new thread
Saw this in today's paper; thought it was kind of amusing to see what the main-stream press view on long hair is.
Link to Chicago Tribune story
The link I gave to the comments about the newspaper story doesn't work, sorry about that--but you can get to them by clicking on the link at the bottom of the newspaper article that says something like "View all N comments"
I've been reading them and the animosity, intolerance and hatred towards long hair is breathtaking.
That is typical on media "comments" pages. They seldom require that commenters identify themselves, an environment that attracts trolls. Comment trolls have certain pet topics they often evolve the threads to. One I've seen to be popular is "illegal immigrants", for example. One commenter will blame the problem discussed in the news story on illegal immigrants, and then all the trolls will shift the comments to mostly being immigrant-bashing. Any story that deals with someone who is different attracts trolls like manure attracts flies.
I don't give much credibility to posts that are anonymous, and I don't tend to reply to them. I just ignore them like they aren't there. I just tell myself, "Well, consider the source." Once you learn to ignore anonymous material on the Internet, it doesn't bother you much.
Bill
High!
That's what I observe in German media comments pages since several years... regardless whether you turn to liberal "Zeit", eco-leftist "Tageszeitung", conservative "Welt", comments are down the line infested with minority bashing (very popular in my part of the world: Muslim bashing (mostly in the guise of - of course legitimate! - criticizing Islamic fundamentalism), closely followed by bashing of unemployed people and emancipated women - the notorious "Feminazi" killer phrase has long found its way even into virtual communities of frustrated rednecks beyond the Pond!
And then there are, of course, paranoiacs raving about police and secret agencies terrorizing them using "microwave mind control weapons", fundamentalist bible thumpers, ordinary neo-Nazis, moonhoax kooks and AIDS-does-not-exist nature cure sectarians... seems to be a global phenomenon!
Yuck!!!
See you in Khyberspace!
Yadgar
Now playing: Die Roboter (Kraftwerk)
Thanks for reporting on the situation in Europe--I thought America had a monopoly on these types. I was aware of skinheads and soccer hooligans but not the others. I guess this is a downside of the internet: these people are able to reach out and spread their crazy ideas and misery. We have a few nationally syndicated broadcast radio hosts who would have an audience over there it seems. I'd like to ship them to you! : )
Somewhere here I have the Kraftwerk Radio record album
High!
Thank you... but please don't try to mail me the music, it probably would be illegal in both our countries... but the internet radio sounds interesting! Are there stations specialized on 70s/80s classical electronica ("Berlin School" and others)?
See you in Khyberspace!
Yadgar
Now playing: Searching For The Spark, live 1978 (Steve Hillage)
Yes, thanks Bill; I've seen the anonymous flame throwing on news comment pages that followed a story on some controversial event, the most recent being the supreme court gun ruling but I did not think about the angle of taking what was to me an innocent article about long hair and warping it into a pet ax to grind. These are of course the same people who probably listen to way too much polarizing talk radio. A local right wing talk radio station has a comment telephone line--they record anonymous comments and play them back at a designated time on the air--the people who call and leave comments are 99% crank males, the 1% of the population who still have W stickers on their cars I bet.
What a fantastic article! Thanks for posting it.
I have been noticing this trend locally. The buzz cut look has been losing popularity and the boys are looking more like my brothers all did back in the 1970's. Hair is creeping past collars, down towards shoulders, and beyond. And parents seem to be more accepting. Even at my local church. Altar servers, youth choir and youth group all have males with longer locks. I see the kids in town on bikes and skateboards with long hair flying behind them as they zoom by. I hope the trend continues.
Wow,
I live both in Michigan and California, After reading all the comments it made me see the USA for what it is,,, a whole big country with sooo many micro communities.
There are attitudes that show how far off the grid they are, to the center city type who see it all. Mostly I see just how protected some are.
But I think the day's of everyone having the same hair cut....Like the 10 years we just had with the buzz cut are over. More styles , more different lengths will be the norm. We are getting more individualized.....yeah!!!!!!!
Maybe , just maybe, people will do what they want,,,not what everyone else does....maybe :)
Paul
I have noticed the same thing in New Zealand. When I was at school in the mid 90s there were a number of guys with long hair but heaps of kids with short hair as well. I first noticed the longer hair trend among guys was 2003 or so and that trend just grew from there.
That's good to read and hopefully it's not just the flavor of the month but a long term trend towards more individuality and acceptance. I won't hold my breath though.
Kevin