What Happened....

[HudsonHawk]

They didn't hire people with prominent tattoos or odd piercings at the CPA firm where I worked in Denver.

There was a girl who came in to interview to be a receptionist, and they told her she couldn't wear her nose ring. She came in for a second interview wearing it, and they told her to go home.

My wife is a CPA and has a small tattoo of her college logo on her ankle. It's not prominent, but it is visible when she wears a skirt or dress. Every once in a while she'll have to use cover up makeup on it when she's going to meet a client. The firm has never said anything, and they've never asked her to. She's never made a fuss about having to cover it or feel like she needs to make a statement, just feels like it's the prudent thing to do with certain clients.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Probably 3/4ths of the people you see on the street in my town have some kind of tattoo, piercing, or unorthodox haircut, and those are just the people over the age of forty. Nobody even notices anymore.

Two of the tellers where I bank have nose rings, and mid-thigh skirts are everyday business attire here. Doesn't matter to me one way or another.

 

[LizzieMaine]

^^^^^
Don’t recall where I read that Rudolgh Valentino was among
the first to wear a wristwatch in a time when it was not common.
1920s I believe.

A lot of "manly men" in the twenties absolutely loathed Valentino. The Chicago Tribune, always a bastion of gutter journalism, caused a huge ruckus in 1926 by publishing an editorial denouncing him as a "pink powder puff" who was singlehandedly responsible for the rampant effeminization of the American male. Valentino then responded, in a press-agent's dream come true, by challenging the craven specimen who wrote the unsigned piece to a duel. Unfortunately, Valentino died before he couid impale Col. McCormick's unfortunate stooge on the point of his sabre.

After Valentino died, the Guardians of Manly Manliness turned their attention to radio crooners, declaring that Rudy Vallee, Russ Columbo, and Bing Crosby were tri-handedly responsible for the rampant effeminization of the American male. Columbo took offense, Crosby didn't particularly care, and Vallee laughed really hard and went to bed with Alice Faye.

 

[Stearmen]

Even after my sister left, she kept wearing jeans, black t-shirts, sheathed hunting knife, a chain belt and either a denim vest (for spring) or a black leather jacket (for fall) *everywhere.* It didn't matter how wildly inappropriate it was for the time and place. You couldn't take her anyplace, and nobody could tell her anything.

Go to Sturgis South Dakota for bike week, they all dress like that, well except when the middle-age women are exposing themselves in public! Ironically, if you were to ask them which side of the political spectrum they are on, it would be ultra conservative! How times have changed.

 

[EngProf]

I have always been amused and a bit mystified by the role-reversal concerning hair-length in the late sixties and beyond. I clearly remember in the late sixties that the "hard-hats" would criticize and even attack long-haired hippies. After a few years the construction workers had the long hair (and I think still tend to). The hippies graduated and went off to get their MBA's and adopted a corporate look.
Truth is stranger than fiction...
(Don't know about Valentino and his wristwatch, but in general they did become more common after WWI since they had been used in the military during the war.)

 

[2jakes]

watch-men-hollywood-actors-watches

 

[GHT]

I believe the final blow was delivered by JFK. He wore a topper in his inaugural parade, the last president to wear one.

Really?

The hippies graduated and went off to get their MBA's and adopted a corporate look. Truth is stranger than fiction...

Guilty as charged.

 

[Paisley]

Go to Sturgis South Dakota for bike week, they all dress like that, well except when the middle-age women are exposing themselves in public! Ironically, if you were to ask them which side of the political spectrum they are on, it would be ultra conservative! How times have changed.

I worked with a manager at an engineering firm who'd go to Sturgis, and another who dressed like a biker at work. Now that kindergarten teachers have tattoos, CEOs ride Harleys, moms dress up like strippers for Halloween and ACDC's music is well-recognized, none of this is shocking or even edgy. I think it's white bread America trying not to be white bread. IRL, they'd never play out a scene from Sons of Anarchy, take off their clothes for a living or let little Zach or Tyler go to an ACDC concert (unless those concerts aren't as wild as they used to be). It used to give me a chuckle when perfectly nice people who played dress-up got upset at being mistaken for thugs or hookers.

 

[Fading Fast]

...After Valentino died, the Guardians of Manly Manliness turned their attention to radio crooners, declaring that Rudy Vallee, Russ Columbo, and Bing Crosby were tri-handedly responsible for the rampant effeminization of the American male. Columbo took offense, Crosby didn't particularly care, and Vallee laughed really hard and went to bed with Alice Faye.

"Columbo took offense -" Wrong response, gives your accusers power over you and marginal credibility

"Crosby didn't particularly care -" Good response

"and Vallee laughed really hard and went to bed with Alice Faye -" Best response

 

[LizzieMaine]

Around here the thugs wear suits.

(Respected local businessman and "Townsperson of the Year" now serving prison term for embezzling $4.6 million from local charity fund.)

I dunno what the local hookers wear, but I do know the above thug's wife was always very well kept.

 

[Fading Fast]

I worked with a manager at an engineering firm who'd go to Sturgis, and another who dressed like a biker at work. Now that kindergarten teachers have tattoos, CEOs ride Harleys, moms dress up like strippers for Halloween and ACDC's music is well-recognized, none of this is shocking or even edgy. I think it's white bread America trying not to be white bread. IRL, they'd never play out a scene from Sons of Anarchy, take off their clothes for a living or let little Zach or Tyler go to an ACDC concert (unless those concerts aren't as wild as they used to be). It used to give me a chuckle when perfectly nice people who played dress-up got upset at being mistaken for thugs or hookers.

I don't know if I can quite express this well, but there is irony in that the rebells who fought to dress differently, wear their hair differently, have tattoos, etc. did those things in part to separate themselves from the establishment - good so far. And the idea that you should be able to do these things and not be ostracizes has (thankfully) gain such wide acceptance (not universal, but still wide) that there is not an "establishment look" left in that, as you noted, managers and teachers (what once were bulwarks of the establishment) dress like bikers, have tattoos, etc.

Hence, if you wanted your appearance to be different from the establishment because you liked the look better - thought a tattoo was aesthetically pleasing - then all is good as you can do that and still get (most) any job you want, etc. / but if you wanted the long hair or tattoo to thumb your nose at the man, there really isn't a man left to do that to - as he probably has a tattoo also - so your style choice isn't making a political statement any more.

In a way, the anti-establishment style so won out, that it's become establishment. It's kind of like being a liberal in NYC (this won't be political, I hope) as our gov't is almost all liberal and liberals win 99% of the elections - so, I chuckle, when a liberal politician or voter says his or her position will show the "powerful in gov't that we won't accept...no matter what personal risk I take by saying this." There is no personal risk as everyone is liberal in this city - being for a liberal cause might be morally right or not, but anti-establishment and risky in NYC it ain't.

 

[Paisley]

I wonder if the first women who got their hair bobbed or wore trousers felt the same way about the masses who later followed the style. It depends on whether they adopted those styles for comfort and convenience or as a political manifesto.

 

[Talbot]

 

[Fading Fast]

I wonder if the first women who got their hair bobbed or wore trousers felt the same way about the masses who later followed the style. It depends on whether they adopted those styles for comfort and convenience or as a political manifesto.

That's the question - what was the motive and, that, will give you the answer.

A friend of mine in construction is a surfer / biker dude at heart and has dressed - jeans, rock-concert t-shirts, shorts - the same way his entire life and has had longish hair his entire life as all of that is just his preference - he is incredibly apolitical and probably couldn't tell you who are the two parties candidates. To him, he works so that he can surf, fish, go to rock concerts and hang with his friends. He couldn't care less if you do or don't dress / look like him - he's clearly in the "I dress this way because it feels right to me camp."

I also have a gay friend who says he dresses the way he does - "very flamboyantly gay" is how he describes it - because he wants you to know he's gay and he likes tweaking those who don't like how he dresses - all his words. To me, he seems more about the politics of it. If his style became the dominant norm, he'd probably change his as being different is what he is going for.

 

[Paisley]

Around here the thugs wear suits.

(Respected local businessman and "Townsperson of the Year" now serving prison term for embezzling $4.6 million from local charity fund.)

I dunno what the local hookers wear, but I do know the above thug's wife was always very well kept.

I wonder if his lifestyle was what tipped off the authorities. He should have pulled a Charlie Munger* or Gus Fring**, who drove a dented yellow Pontiac and an eleven-year-old Volvo, respectively. (Or, better yet, he shouldn't have stolen money.)

*By all accounts, Munger has always been an honest businessman; he was a lawyer who just wanted to discourage gold diggers.
**Meth kingpin on Breaking Bad who didn't want to attract the attention of the IRS, DEA or anyone else.

 

[LizzieMaine]

He was hiding in plain sight for years, that's the funny thing. He lived a very ostentatious lifestyle -- owned an office building, a townhouse, a camp up north, a couple of other "judicious investments," always drove an upscale car, always was seen at the high-dollar political events, was seen as a mover and a shaper, even ran for office once.

Thing is, a lot of us little people knew he was phony as the proverbial $3 bill just from the way he acted -- when the news cameras were on him, the big smile, the hearty chuckle as he accepted the giant novelty check for the charity, etc, but as soon as the reporters went away he turned into a combination of Mr. Burns from the Simpsons and any character ever played by Edward Arnold. We always hosted an event for them at the theatre around Christmas time, and I saw the switch go on and off every single year.

It was no surprise to any of us when he got racked up -- but that didn't happen until a week after he'd retired as head of the charity and they'd done a routine audit. And when they questioned him about it he was all "yeah, so?" He honestly believed he didn't owe anybody any kind of an explanation because of, you know, who he was. And it was because of "who he was" that he was able to get away with what he did for seventeen long years without anyone ever seriously questioning where he was getting his money. He had headed several businesses that had failed spectacularly in the 1990s, and yet nobody but us little people said "you know, this guy stinks like low tide."

I have far less problem with some bum on the street who sticks you up on the street corner with a gun or a knife because he's strung out on dope or booze or something, than I do with a character like this, who views himself so far above the proles that the rules of society don't apply to him.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That's the question - what was the motive and, that, will give you the answer.

A friend of mine in construction is a surfer / biker dude at heart and has dressed - jeans, rock-concert t-shirts, shorts - the same way his entire life and has had longish hair his entire life as all of that is just his preference - he is incredibly apolitical and probably couldn't tell you who are the two parties candidates. To him, he works so that he can surf, fish, go to rock concerts and hang with his friends. He couldn't care less if you do or don't dress / look like him - he's clearly in the "I dress this way because it feels right to me camp."

I also have a gay friend who says he dresses the way he does - "very flamboyantly gay" is how he describes it - because he wants you to know he's gay and he likes tweaking those who don't like how he dresses - all his words. To me, he seems more about the politics of it. If his style became the dominant norm, he'd probably change his as being different is what he is going for.

I know quite a few young people who would fit into the "flamboyant" category, but it isn't so much a political thing for them as it is an expression of subcultural solidarity, the same as with the goth kids or the skateboard kids or the kids who went to school in The Fifties carrying a lunch box with their favorite licensed pop-culture character on it.

 

[Fading Fast]

I know quite a few young people who would fit into the "flamboyant" category, but it isn't so much a political thing for them as it is an expression of subcultural solidarity, the same as with the goth kids or the skateboard kids or the kids who went to school in The Fifties carrying a lunch box with their favorite licensed pop-culture character on it.

I think it's both in my friend's case. He does feel a connect to the gay community by dressing the way he does, but he also - and he's told me this - likes "shocking" people, "tweaking" them with his dress. When his phone broke (for the tenth time) and I said he should get a case like I have for mine (just a standard rubber case to absorb drops) he said, "maybe, if it comes in another color other than boring white-guy grey."

 

[Paisley]

Re: Rusty Brace (charity embezzler), the audit committee of the charity should have known something was up, too. The 2015 audit was done by what looks like a one-person CPA firm; a charity with over $1,000,000 in revenue and over $2,000,000 in assets should be audited by at least a mid-sized CPA firm. It's standard practice for charities to change auditors every five years, too. I don't know if they did, but changing auditors can bring to light problems that might have been missed before.

Given what looks like a modest salary from the charity and a bunch of unprofitable businesses, Brace's lifestyle should have raised some questions early on. Plus, Hollywood stereotypes aside, highly successful SOBs are a small minority, at least in my experience. People who kiss up invariably kick down, and they regard all their peers and most of their betters as beneath them. When subordinates, peers and betters see an SOB about to make a big mistake, they're only too happy to watch them drive off a cliff. Donald Trump is actually an example: he'd be twice as rich if he'd simply put his inheritance in an index mutual fund. Think Mr. Potter from It's a Wonderful Life: rich, despised and dishonest.

People who have concerns about a charity can get the charity's Form 990 online or through the IRS, and their financial statements should be available, too. (That's how Warren Buffett broke the Boystown scandal back in the 70s.) The IRS offers a substantial reward for turning in a tax cheat of this magnitude. Anybody you know suddenly living a swanky lifestyle, Lizzie?

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

Really?
View attachment 52511


Guilty as charged.

Nixon was Eisenhower's vice-prez in that pic. He didn't wear one to his own inaugural.