LG 2024 Goodbye
- Brush: Alpha Brush & Shaving Co. - Bully Boy 28mm - CHINA
- Razor: Henson AL-13 Medium - Blue - CANADA
- Blade: Feather [1] - JAPAN
- Lather: Eufros - Atlantico - SPAIN
- Post Shave: HAGS for Yourshaving – Apocalypse - GREECE
- Fragrance: House of Mammoth – Embrace (sample) - US
Me: Italy
THE LATHER: ATLANTIC STORIES
Like many other things in my life, my adventures in the wetshaving world have been strongly connected to the ties that bind the two sides of the Atlantic together, in a relationship where differences are more of a value than a limit.
More than one of my LG posts this month have been related to this teme.
One of the cultural values I most appreciate from the Anglo-Saxon world is the idea of a social contract that allows different individuals to come together within a shared system of values. It's this contract among willing individuals that creates the institutional authority. It works much better than the passive-aggressive power relations among individuals that have no shared trust system. Especially in hi-stress situations, it's only human to regress to our core instincts, like fight or flight, control or submit, etc.
THE POST-SHAVE: APOCALYPSE
HAGS is a Greek brand.
While in modern culture we associate Apocalypse with a global catastrophe, the original Greek meaning of the word is "revelation".
I had initially planned to touch other topics, but I have to be honest and share what has been the most impactful revelation of the last month.
Trust me that if we wanted to find posts containing the string "roty", we would. However, we are looking for posts containing the string "#roty", and we do find them all. Those 14 remaining roty participants are welcome to appeal their cases like you are. J33p will decide about their cases, or not, as he pleases.
This is what u/djundjila replied to me in this post, after I offered in good faith to personally help with the hashtag problem that was affecting 10 out of the 15 ROTY players this year, for a total of 63 posts.
My posts about the systemic hashtag issue have been mocked as whingeing by u/enndeegee, and whining by u/djundjila. The latter clarified that he remains persuaded that if I can't fix my hashtags,
I have to conclude that people who mess up their hashtags consistently simply didn't care enough to double check
I have been struggling with similar previous answers for some time, then I had my own revelation: while I tried to put the utmost care in my entries, I really don’t care to comply to the sadistic requests of paranoid people who would rather mock me than contribute to help me understand, and constructively address an issue that has affected many users. When I volunteered to help, I was further called out as a whiner, and many people downvoted me.
I thought the Air Bud Rule was some kind of paradoxical joke, but I was faced with a harsh reality: there seem to be a tremendous and purulent wound that infects the relationship between the judges and the players. I was not there in previous years, and I don't know what happened.
While I remain sympathetic towards the judges for all the effort they have been volunteering, I take issue with the sense of entitlement, the downtalking, the mockery of requests or even offers for help.
One judgment that judges already shared with me about my persona is that I am a whiner.
Maybe I am.
And you know what? It's perfectly legitimate.
If you use your authority as a judge to publicly mock people, and leave actual hate speech float around without even replying to preserve the safety of the sub, well, there's a chance you may hurt people.
And hurt people may whine. You are free to downvote me, DQ me, ban me, do whatever you think will make you feel better than you are behaving. It won't help.
REVEALING THE BURDEN OF EXPERIENCE
I think I am older than most of the people who are writing here, old enough to own the fact that we are all more vulnerable than we would like to show.
As adults, we are always responsible for our behavior, even when it doesn't reflect the nice and easy-going image that we or our friends tend to keep. We can be good people overall, and still make horrible mistakes.
I have been online since the 1990s, I have seen the birth of the idea of flame wars, and I have developed enough antibodies to survive this shit. Possibly because I have around the internet for three decades, I will never downplay how easy it is to write aggressive posts that seem all fun and games, until the person on the other side, frequently a perfect unknown, gets hurt. It seems absurd to have to remind that online posts have real life consequences.
Beyond my personal misadventures with the stressed-out judges, the concern I'd like to share here is about the state of TRUST within this community. It's obvious that there have been serious trust issues floating around this sub well before I set foot here. Nervous and overwhelmed people can humanly become petty. I suggest to tackle the problem at its root, because my situation is just a symptom. The issues will keep hovering around even after I'll no long be here.
Another collective concern: in addition to the problems for "innocent" players that were not involved in any previous shenanigans, I point out the reputational damage to the sponsors.
If anyone asked me about the opportunity for a brand to be associated to the Lather Games, I would strongly discourage them, as it would mean to be in the hands of folks who volunteered for something that stresses them so much they become aggressive towards the players.
THE FRAGRANCE: EMBRACE
I committed to these LG to have a practical equivalent to one of life's biggest challenges: looking at yourself in the mirror, everyday, accept who you are, and try to improve on that.
I have been around long enough to know that sooner or later in life everyone feels the pressure of this challenge, and we all make mistakes. It's ok to be vulnerable and ask for help. It's only human to want to be surrounded by loving people, especially when others are channeling hate.
I would really like to thank u/mammothben for creating a fragrance that reminds us of the importance of showing connectedness and hugging each other, even in the worst circumstances.
A big hug to all.