SYTFE
Gold Member
- Banned
- #1
Proponents of the hairstyle in question: The rapper Macklemore, left; white-nationalism advocate Richard Spencer, center; and soccer superstar David Beckham, right. (Reuters; Linda Davidson/The Washington Post; Andrew Innerarity/Reuters)
We need to talk about a haircut. Also about identity, and hatred, and maybe about the total end of American civilization — but first about a haircut.
You have seen it. It is short on the sides and long on the top. It is clean and tidy, with a military sheen. It’s been popular among young people for several years. But now this haircut is making us ask ourselves, with seriousness that seems unthinkable in 2016: hipster or Nazi?
Young city-dwelling men leaving their SoulCycle classes in leftover “I’m With Her” T-shirts.
Young white-nationalism enthusiasts leaving a recent conference in Washington, D.C., where several of them performed a Nazi salute.
The same haircut. The exact same haircut.
In the 1930s, Nazis distinguished themselves by wearing swastikas, an easily identifiable marker that made their odious politics clear. The only defining look of today’s white nationalists — a movement that seeks to form a whites-only state — is the haircut, so popular that the leader of one nationalist group tweets under the handle “Fashy Haircut,” short for “fascist.” And there’s nothing inherently wrong with the haircut — as noted, lots of other guys are wearing it these days, too. But that’s what makes it scary.
Richard Spencer, the carefully crafted face of the self-described “alt-right,” organized a conference of white-nationalism believers. (Linda Davidson/The Washington Post)
For the past half-decade, the haircut, when worn by hipsters, has been known jokingly as the “Hitler Youth,” at least according to a 2011 New York Times fashion article, because of its resemblance to the style popular during Germany’s Third Reich. That off-color nickname, one assumes, started in a different political climate, when it seemed we could be a bit cavalier and ironic with such terminology. Back before we started seeing the haircut on literal white nationalists.
Promoters of white nationalism — or the “alt-right,” as some call it — are coming out of the woodwork now. They say they have been emboldened by Donald Trump’s various calls to ban Muslim immigration into this country and deport millions of undocumented Latin Americans. They have a leader in a man named Richard Spencer, who wears the haircut along with his three-piece Brooks Brothers suits. It’s Hitler Youth rebranded as Hitler Yuppie — an insidious way to blend in.
Rest of article here: Does this haircut make me look like a Nazi?
------------------
I gotta admit, ever since I read this article a few days ago, every time I see this haircut on people I immediately think "Hitler Youth" now.