I'm not the kind of guy who likes putting suits on. No matter how well-tailored, I'm far more into comfort than fashion. My favorite things to wear are shorts and a T-shirt, and if I'm going out of my house, I don flip-flops.
I don't want to hear about how men are supposed to wear shoes. I come from an island. I'm not changing my choice of footwear after years of keeping my feet free.
But despite my love of relaxed clothing, you'll still see me wear suits or, at the very least, appropriate clothing when it's necessary. I'll never Fetterman it up in a place where decorum needs to be kept, because decorum is important. Decorum is the maintaining of the importance of a thing and when that importance disappears, so does the thing. This can apply to anything, including a nation.
My colleague Bonchie put this very well in a recent op-ed about this very subject when discussing the Senate's now-relaxed dress code:
Nothing matters, and when nothing matters, nothing will survive. Heck, even simple pastimes like football and baseball have been hijacked as vehicles to push a divisive political narrative. The left ruins everything, and it's all by design.
Again, the humiliation is the point. Democrats want to tape your eyelids open and force you to watch as they set your traditions on fire. It's a game to them. It's a way to project power and mock those who don't possess it.
But there's also an importance to the self that has to be maintained as well, and that comes in the form of modesty.
YouTuber Misha Petrov released a video on Saturday about this subject that you should absolutely watch. In it, she points out how the fashion industry has effectively turned its back on creating solid but stylish clothing, and embracing what has effectively become one step above nudity, and if not nudity, pure ugliness.
She's not wrong. Looking at how many celebrities dress, you'd think they effectively just stepped out in their underwear. Some of them effectively do.
For reference, check out this X thread featuring some of the fashion displayed on the red carpet at the MTV VMAs. One of them can hardly even be considered an outfit, just a shawl over barely covered nudity.
CELEBRITY FASHION NEWS📌
— Josh affordable📌 (@joosh1063) September 14, 2023
2023 MTV VMAs: SEE ALL THE STARS ARRIVE ON THE RED CARPET
The 2023 MTV Video Music Awards brought out the best and most daring in fashion, with celebs stepping out at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., Sept. 12 dressed to turn heads.
Check thread👇 pic.twitter.com/CcIzD3Empn
What's the point of all this? It's simple.
It's all about the destruction of the importance of the self.
Your body is something that is only for you and eventually the person you love. Its importance is key to your dignity and self-value. If you're willing to expose it to anyone and everyone, then that eliminates the importance of yourself. If you're no longer important to you, then you can be used, manipulated, and discarded. You mean nothing to yourself and you mean little to others too.
Sure, showing up in the buff will get you attention, but it's not a substantial kind of attention. No one will care who you are, just what they can get out of you.
It's the same as the issue with decorum in the Senate. If there is no decorum then there is no importance, and if there is no importance, then degradation and elimination occur. There is no you anymore, just what people can make out of you.
This push to make people disregard their own sense of modesty and value is purposeful. If they can make you not care too much about your own self then you become easier to control and manipulate. You become a useful tool, not an individual who understands who you are and what you stand for, and just as importantly, how you should be treated.
They want you to lose your sense of personhood so they can effectively own you in some way. Don't give them that.
Put some damn clothes on.
