The consequences were that the beat generation has had a great proportion of the origin of the Czech underground. The second (1993) and third visit (1996, together with a musician Philip Glass) proved that poet’s thoughts are still valid. The music group The Plastic People of the Universe with its representatives Ivan Magor Jirous and Mejla Hlavsa characterize the Czech underground together with the group Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers). The regime did not like them, of course, and that was the next major reason why were the beatniks here so much adored. In 1998, Lawrence Ferlinghetti came for a visit to Prague. He thought he could walk through Prague incognito but “he was very surprised that every newspaper wrote about him on the front page and he was recognized by people of all generations, not only Czechs but also tourists.” He did not expect that he could be known by a wide range of people in the little country called the Czech Republic. But his friends explained him that the situation in democratic and totalitarian

The beat generation is certainly a movement which has influenced millions of people – artists still find an inspiration in it to introduce it in their novels or poems, the musicians in their lyrical songs and painters in their pictures or statues. The people love the books by Kerouac, Ginsberg and other rebels but for the majority of the readers is the lifestyle of the beat generation not acceptable. The best solution would be to talk to them, but not to live with them. The conditions for originating of the beatniks were the best in the USA. This is a broad country with kilometers of railways and limitless possibilities of traveling.
Living according to the beat generation is and was not acceptable either in the 50’s or the 21st century. Unfortunately, most of people must work, pay taxes and health insurance and he or she is tied to the society. There are possibly many 9-to-5 working people who would like to try the beat generation lifestyle – to hitchhike, to sit somewhere in the nature, be under the influence of drugs and alcohol, to talk with Kerouac, Cassady and others about art, literature and Zen Buddhism. But that is an idealized situation. Where do they get money from? It is a common knowledge that beatniks got money from their parents and when they accidentally work, they spent all their money for alcohol and drugs.
On the other hand, there is a big admiration for the beat generation because most of the people envy them the freedom. People need some kind of order and they are afraid of freedom.