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from the With-great-beard-comes-great-responsibility dept.
Philosophers deal with real, empirical, questions! From Quartzy, the ethical question of male facial hair.
Those who believe growing a beard is a personal fashion choice need to reconsider. The bristly facial hair of men is, in fact, the physical embodiment of deep ethical and aesthetic considerations. Henry Pratt, philosophy professor at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, wrote a detailed analysis of such philosophical conundrums in his aptly titled paper, “To Beard or Not to Beard: Ethical and Aesthetic Obligations and Facial Hair.”
Why now: well, it all goes back to the "fool says in his heart" guy, St. Anselm.
In this paper, presented at the January 2019 eastern division meeting of the American Philosophical Association in New York, Pratt considers the premise set out by Saint Anselm of Canterbury, an 11th century philosopher. Anselm writes:
Not having a beard is not dishonorable for a man who is not yet supposed to have a beard, but once he ought to have a beard, it is unbecoming for him not to have one. In the same way, not having justice is not a defect in a nature that is not obligated to have justice, but it is disgraceful for a nature that ought to have it.
The take-away:
However, one surprising consequence of my philosophical work on pogonotrophy is that I now find myself thinking that the choices made by myself and others about what to grow on our faces are actually pretty important. I find myself wondering whether I should worry about the masculinity projected by my beard, and the effects thereof. I also consider whether friends and associates should have the facial hair they grow. But just as it’s a bad idea to tell other parents they’re raising their kids wrong, I think it’s a bad idea to tell others that their beards are wrong. So far.
Other relevant sources:
The Philosophy of Beards: A Lecture Physiological, Artistic and Historical, by Thomas Gowing; 1875;
The Philosopher’s Beard
Beard Taxes!
The Gentleman Lawyer’s Guide to Facial Hair
"Law of Conservation of Facial Hair" still applies.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Kalas on Thursday January 24 2019, @03:41AM (20 children)
Yeah, I literally just clicked over from some analysis of that sexist and racist Gillette ad to F5 SN and assumed this would be somehow related. For those not in the know this so called advertisement [youtube.com], that does not feature razors whatsoever mind you, basically managed to insinuate that most or all men are guilty of "toxic masculinity", that women are incapable of handling a conflict without a man stepping in to help, AND that white men in particular are especially problematic. Notice that all 8 acts of "bad" behavior (including having the gall to even approach a woman you find attractive) are committed by white men, and almost all times another man intervenes he's black. They manage to do all that to shoot themselves in the foot in under 2 minutes. Sickening
On top of, they claim to want to "start a conversation" yet as soon as the dislikes started pouring in they began to engage in rampant censorship that continues to this day. Hiring armies of people to delete unfavorable comments no matter how highly rated, hiring people to make positive comments and try to cast doubt on the negative ones, buying likes for the video and paid comments, and outright deleting dislikes. I think they even got Google's help in reigning in the like to dislike ratio which was under 1:10 before they started censoring. It's been stuck at 1.2M for days so you can be sure new dislikes aren't counted. They've deleted millions already.
So between putting a radical man-hating feminist in charge of (and appearing in) the ad and the blatant censorship after trying to "start a conversation" I'm done with them. Gillette's parent company is Proctor & Gamble so I'll be avoiding their products as best I can from now on and recommending others do the same.
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 24 2019, @04:56AM (17 children)
You, um, actually might be the target audience of that advertisement. Or at least one of the people who would benefit from taking it into consideration. Hint: what do we call people who get incredibly easily offended by the opinions of others and take it as a personal attack...? Yup: snowflakes.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 5, Insightful) by khallow on Thursday January 24 2019, @05:32AM (8 children)
Let's suppose that's true. Why should he continue to buy products from a business that creates two minute ads just to attack his beliefs and himself directly? Suppose Walmart does a two minute ad attacking us, people who write their opinions on the internet with over-the-top exaggerations and mocking of the activities in question. Or target researchers. I think most of us would say "I'll buy my stuff elsewhere" rather than encourage that crap.
Sure, it's an opinion, but it's also a two minute bit of propaganda.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:28AM
Khallow has no beard. Obvious from the obvious rebuttal to his non-bearded arguments on things like economics and fiscal policy. And Justice. No beard, no justice.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:39AM (6 children)
I judge things by whether they're true or not. It's true I dislike the propaganda format, but what's being said is true. In fact, once the average man wakes up and realizes he has more in common with the average woman than with any rich man, a good half of the artificial gender war we've got going on will collapse.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:57AM
Are we at war? To me it seems like a bunch of chicks clucking and a proportionate amount of cocks crowing. Most don't give a fuck. Situation in your country might differ.
(Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Thursday January 24 2019, @07:55AM
Neither has been my problem. I don't need to wake up and realize that Bill Gates has more money than me (the only big thing that I don't have in common with Bill Gates more or less aside from some life experience and style differences). But I guess I am woke enough to realize that doesn't matter even the slightest to my life.
As to this ad campaign, this has nothing to do with average men or women. Some idiot was given a bunch of money to show guys with alternating crossed arms and outdoor grills (and other manifestations of toxic masculinity that I can't begin to care about). We'll probably find out that some Gillette investor needed the tax write off Uwe Boll-style (he didn't direct this, right?).
My take is that the woodenness of the presentation reveals the artificiality of the underlying propaganda, like the many, many saluting Nazis in Triumph of the Will [wikipedia.org]. It's just another creepy bit of history which will probably cost Gillette a little bit of business and customer goodwill. Such is life.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Thursday January 24 2019, @05:40PM (3 children)
You're deluding yourself, if you think the last half of your post is true. I watched the video and actually think they did a pretty good job, all things considered. Though, really, there should have been an instance or two of black men as the problem as well. As opposed to them being shown as the only ethnicity of men to stand up for women. Pretty much black men were being lifted high, while all the others were being thrown under the bus. Which definitely doesn't reflect reality. "Boys will be boys" is true to an extent, but condoning fist fights is ludicrous. Boys have their own set of hormones they have to deal with. Just like Girls have their own set of hormones they have to deal with. The difference is that Girls generally get the loving supportive shoulder to cry on. While boys get a swift kick in the pants. That's definitely wrong. Boys and girls both need support and to be taught to deal with their emotions in a positive manner.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:13PM (2 children)
Agreed. And who is doing this to boys? Other men and other boys, for the most part. This is why my feminism includes a place for men in it.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 25 2019, @04:37AM (1 child)
Apparently you've never met my mom.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 25 2019, @07:07AM
If she's doing that, that's abuse, and frankly it's also misandry. I'm not one of those people who believes women can do no wrong by nature, if that helps; I've seen plenty of them willfully perpetuate the harmful effects of the kyriarchy/patriarchy, for reasons I can't even begin to guess at.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @07:02AM (1 child)
Feminists: You are cry a baby, man-up.
Also feminists: Men should cry.
Moral: Cry on only approved things.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 24 2019, @07:24AM
Last I heard, it was other men telling men to man up, boys don't cry, etc etc. I'd rather see a man cry than shoot someone, for about the same reason I'd rather lance a boil than let it turn into blood poisoning.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Kalas on Thursday January 24 2019, @08:50AM (5 children)
In retrospect, yes I was acting out of character when I posted that. I was in an altered state of mind for medical reasons and was pissed off after making the mistake of subjecting myself to too many youtube comments. Normally my response would be more restrained but I wasn't in a normal state of mind so I can see how someone might dish out my very first downmod. It just took some sobering up to see it. There aren't many things that can truly piss me off but this deliberately divisive crap crosses my shit line like nothing else.
But all that aside, my points were fair and with the state of society today I think they absolutely needed to be said. That this hateful bullshit be called out for what it is whenever we see it trying to make us less compassionate for our fellow man or woman. And from the look of your other posts I'd say we're perfect agreement on the matter.
(Score: 2) by Kalas on Thursday January 24 2019, @08:55AM (4 children)
Ugh, sure enough it's poorly edited. This is why I debated posting right before bed vs finally getting some sleep.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday January 24 2019, @05:19PM (3 children)
You can't please everyone. Trying to do so will inevitably lead to problems. In fact, I would say, trying to please others isn't what you should be focusing on at all. There's being considerate and then there's being a "Yes Man".
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday January 24 2019, @06:17PM (2 children)
And then there's being a solipsistic, willfully-ignorant jackoff like you, who literally resorts to spewing Bible verses whenever he sees something he can't handle. You are the last person who should be talking about this.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Friday January 25 2019, @02:34AM (1 child)
Perhaps we need a "-1, Unhelpful" mod.
Azuma - I get that you have a problem with Freeman. But his specific post here was perfectly reasonable and positive and did not merit your bile-filled post. Why not respond to each post on its merits instead of carrying unrelated grudges across from other conversations (which I've seen you do many times)?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 25 2019, @07:10AM
Uh...have you *seen* *his* posts? If you want to talk about unhelpful...
Look, some people deserve all the bile and spite there is and more. Go read his post history. "Civil" is not the same thing as helpful, or reasonable, or useful, or even correct. Like, at all. And I am in despair watching this place slowly sink into a poisonous cesspit of RWA sewage, anti-vax and other anti-scientific bullshit, and general willful ignorance. I have to fight. What choice do I have? What choice does anyone with a working conscience have?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 24 2019, @05:50PM
Honest question, do they air a 2 minute piece as a commercial? Or is this something people can only see by intentionally going to youtube to watch it?
I don't think I've ever seen a 2 minute ad ...
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 25 2019, @02:14AM
See, this makes me glad of two things.
First, that I don't watch TV. I unhooked the rabbit ears that was my only source of being advertised to via the television last year because I hadn't used them in the previous three.
Second, I already have a beard and don't have to give even a tenth of a shit about what Gillette says or does. Hell, when I'm not wearing a beard I use an old double-edged safety razor whose blades cost less than a buck for a pack.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.