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| President Obama Not Wearing a Necktie |
John F. Kennedy, the only president of late that had convictions and played straight pool wore neckties and had such style he could make adversaries quiver without drawing a big bad gun. President Obama is not wearing ties like so many other men in or out of government that surely have a problem with credibility. See this ABC News Post about President Obama and his lack of neckties here. Heck, Obama cannot even claim when or where he was born. I am beginning to believe that he is actually from another Galaxy and was planted here from that alien base on the Moon. Just consider those ears, and of course I did find an interesting photograph of him with an alien, that you can check out right here on an early blog post - President Obama Endorced by an Alien. In that blog post you can see that aliens wear ties but at the moment not many ties are tied around the necks of male half of the human species. Well, at least I can say more ties for the rest of us human men. It is ironic now that we necktie aficionados are the non-conformists. Lets not forget the aliens that also wear ties
It is true neckties are not as popular as they once were and they have become part of an anti conformist culture to the extent that neckties are truly hated. It is as if a man’s freedom has to be relinquished if he is to wear a necktie. Maybe the guys that hate ties so much are afraid of strangling themselves by accident, or possibly they were hung in a past life, and just cannot deal with it. More likely, the explanation of the absence of ties gracing the male form is the result of a relaxed society and a somewhat less than serious demeanor concerning the attitude of dressing. This casual lifestyle that started with casual Friday has become a “casual everyday” excepted by society as the norm, giving cause to the guys who decided that wearing ties were a symbol conforming to authority.
Whatever it is, their rebellion against tradition has waged for 10 years or more since the dot com evolution ushered in the relaxed dress code at work, something less than professionalism as we once knew. Unfortunately there are effects that this casual approach is exacting that some see as a decline in the overall character of gentlemen and lifestyle. Even the President does not wear ties every day now which has been noted lately in the press. Now that is the “casual” craze cast in bronze if I did not see it with my own eyes. Maybe the future presidents of the U.S.A. will wear fatigues like Fidel Castro next; we are at the crux of a war against terror, or so they say. Wearing urban camouflaged attire in the White House may suit the propagandists; now that would be some message. After all if what they say is true, we have a lot to be worried about. If in fact, the U.S.A. is up against a lot of people with different ideals, here, over there, in every non American enclave or even not, then civilization is in a very critical balance. It is the justification to invade other countries and even the American home itself with no restraints on what, how, where, and when it is executed. Now, eves dropping, wire tapping, warrantless searches, arrests and imprisoned without charges, etc can be directed – even on us. So far, the guns are not pointed at civilians but sooner or later that may be. So fatigues as the dress code for government officials may not be so crazy of an idea. Now it is unbuttoned shirts and no neckties, nerxt?
For now, the men who make the laws and govern the U.S.A should wear neckties, if not only to make them appear trust worthy with the appearance of credibility, for the sake of tradition. I really do not take much stock in politicians – they are just too much to trust and as always this new president has lied and switched course on every promise he made before election. He has somehow managed to gain support, even if he is a casually dressed guy. None-the-less he should wear a tie everyday so at least his level of seriousness is clear and his influence strong. I guess times have changed but I still wear ties, and I feel a greater sense confidence as unusually of late; I am not competing with much of an equal tie wearing public.
No more ties... what’s world coming to? Sentinelsource New Hampshire
Here is the article from the Sentinelsource New Hampshire
When the Old West posse finally nabbed the varmint who had swiped some chickens from the poor old widow lady’s henhouse, the guys in the posse all yelled “Give him a neck tie!” (They did?) What they meant, of course, was to TIE a rope around his NECK and string him up a tree. Over the decades, that expression has endured, at least in one area of our culture.
Today, whenever a kid asks his mom “What can I give Dad for Father’s Day?”, she is likely to answer (you guessed it) “Give him a necktie!” That prolly won’t work anymore, though, unless the kid’s dad is a minister, a banker, a politician (maybe), a coffin salesman, or a basketball coach (why is that?). For most other men, every day is “casual Friday.”
Ah, the necktie! Whence cometh? Wherefore? And how come? As far as I can figure out from my complicated, exhaustive cravat research, it might well have been Croatian mercenaries in the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) who — for some unclear reason — wore small knotted strips of cloth wrapped around their necks. Somebody in Paris in the fashion game took a look at them and got all excited. Inspired by the Croatian creation, he started a neckwear craze in Europe using similar arrangements of wrap-arounds. So that by the 18th century, high fashion dictated that bands of white muslin be worn outside men’s shirt collars and they were called “stocks.”
Later, in the 1700s, according to my sources, “Young Englishmen returning from Italy (the “macaronis” of Yankee Doodle fame) brought new neckwear fashions (but doesn’t say what they were). Anyway, by well into the 19th century, the necktie had undergone several modifications and improvements, and interest in them became more about how to tie ‘em.
In fact, a bestseller at the time was the how-to book “Neckclothitania,” which described how to tie 14 different cravats, in text and illustrations. And around the mid-1800s, black stocks became more popular than the white ones. I’m sure you’ve seen old photos of famous men of the period like Abraham Lincoln wearing ‘em with a large bow knot tied in front.
From the Lincoln era well into the 20th century, a lot of different neckwear types showed up: the bowtie, four-in-hand, Ascot, cravat, knit, bolo, clip-ons, and even a wide variety of novelties. Especially after World War II, when neckties went bananas. First they got wide — up to 41/2 inches — then narrow to 2 inches — weirdly colored, hand-painted, sexy, and touting schools, teams, products, corporations and organizations of all stripes. Some had photos. Others had mottoes, slogans, adages, jokes, or cartoons.
I was a card-carrying necktie-wearer for many years. So what brought about today’s harangue about neckties? Well, for one thing, their clout is fast disappearing. For decades, no matter how rich you were, you couldn’t get a table at the exclusive “21” Club in Manhattan if you weren’t wearing a necktie with your jacket. Tuxedoed greeter (or not) Chuck Anderson rode herd on who’s goin’ in and who ain’t. If you were otherwise a good paying “member,” you could wear a “loaner” while there. But recently a headline in The New York Times read “Last Bastion for Neckties Throws in the Towel,” with a boo-hoo story about how the present owners of “21” have dumped the necktie requirement, with the comment “So what’s the big deal?” (Jack and Pete Kriendler and Charlie Berns would turn over in their hidden wine cellar if they knew!)
Jackets are still required there, as they are in most of the city’s elegantest eateries. Next thing you know, “21” will be selling off all those great jockey statues in their racing colors out front as “no big deal.” Bah! Humbug! Does every day have to be “casual Friday”? Why, they prolly won’t even allow cigar-smoking at “21” anymore! For Jack, every day is “casual Friday” at The Woodward
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