Its because those Obama ads popped up in Burnout.

Its because those Obama ads popped up in Burnout.

For real?!?!?! lol

This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.

Fred Astaire = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Astaire
Grace Kelly = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Kelly

... So he wants everybody to dress like high class 40s actors? Not everybody can afford those clothes--oh wait, he blames denim for the foreclosures...

Never really cared for jeans in particular, (usually wear either shorts or cargo pants) but it sounds ridiculous for George Will to be so wrapped up in what people wear. If such appearances are what people "infer about maturity" based on then that's a problem itself; people shouldn't be jumping to conclusions in the first place. He insists that jeans are juvenile, that cartoons aren't for adults, and apparently that video games aren't for people over 18, (though Castor, I think you should be careful about assuming that he means gamers shouldn't be allowed to vote) but I'd say such an inflexible perspective on age roles is worse than juvenile.

As for the "looking like slovenly people" bit, is he implying that informality is a sign of laziness? I'd think that if anything it'd mean that people aren't all that inclined to be wasting time and effort on something as superficial and arbitrary as formality, and perhaps this might leave them more inclined to put it towards more meaningful and/or useful things instead. Really, why do people even need to bother with formality itself in the first place?

...what the hell? This guy is allowed to write for a newspaper?

One that people actually read?!

And people wonder why I stopped paying attention to the media in general roughly a decade ago.

Mind you to be fair to the guy: Two and Half Men is awful.

But King of the Hill is great so your defense is null. lol

Yup *sips cider*

When cartoons first came out (before Will was even born) they were for adults. Check some of the early Warner Bros. stuff. It was that pervert Walt Disney that dumbed down animation and ****ed it up forever.

When cartoons first came out (before Will was even born) they were for adults. Check some of the early Warner Bros. stuff. It was that pervert Walt Disney that dumbed down animation and ****** it up forever.

Stop swearing. It's making my heart bleed and break into a thousand pieces!

[Ari Edit: censored a word in quoted text]

Actually, Rishi is right, partially, bypassing the censor is against the rules. Also, why are you so angry, every post I see from you your ranting about something.

Actually he didn't censor dodge... "****ed" isn't on the list! (yet) SS edit: It will be soon. ;p

Do not attempt to dodge the censor. Any word that is caught by the censor is unacceptable. Self-censoring must involve replacing more than half of the letters with letters or symbols that do not resemble the letter being censored.

Ergo, it is an acceptable word to use.

Obviously the censor needs updating. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I'll censor the words manually just now.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

You're welcome.

When cartoons first came out (before Will was even born) they were for adults. Check some of the early Warner Bros. stuff. It was that pervert Walt Disney that dumbed down animation and f****d it up forever.

Stop swearing. It's making my heart bleed and break into a thousand pieces!

I'll censor the words manually just now.

You seem to have missed the blatant "third" instance*, one should keep their eye on the ball at all times else others might think you aren't "up to the job." For now I have edited my quote to avoid any further work for you on your part

Thanks for pointing that out, though that admittedly came across as a bit harsh on SS (at least the way I read it) since he did go in and censor 2 of the 3. I just saw the missing one as a simple accident that could have happened to anyone, really, not that he wasn't "up to the job" o.o

Anyway, I'll go in and censor that last one now as well, so hopefully everything should be set.

You are reading far too much into it ari, thus why it's done in the response of edgeworth (thus the animated gif of edgeworth). But one shall apologise if it did indeed seem harsh.

To kinda get this thread back on topic, I think jeans are alright. Rish ain't got anything against 'em.

I have a pair of jeans with pockets large enought to fit my wallet, my ds, and a couple pencils. I'd sooner kill a man that give them up. Though, I'd kill a man for a Klondike bar, so I guess it balances out in the end.

Old topic is old, but George Will was QUOTING Daniel Akst or paraphrasing him for most of his article.  Obviously George at least partially supports the ideas behind Akst's statements, or those of others, or wouldn't have written the article this way in the first place, but I think if people actually read the article instead of going off of one misquoted statement, then they'd understand the picture a lot better and we wouldn't have so many generalized negative responses.

Also, taking him completely literally isn't fair.  The broader theme here is that people are not caring about what they wear, and demonize others who state the obvious truth that what you wear sends real messages - intentional or not (I challenge any male to wear a skirt in public - kilts don't count - and not at least get funny looks).  And it's implied that this is a symptom of a society that is putting off adult responsibilities for longer and longer - I've read a few articles about kids who live with their parents taking care of them for as long as their twenties or even thirties!

Sure, I think it's extreme to dress like people from decades ago.  Jeans are partly so popular because they are rugged AND comfortable - practicality is a good reason to wear clothes in my view.  And I don't agree that playing video games is a sign of immaturity in itself.  But I do think that we've let comfort and convenience take much too much priority in our society over the virtues of hard work and earning what you have.

http://www.quotegarden.com/clothing.html  I think this list of clothing quotes should demonstrate both for and against the idea that "clothes make the man."  And many of them are funny enough to take the edge off my post, so I recommend reading them.

Imprudent judgmentality is the greatest flaw of humanity.

Within the bounds of legal constraints, why ought anyone make judgments about another person based on something as superficial as the clothing he/she wears? Demonising others' style of dress will hardly counteract this trend in any meaningful way. All it does is make Mr Will and the like-minded appear to be pompous curmudgeons. I dare say that the evolving shift from formal to informal dress in many areas of life is symptomatic of nothing more than a societal shift to accepting more broadly one's outward self-expression.

I am not outright disagreeing with Mr Will's broader message--that people are becoming increasingly irresponsible--but there is a proper way and an improper way to convey that message. Railing against a rather innocuous (in the Lockean sense that it harms no one except those with eggshell psyches) trend is the improper way. I believe in the virtues of hard work and wear jeans. The corporate officers who believe in cashing in on the lives of the downtrodden wear suits. Who is the one who has made the negative generalisation now?

I don't know about "curmudgeons" or the dragons that hide in them.. clothes really shouldn't and generally don't tell you much about the wearer.  Where you're going to run into a lot of trouble is that people have varying degrees of what they consider to be "appropriate" dress, mainly because what you wear boils down to a certain amount of respect for yourself, and respect for others.  It's pretty harsh to just come down on all jean-wearers, because practically everybody wears them-   But people do have differing opinions on when and where jeans should be worn.

Besides, jeans + button up is such a great go-to