Name: Anonymous 2012-03-02 16:55
In the essay, Mailer christens the hipster as a psychopath. Disillusioned by the systematic violence of the two world wars, the hipster nihilistically seeks meaning in his life through immediate gratification, especially in the realm of sex. In the rejection of the conformism wrought by industrial society, the hipster valorizes individual acts of violence as infinitely preferable to systematic violence. Mailer draws a distinction, however, between the psychopath, who is able to discharge his frustration with society's stagnant prejudices in spontaneous acts of violent rebellion, and the psychotic, who is not. The psychotic is legally insane; the psychopath is not.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Negro
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_White_Negro