# Starving Artist Has Issues With Long Hair **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 12, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775 "2009-07-12T18:49:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/141 "2009-07-13T13:18:57Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Now, can someone now tell me how creating a society in which… > > \ > > …criminals in their twenties and early thirties are walking the streets raping and murdering innocent people when they should long ago have been locked up for keeps… Oh, that one wasn’t us. That was your side insisting on draconian sentences for drug crimes and then refusing to raise taxes to pay for all the new prisons we’d need. Given my druthers, I’d be locking rapists up for a minimum of twenty years, but I can’t because the prisons are full of people you sent there for possessing three grams of hashish. Honestly, though, I don’t know why I bother. To you, everything bad is the result of liberal permissiveness. It’s not a political philosophy anymore; it’s a litany. Progress is scary, I know, and sometimes it has unfortunate side effects. One of them is creating a wacko fringe of people who stick their fingers in their ears and scream “I can’t hear you” when presented with the facts - and occasionally pause to decry such horrific, un-American activities like consensual sex and having long hair. ---
**Author:** ![Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/46a35a/32.png) [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walker_in_Eternity)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/142 "2009-07-13T13:41:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Well, you see that goes to what I’m talking about. Old people, raised during a better time, are more polite, hence my farewells and encores. > > I wouldn’t want anyone to think I was a rude asshole like y… > > Nevermind. 😃 There’s a name for your condition: ephebiphobia - the fear of youth. This quote is from a 6000 year old Egyptian tomb: > [@](#): > > We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control Which just goes to show that nothing really changes only our perception of them. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/143 "2009-07-13T14:46:48Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > If it makes you feel any better, know that I dismissed you as a cranky old man long before you told us your actual age. And if it further helps, I still think you are a right-wing nut job regardless of age. ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/144 "2009-07-13T14:51:26Z")
And for the record, it’s not your age that makes us consider you a blathering old man. It’s the blathering. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/145 "2009-07-13T15:01:37Z")
> [@Walker\_in\_Eternity](#): > > This quote is from a 6000 year old Egyptian tomb: > > > [@](#): > > > > We live in a decaying age. Young people no longer respect their parents. They are rude and impatient. They frequently inhabit taverns and have no self-control > > Which just goes to show that nothing really changes only our perception of them. On the other hand, everyone \*was \*so much more polite and civilized 6050 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/146 "2009-07-13T15:08:49Z")
I’m trying to think of ways American society was better in the 1950s. I honestly can’t think of any. You can still wear 50s clothes if you want, with the added benefit that you don’t have to. I disagree with Mr. Towers about the gun culture back then, but I wasn’t alive so I don’t know for sure. I think you probably saw rifles a lot more in the 50s as it was a more rural culture in most places; but people were still just as scared of handguns, especially in cities. I won’t even bring up the ways it was worse back then. Help me out with the positives, SA. And don’t say “polite”. That’s another word for “euphemistic to the point of dishonesty”. Unless you agreed with every aspect of the status quo in the 1950s, you were either a liar or impolite. I prefer rudeness. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/147 "2009-07-13T15:19:45Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > On the other hand, everyone \*was \*so much more polite and civilized 6050 years ago. Well, yeah, but that was when everyone had a spear and spears weren’t banned. A spear-armed society is a polite society! ---
**Author:** ![DianaG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7ab992/32.png) [@DianaG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DianaG)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/148 "2009-07-13T15:27:36Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > I won’t even bring up the ways it was worse back then. Help me out with the positives, SA. And don’t say “polite”. That’s another word for “euphemistic to the point of dishonesty”. Unless you agreed with every aspect of the status quo in the 1950s, you were either a liar or impolite. I prefer rudeness. Tact is just not saying true stuff. I’ll pass. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/149 "2009-07-13T15:56:40Z")
Isn’t short hair (on men at least) as the standard fashion something of a 20th+ century aberration? ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/150 "2009-07-13T16:02:56Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I get what you’re trying to say, but that’s a horrible example. Was that song a multi-million-selling single? Did it make Jelly Roll Morton a millionaire and skyrocket him to the top of the charts? Would the average teenager in 1938 be listening to that song or other songs like it? > > There was lots of obscenity back then; there just wasn’t the same mainstream tolerance of it like there is now. Don’t get me wrong, I love obscenity. Fuck shit ass bitch cunt, shoo-be-dee-doo-wop. Skippity-bebop, a-Christopher Reeve; Sonny Bono, skis, horses and hittin’ some trees! Oh, I realize this - it just makes no sense to me that **SA** thinks the exact same kinds of things that have led to the destruction of society (or whatever he’s claiming) have existed in this country forever were OK as long as everybody ignored them in public speech. From what I can tell, that’s what his rosy-colored vision of the “civility” in the '50s consists of. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/151 "2009-07-13T16:10:22Z")
I was around in the 50s and 60s. There was always trouble. We had gangs that fought each other for territory. It was not about drugs though. Of course guns were not involved. Fists and feet were the weapons . Teenagers have always gone through some times of alienation and confusion. But they were not shooting each other then. When a robber used a gun in a robbery it was a big story. We all whispered about it when we heard someones dad had a gun in his house. We were curious about it. I don’t think crime rates really change much. Reporting gets better. When a TV station moved from Detroit to Southfield ,they reported an increase in crime in Southfield. It was just easier to get reports . They had more interest in Southfield crime after the move. Drugs were mostly confined in the ghetto. Few even smoked dope then. But it took a while to escape and become common. Cocaine was unheard of. The drug of choice was booze, mostly beer and cheap horrible wine. My parents always warned us to avoid talking to strangers. It was no big deal, but we knew there was potential danger when an adult showed interest in you. We heard many stories about alter boys. But there was a strange acceptance. Adults found it easier to pretend it was not really happening. Oh ,you know Father X. ,he is just a little different. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/152 "2009-07-13T16:14:35Z")
Oh, and still waiting for all that major civil rights legisltation passed in the 50’s. When you find the time. Busy, busy man. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/153 "2009-07-13T16:34:31Z")
> [@Jolly\_Roger](#): > > I’ll do ya one better. I’m black, \*\*Mrs. Jolly Roger \*\*is white. I don’t think the 1950’s would have been a good time for us to be married. Back in “the good old days”, there’s a chance you would have been killed for that. So much for the “more polite society” and the “better times of the good old days” and all the other rose colored glasses crap. I was born in '53. Yeah, I remember the 50s, 60s, 70s etc. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/154 "2009-07-13T16:38:54Z")
> [@SmashTheState](#): > > Yes yes, we know. The Negroes knew their place, the skirts – the frails, dames, broads, and chicks – were safely in the kitchen, and the only Chinese people you ever need encounter ran a take-out restaurant. Life was so much better then for white, bigoted, middle-class ignoramuses. I too long for the good old days. ---
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/155 "2009-07-13T16:44:19Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > Back in “the good old days”, there’s a chance you would have been killed for that. Yeah, but you’re concentrating on the negative again. He would have been _politely_ killed, by people with short hair who took the time to dress up for the occasion, and the media wouldn’t have made a big fuss about it to upset everyone. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/156 "2009-07-13T16:44:20Z")
> [@](#): > > …Life was so much better then for white, bigoted, middle-class ignoramuses I don’t see any need to be repetitive, repetitious, and redundant. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/157 "2009-07-13T16:48:39Z")
WGASASA (Who gives a shit about Starving Artist) ---
**Author:** ![Trion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Trion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trion)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/158 "2009-07-13T17:20:47Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I was around in the 50s and 60s. There was always trouble. We had gangs that fought each other for territory. It was not about drugs though. Back then gangs had _style_. The dance numbers alone were better than anything you get today. And when they disrespected the police, they always had a catchy tune to go along with it. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/159 "2009-07-13T17:37:45Z")
Please tell me I’m misinterpeting SA and he’s not saying that the racism of the “good old days” he’s so fond of was a fair trade for the “civility” of the times. Please. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775/160 "2009-07-13T17:42:52Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Please tell me I’m misinterpeting SA and he’s not saying that the racism of the “good old days” he’s so fond of was a fair trade for the “civility” of the times. Please. I think you are misinterpreting. He’s saying that ending the “civility” was not a necessary component of ending racism. Thus, one can complain about the end of “civility” without saying racism is good. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/starving-artist-has-issues-with-long-hair/502775.md?page=9)