The Conservative Cave
The Bar => The Lounge => Topic started by: bijou on April 23, 2009, 01:28:33 PM
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Making the rounds today was this piece by George F. Will, a smart fellow whose work I have read and enjoyed for decades. It pains me to write this, because it reminds me of the times we woke Grandpa because he fell asleep smoking, and his column of Winston ash was in danger of toppling into his lap. But Mr. Will should be gently guided away from the keyboard when he decides to winch himself down from Olympus and write about popular culture.
In this installment he decides to go after “denim,†a newfangled fabric that has been scaring the horses and causing scandal on the Boardwalk. Adults shouldn’t wear “demon denim,†as the title calls it. Gentle advice: when you have a pointy head, donning a dunce cap just doubles the problem.
Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche.
I think his tongue is lodged partway cheek-wise because calling the choice of a comfortable fabric “an obnoxious misuse of freedom†is akin to demanding people rip out their iPod earbuds and partake in the glorious impromptu symphony of modern life. You can certainly use the words repentance, plague, and deep disorders in a column about modern ills, but insufficiently stiff trousers doesn’t seem to merit the big guns.
Perhaps it’s a humor column, then.
It is, he says, a manifestation of “the modern trend toward undifferentiated dressing, in which we all strive to look equally shabby.â€
Perhaps not.
There are two points in the quote. For one thing, undifferentiated dressing was the hallmark of the past: take a look at the old photos of baseball games, and behold the sea of straw boaters. You could express your individuality with a tie, but otherwise men wore a uniform. I agree that the old days of mandatory suits tended to push the fashion standard up, not down - the old suits may have been thin and shiny around the elbows, but they were still part of a code, and belonged to a style that encouraged sophistication. If you could afford it. There’s something to be said for the suit, the way it seems to infuse the occupant with a sense of duty and adulthood, however dim and tinny they may be nowadays.
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link (http://lileks.com/bleat/?p=1908)
Quite a long article, but Lileks is always a good read, he eviscerates George Will. :-)
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It's kind of odd that lileks is bashing on George Will for fond remembrances of years gone by, since much o his own site is dedicated to the past. I kind of like some of the nostalgic pics on lileks .
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Rachel Lucas had an interesting post in her blog about that article, too. Funny stuff!
Rachel Lucas (http://www.rachellucas.com/) (It's down a couple, April 17th, I think)