness hitchHe can But he'll hiking in America get a nde three times faster with short hair and the "Joe College look Thats what David S Alcorn, a 28-ear-olgraduate student in socio logy at Bngham Voung University discovered when he hitchh.ked 75 rides to research his masters thesis A Study of Institutionalized entitled Deviance Hitchhiking Mr Alcorn tned it both wavs and short haired and wearing what he deemed appropriate attire for each, he.id.band jeans sandals, beads, back pack and sleeping bag for the long hair (which took a year to grow, he snidj and slacks, sweater, wmdbrcaker, oxfords and a collegiate'' traveling bag for the short hair (which took five minutes to cut off ) lorg-haire- d d y long-haire- d "Hipp ies help hippies , period says David S. Alcorn. ' Thats all he said I couldnt get him to talk st all so I finally told him my true identity lie ieally got bcilig-cierthen The cul- .t tures that espouse brotherly love and Mr Alcorn sa.d he did not tell his rides what he was doing nor did he refuse any rides in an attempt to structure the results 'let's all help each other limit that love to their oicn hind. They told me things like , Td never pick up u straight . . Statistical Profiles His statistical profiles of the motorists who gave him rides are detailed to say the least He can instantly produce information ranging from the education, religion, age and marital status of the female motorists who propositioned him, to the music preference, occupation and preterred conversational topics of the unselfish souls who offered him cocaine, marijuana, hashish and mescaline Mr. Alcorn said he managed to decline all of the kindly offers without hurting anyones feelings 250 fine in Washington state City ordinances often diflcr gieatlv from state laws In Flagstaff, Anz, he found the law tough after a of 1,289 arrested hitchhikers revealed that 72 4 percent had criminal records and 17 6 percent were wanted in other areas 15 sui-ve- Compatible Appearance observations- - motorists will stop if the hitchhiker s appearance is compatible with what be deems acIf its convenient (enough ceptable, room in the vehicle and speed low enough to safely stop), if hes feeling lor.elv, if hes feeing danng if his (or her) family is rot in the car ("few will jeopardize their families ) hat about hitchhikers ' girl Hippies will pick them up (they'U also pick up hitchhikers with dogs or a lot of gear, straights wont) but most of the conservatives and contemporaries (Mr Alcoin labeled this writer a contemporary) he encountered said they would not pick up girls because of the fear they would "yell rape. The businessman is scared to death of this. Ke thinks the girl will tear her blouse and extort $50 from him by threatening to yell rape Some- - y Lot of Empathy Although he terms himself a con-seative straight, Mr. Alcorn contends he has a lot of empathy with the counterculture n Mr Fear a Myth Altom believes this particular lovIf you want a nice, ing good time, then hitchhike with long hair If you're looking for adventure and want to meet d.ffenmt perr sonalities then the hippie type personality is the way to go fun-fille- X F?3 fc... - t long-hai- Xt I A Counterculture Alcorn The technique m gathering this information consisted, he said, m a practiced conversational technique designed to elicit such information without coming on like a police interrogator. notice youre from Arizona, sir, Im a Utah Mormon myself They dont have Mormons m Arizona do they? They do My gosh are you a Mormon, too1 Oh, you m a Lutheran I see ) (I The impact of appearances ui making judgments is the basis for his theWe ascribe a sis, Mr Ak'om said set of values to a person bas'd on appearance that may be completely false But the results were conclusive: the average length of wait for a nde with long hair was 33 minutes Short hair, 11 minutes Mr Alcorn broke the motorists down into three appearance groups ot his own contemporarv hippie," and conservative ned The hitchhiking ranged from Provo to Tucson. Anz. over a month's Forty of the ndes were long-haireshort-haire- time 35 d Mr. Alcorn was armed with a to whom it may concern letter from the graduate school explaining his research. He only had to use it six times when stopped and interrogated by police and then only after the interrogation was over Forty-fou- r of the states now laws restneting or piohibiting hiking, he said, ranging from do it such as Arizona, again, have hitch- don't to a fear is a myth but the danger for young women who hitchhike of being assaulted or kiUcd is a provable fact More Liberal The figures show that conserva tives are actually more liberal than hippies as to whom they will pick up. Only one hippie picked Mr, Alcorn up with short hair (13 with long hair) but nine conservatives picked him up with long hair Filled Out Form After being let out of the car, Mr Alcorn would immediately fill out a form listing 30 items of information including such details as the window and bumper stickers adorning the vehicle, time of waiting for the nde, dnvers conformity to the traffic laws and the valuables the motorist ear- Alcorn (onservativ Hippies help hippies, penod. he The cultures that espouse brotherly love and 'lets all help each other limit that love to their own Kind They told me things like Id never pick up a straight, you can't trust them, of Straights ran take care of themselves They aie a very cohesive group said. Conversely, Mr, Alcorn attributes the willingness of the straights to pick up a hippie to a number of with things: a vicarious empathy the hitchhiker who reminds them of their son or grandson; a remembrance of their younger days when they hitchhiked themselves and, most the "strength of the importantly, etlrc in our lives, the Good Samaritan, the need to help your fellow man " Judeo-Chnsta- in Need to Help Some persons apparently need to help their fellow man even against Another myth he felt needed exploding is the supposed prevalence who of the cruising homosexual actively seeks out hitchhikers. Mr Alcorn eneotinte'-esuch an indiv ldual on his 75th and last nde And a "word to the Alcorn said the state of narcotics officers on the hiking and driving cats hitchhikers 215 roads hitch- looking for Few .Statistics statistics gleaned from tables A few' Alcorn s Mr Six moionsts brought out narcotics and 8 offered, one man in a motor home offered his wife; W men and 11 women picked him up; 41 of the dnv-er- s were single, 34 marned, 25 white collar, 23 blue collar, 8 unemployed, 19 sti'dents. were "aippie, 34 con27 conservative m and temporary appearance; only 11 of the 75 had never hitchhiked themselves; average motorist age while 2S; av-the while 31; age age drugs were proffered while he wore long hair, except once, by the homosexual Fourteen STIU SALT LAKE'S MOST FAVORITE MACHINE THE SMITH - CORONA Mr wise Anzona has long-haire- short-haire- MEADOW GOLD 6-P- K. CTN 1973 |