Archive article: https://archive.is/EfZkV “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans,” he said. “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” he added. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards.”
Archive article: https://archive.is/EfZkV “We don’t have a military full of Nordic pagans,” he said. “No more beards, long hair, superficial individual expression,” he added. “We’re going to cut our hair, shave our beards, and adhere to standards.”
An outsized portion of African American soldiers get beard waivers because if they shave they suffer from “razor bumps” (Pseudofolliculitis Barbae); which is not just razor burn that goes away but a painful skin condition with unsightly pustules.
Basically Pete’s trying to be like “oh, can’t be professional if you’re black, sorry you don’t meet our stringent requirements”
I know about razor bumps and I don’t mean to make it out to be a total non-issue; my problem is with the headline and byline, which seem to make light of what was actually a deeply disturbing speech. “Look at this idiot, ranting about beards, much ado about nothing, don’t even bother reading about what he said, it was just stupid fluff, shoulda been an email lol!” is not the message that the media needs to tell the public when both Hegseth and Trump made several horrifying, fascism-escalating statements today. (And let’s be real, most people don’t actually read the articles, so burying the lede like this is functionally similar to not reporting on it at all.)