Post a controversial opinion

when the hair fell out of my head it also fell out of my face, which means no beards ever again

in fact there's probably a trauma in this that i've yet to recognise

I honestly cannot remember the last time I used an actual razor to shave my face. At least a decade, for sure. The birds seem to enjoy it.

cant get enough of it, those bell-bottomed birds

good write, sweet prints

I meant the literal birds which nest in my forest of facial hair, in case I wasn't entirely clear.

xp misthreaded that ffs

Just trying one out here:

Hyper-politicization ("everything is political," or the politics of everyday life) is bad for the Left and benefits the Right in the end, and a narrower concept of the political would be a better way to go.

Ditto and imo also true of “ostracize friends/family who vote Republican” which I think strikes most non radicals as cruel not principled.

culture war shit is bad but making being conservative taboo is effective imo

w/friends and family who vote republican but are not particularly going on about politics all the time, i can handle it.

i've had a couple friends who went completely infowars conspiracy theory bonkers/anti-trans/anti-BLM and that's all they talk about all the time, and i quietly vanished from their lives.

pretty hard to ostracize such a large percentage of the population, because they'd have so much company they'd never notice they were excluded.

everything is political because everything is political. Call it whatever you want but it's still political.

“making being conservative taboo is effective”

Strong disagree here and worse I think the delusion that it’s true damages the left, I think most ppl find the ideology bullying, even when they agree with the ideology in principle, gross.

Part of being on the left is believing that everything you do or say or think somehow harms the left.

everything is political because everything is political. Call it whatever you want but it's still political.

alternatively, only politics is political.

When someone's gender or color of their skin is weaponized against their humanity, then yeah, it's all political.

“making being conservative taboo is effective”

Strong disagree here and worse I think the delusion that it’s true damages the left, I think most ppl find the ideology bullying, even when they agree with the ideology in principle, gross.

― Mordy, Tuesday, November 13, 2018 12:21 PM (fifty-three seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

works in scotland tbh. my grandad was pretty obviously a tory but would never come out and say it. their vote is creeping up now due to anxieties around scottish nationalism and the general pull of far-right british nationalism that fits in with the global thing, but after about 4 decades of the taboo being effective

only works were conservatives are in the minority obviously. if you live in palookavile, buttfuck then of course you can't shame the majority

Also there is a difference conservatism and whatever this extreme right wing waiting for the rapture bullshit (or pretending you believe in it to cash in) that's going on right now.

If the Democrats ever come under the thrall of hate mongering fanatics who are a-ok with the rest of the life on earth expiring before or shortly after they do, feel free to shun me for giving them my vote.

do i have to wait

Part of being on the left is believing that everything you do or say or think somehow harms the left is vitally important and must fit a template

― grawlix (unperson), Tuesday, 13 November 2018 20:23 (three hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hmm i believe i italicized instead of striking through

last words of mussolini iirc

xp I have a bigish beard because it looks good. When what looks good changes I'll get rid, I'm not dogmatic about it. I have no desire to work at a microbrewery.

I am sympathetic both to the burning rage ppl feel at how social niceties weaken political solidarity and allow awful shit to carry on, and also to the points that ppl need space to change and that the sense of moral superiority which is so useful for keeping motivation is also insufferable and often toxic and the interpersonal/inter-group level. most ppl think there are some views that aren't acceptable in their social circle, it's a question of how you handle the full spectrum of bad opinion. there are loads of social taboos already that ppl generally don't conceive of as bullying or cruel even though they ostracise and are largely inconsistent and often nonsensical.

I think fatalism tends to pull ppl away from the left & it's something the left struggles to do anything more productive than wag their finger at it. I am more sceptical than most of notions of responsibility and the importance & coherence of ppl's purported beliefs but if you truly believe representative democracy is some special case where everyone is absolved of responsibility and is totally unaccountable for all the shit they cause then you've lost all sense of the happy accident of your own insulation from the bulk of human problems.

also, ppl who announce their dislike of beards should be made to lick the streets clean before they are pushed into the pit.

I assume men wear beards either because of skin sensitivity to shaving, culture or because they have weak chins. Most beards look like they smell like a dog's cornchip feet, though.

― Yerac, Tuesday, November 13, 2018 1:24 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

mine started as a spite beard, because i asked my roommate to do ONE thing around the house (fix the sink) and he didn't, so i grew a beard because i didn't want to do it and i wanted to visually remind him to fix it.

i ended up fixing the sink myself and my gf told me to keep the beard. i have kinda wanted to get rid of it for the past year+ but now i'm scared because i don't remember what my face looks like

there are loads of social taboos already that ppl generally don't conceive of as bullying or cruel even though they ostracise and are largely inconsistent and often nonsensical.

― ogmor, Wednesday, November 14, 2018 1:58 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also, ppl who announce their dislike of beards should be made to lick the streets clean before they are pushed into the pit.

― omor, Wednesday, November 14, 2018 1:58 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol

'Weak chin' is ideal fodder for plastic surgeons and should therefore be shamed out of the English language.

it's interesting because in that phrase there's a whole world of connotations, like what the speaker thinks looks good or bad, what they consider deformed, unhealthy, and it's all boiled down to two words

but i've never considered what is the right size for a human chinny chin chin

good controp phrase!

I used it on purpose. I am such an asshole sometimes.

Also, I feel like it's been in the vernacular a lot in recent years because of the trumps and the alt-right.

Saying that Trump, for instance, has a weak chin (i.e.:

https://static.boredpanda.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/unflattering-donald-trump-chin-photo-ps-battle-34.jpg

) is alright with me but in most other contexts it generally has the side effect of reinforcing an over-testosteroned conception of masculinity.

yeah, I get the circularness of it and great that you are perturbed for the right reason. Yet, I can't help being trollish towards men who generally never have had to deal with a culture set up to constantly critique their appearance.

do you mean in terms of how they are portrayed in the media?

i mean, i honestly don't care and not offended (but i don't have a weak chin)

but i will say i think a lot of men bag on each other a lot and beat each other up since they start having friends, that's probably a big part of being a boy i would say

Also it’s a slow work day

they are portrayed in the media = women?

uh men?

in most other contexts it generally has the side effect of reinforcing an over-testosteroned conception of masculinity.

The class aspect in the UK is kind of amusing.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chinless_wonder

Interesting. Clinging to an oversized yet 'natural' sense of masculinity as a corrective to socioeconomic inferiority is a classic staple of working class culture.

i have kinda wanted to get rid of it for the past year+ but now i'm scared because i don't remember what my face looks like

when i shaved after having a full beard for a year or so, I was horrified. never again

Men who grow beards to look better because they have small/not defined/weak chins, jowls or even bad skin this is seen as ??? (curious, or is it the language of "weak" that is offputting).
I mean, women modify/enhance their appearance all the time to hide what they perceive as flaws, for themselves, for whoever.

xpost I once dated this hippie who had a big ass, bushy beard. I don't know why we shaved it one day (we were bored? I still have a pic of my roommate holding the razor). After that though, I couldn't look directly at him.

I don't have bad skin or weak chin or jowls but it was like looking at a skinned cat or something. just couldn't deal

it's not my fault all my hair moved to my face when I went bald

The beard stays, YOU GO

I couldn't look at him because it was all bright white skin, too big teeth, I thought I was dating a stranger.

in most other contexts it generally has the side effect of reinforcing an over-testosteroned conception of masculinity.

Like being able to grow a beard.

My question is: why tf do human beings even shave their hair off in the first place? It's goddamn weird. Stop it.

lol Tom

My question is: why tf do human beings even shave their hair off in the first place? It's goddamn weird. Stop it.

― My mother set great store by that microwave oven! (Old Lunch), Wednesday, November 14, 2018 12:26 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i like shaving and dislike stubble