Hate Man

The Hate Man (born Mark Hawthorne, September 26, 1936 – April 2, 2017) was an American philosopher, activist, and former reporter for The New York Times. His beliefs centered on people being honest about their negative feelings.

He was locally famous in Berkeley, California, where he lived since 1973. In the late 1970s he was a regular presence in upper Sproul Plaza on the University of California, Berkeley campus, and often gave speeches in Ludwig's Fountain. In addition to being known as "Hate Man", he was also called "Berkeley Baby".

Career

Hawthorne was born in Maryland, He started at The New York Times as a copy boy and worked as a reporter in the Metro section from 1961 to 1970 before he quit his job, divorced his wife, and "started being downward mobile". For a couple of years, he initiated a nightly "hate camp" drum circle at Sproul Plaza, where local people released their animosity. "Hate camp" was known as the camp that formed around him. Camping there made you a "hate camper", with a "true hate camper" being someone who believed in the camp and took an active role in helping the community it created.

A 2002 documentary about his life and philosophy entitled The Hate Man, Street Philosopher was shown in August 2017 after his death.

Personal life

Hawthorne was married, but later divorced. He died on April 2, 2017, at the age of 80. He also had two daughters.