I was cleaning up some file folders on my lap top this morning, and came across a copy I had saved of a fantastic essay on Social Justice Warriors.

As I gave it another read, I did some googling. After reading Wikipedia about some of the academic history it references (the Frankfurt school as one example), a particular bit caught my eye: he mentioned fedoras in conjunction with the atheist scene and movement. I wondered what that was about, so I took a sojourn into the wilds of the Net.

I learned that:

Yes, there’s an association between atheists and fedoras, and somewhere in the mix it involves tipping of fedoras to each other.

The fedora bit itself has created a whole lot of Internet mockery. I’m not sure I can find any fault in that.

There is a neckbeard thing, common enough to elicit memes. Urbandictionary defines Neckbeard as:

[A] Derogatory term for slovenly nerdy people who have no sense of hygiene or grooming. Often related to hobbies such as card gaming, video gaming, anime, et. al.

It also offers these as related words:

• nerd
• fedora
• loser
• neck
• neckbeards
• beard
• 4chan
• fat
• neck beard
• virgin
• weeaboo
• atheist
• brony
• facial hair geek
• anime
• neckbearding
• neckbeardistan
• no shave november
• wolfshirt

My awareness of the term neckbeard prior to this was solely of my friend Ed’s frequent references to Yasser Arafat’s neckbeard.

Wolf shirt is another thing that gets mocked. Supposedly, guys wear wolf shirts (i.e. t-shirts printed with big wolf images) to broadcast their maleness and virility. I haven’t seen this in person, but I’m on the wrong side of 50, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. This seems like a slightly more sophisticated version of the t-shirts I saw around campus in my college years.

Male devotees of “My Little Pony” are called bronies (singular: brony). This, apparently, is a thing.

Then there are weeaboos, who are non-Japanese people so obsessed with anime and all things Japan that they try to act Japanese. They’re also called wapanese (wannabe Japanese). I’ve witnessed anglophilia before, but this one was new. I took the quiz. Apparently, I’m 3% weeaboo. Apparently, considering Japan as anything more than just some country in the Pacific gives you a few drops of weeaboo red. My test results:

You aren’t much of a weeaboo. It’s pretty silly how you thought you needed to check when you took this test. But hey, you’re perfectly normal, and heck, probably rather fortunate. Live on.

Well, thank goodness for that.

Back to fedoras. One site indicated:

The fedora thing was actually started by feminists to shame MRAs for not agreeing with their views.

What the hell is an MRA, and is it sufficiently well known to warrant an undefined acronym? Ah, thank Google! MRA = Men’s Rights Activist.

Google then showed me a link that started with why do fat neckbeard atheists wear fedoras. Feeling that this was a big score, I clicked through. The poster that asked the question added:

like fedoras used to be for cool gangsters like Al Capone and **** in the 1920s. Jump forward to a few years ago and now they’re reserved for fat, neckbeard atheists. Why? Like why did these people choose to make a cool piece of clothing absolutely ****ing revolting and disgusting?

The second response, by “Jaguar” who had this truly epic avatar, was:

Just like how goth people ****ed up invader zim.

WTF is invader zim, and what do goths have to do with it? Apparently, it’s a Nickelodeon animated series that ran from 2001 to 2006. I’m aware of the Goth and Emo subcultures, and Invader Zim apparently has some goth elements (and its creator, Jhonen Vasquez, also wrote a “goth-y” comic called Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Very reminiscent of Tim Burton (or is it the other way around?)).

Wondering what else goths have ruined, I found this list:

• Invader Zim
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• “The Scream” by Edvard Munch
• “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh
• Count Chocula
• Blood-letting
• Funerals
• Jewelry, even on women
• Makeup, even on clowns
• The color black
• … and for some reason, Richard Dean Anderson.

I also learned that there is a clothing chain called Hot Topic that specializes in alternative culture-related clothing and accessories. So, that’s where the goths and emo kids get their clothes.

Then I saw an assertion that goths ruined hair nets. Didn’t know that was a thing. But, I saw a correction. Apparently, mexicans ruined hair nets.

That, of course, is Lou Diamond Phillips in Stand And Deliver, and he’s reportedly not Mexican.

One responder to the list’s poster noted:

They’ve ruined depression an[d] being melancholy. It’s so cliche thanks to them.

I wonder, if depression itself is now cliche, where do we go next?

Apparently, to the Legal Examiner, Cleveland edition, where we find Has depression become a clichŽe? I learned that 19 million americans suffer from clinical depression, which manifests with a number of symptoms. The article, thankfully, points out that these symptoms (which include sadness, sleeplessness, irritability, exhaustion et al) are things we all experience from time to time, and it’s only if one experiences them for two weeks or more that the diagnosis might come into play.

Some, apparently, see the cliche side of depression as the long list of responses that the non-depressed offer up to the depressed:

• cheer up
• keep your chin up
• just keep smiling
• think positive
• snap out of it
• man up
• there are a lot of other people a lot worse off than you
• you don’t look depressed

I’ve gone truly far afield. As I closed some browser windows, I found a page that I opened when I was looking for a link to the original SJW essay. A cartoon labeled Social Justice Warriors as depicted by PlebComics is there. Bingo! It included not only “neckbeard,” but “MRA” and “fedora-wearing” among the bounty of derogations used by SJWs. Who knew “pronouns” was an insult?

I’ve returned to my original goal – re-reading the essay on Social Justice Warriors. It’s long, but oh, it’s SO worth it.

EDIT, 6/6/16. Apparently, the blog where the Social Justice Warrior essay (penned by “BreadGod”) appeared is now invitation-only. A shame. I have a copy, but it’s not mine to share. If anyone knows BreadGod and can put me in touch with him, I’d love to share his essay here with his permission.

EDIt, 7/30/17. FOUND IT!. Please, do give it a read.

• About the Author

About Peter Venetoklis

I am twice-retired, a former rocket engineer and a former small business owner. At the very least, it makes for interesting party conversation. I'm also a life-long libertarian, I engage in an expanse of entertainments, and I squabble for sport.

Nowadays, I spend a good bit of my time arguing politics and editing this website.

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