“That’s lame, but it’s a shame how I fell for the game” – Big L
In the modern age whether you are a nice guy™ or a genuinely nice person who happens to be a guy you run the risk of setting yourself for failure when interacting with women. For those unfamiliar with nice guy™ it is a designation often used for men who act nice purely out of necessity as a means to an end when interacting with women. This can be confusing without nuance so uncle SweatPant has taken it upon himself to give you three types of “nice guys” but keep in mind there are no nice guys only nice deeds and actions performed by people.
Type 1- A person who does nice things because he wants to, confident and knows his self-worth. This nice guy says yes when can and no when he has to and has no qualms walking away from a situation he finds to be detrimental to his physical or mental health.
Type 2- A person who does nice things with the explicit purpose of brown nosing and racking up nice points to cash in later. This nice guy is manipulative, can’t say no and can become very distraught when he isn’t rewarded or given what he feels he is owed due to his actions. Like a stray puppy he will linger around until he has either accepted or chased away
Type 3- A person who is somewhat of a mix of the aforementioned types. This nice guy is creature of circumstance, he lives in the precarious environment of a finalized relationship you know the guy who got dumped but still entertains his ex because he cares for her and wants her to be happy. This nice guy is confident but hasn’t completely found or embraced his “it”, the quality the thing that keeps past women in his life lingering around. The unfortunate ballad of this nice guy is that when most women speak of “nice guys” they are speaking of him. He is the guy who they call when they need a pep talk or to be cheered on, who can come over in the middle of the night hit it and stay the weekend without issue, who you can still go on dates with even though you broke up three months ago and have no plans on getting back together.
As humans, we are prone to groups and with that comes self-identification as well as social distinction. We all give ourselves attributes “I am a writer” as well as society and people in our social group giving them to us “look at her hair she is a Rasta”. With that human need for identity we open up the flood gates to misidentification not only from outside forces but from ourselves as well how do we truly know if we are a nice person or considerate without studying ourselves and our actions? Most of the things we do is automatic purely from muscle memory due to conditioning and without analysis we can find be completing actions we truly do not want to. In the end do not be the person people call a nice guy be yourself, invest in those that invest in you and do not entertain things you find disinteresting. Embodying these types’ characteristics will bestow you with many titles but none will matter, as you were just being you.
Well folks we’ve made it to the end of another year, a year marred with the deaths of many beloved people public and private, election hacking, marches for justice, police brutality on a wide scale, and the “Orange one” being elected potus. With 2017 closing in I’d like to say thank you to all of you who’ve decided to join the sweat pant society and stay tuned for more things to come.
“Man must use what he has, not hope for what is not.”
We have the uncanny ability of forming into groups and with all groups hierarchy is par for the course. Within this natural order you will find the divine 3 (those at the top, those in the middle, those at the bottom) the numbers in these three groups will vary of course but the structure remains the same wealthy, middle class, poor or tall, average, short. With all things in life styles make fights so we will continuously encounter the inevitable outliers although they are the exception and not the rule our need to view those people as such will always run strong as it gives us hope to possibly change our “lot in life”.
For the most part people are pretty much static in their place on the totem pole of social status from dining in expensive restaurants to wearing luxury brands or driving sports cars completing these tasks will not change ones position. The social order of our society has pretty much been set and we all accept it as such whether consciously or subconsciously. A perfect example is the person of high status who “stumbles” upon a whole in the wall eatery with great treats or the average joe who saves his coins to take his special someone to one of the top tier restaurants in the city. To most that would seem normal but no different than Eddie Murphy’s role in trading places both men are occupying the spaces of each other being that this pecking order is well established throughout time most people of high-status by in large come from a lineage of high-status and the same for the average joe and their lineage of averageness.
Why do we find the need to change our social status?
A persons social status allows for the greater possibilities the higher you are through birth, will, or guile. The internet affords one the opportunity to change their social status via perception coupled with a quick wit the possibility of “faking it till you make it” is much easier to access. The commonality of the western social totem pole and eastern varna system of Hinduism makes these points clear. The stark contrast in life between Brahmin and the Shudra is no different from our western rich and poor. Many people chase status as a means of being in the “in” crowd while most see it as a means to recreate the reality they were born into. If we look at Silicon Valley we can peak into the ameba like nature of social status as it evolves through stimulus. We find those who want to do away with social status due to the implications of unfairness, I don’t believe we will come to a point as a society in which fairness will be the order of the day. As humans are flawed the things we create and the execution of said things are flawed, ones social status is a by product of this and if you don’t believe me I ask are you nouveau riche?
Our lives hang on a tight rope balancing between optimism and pragmatism too much or too little of either leads to ruin. This is not to say give up on your dreams but consideration and responsibility is necessary in our daily lives. A simple search online will spit out to you optimism to your eye balls. In the past we called these things “home remedies” or “self-help” today we have “life-hacks”, youtube and what ever ted-talks can be classified as, but has the introduction of these ideas changed anything for the modern generation.
The rise of the “yolo” and “fomo” lifestyles can be seen as a result of ever-growing optimism a need to stay at the bar until closing because you never know your future whom-ever may just walk through the door. Many people look at the millennial’s as the harbingers of this total optimism between the social media mavens waiting to get their break from instagram or twitter to the college educated business types living with mom and dad to subsidize a lavish lifestyle many would view this as an over optimistic outlook. We are in a time of great innovation and change this of course comes with a price.
In boxing a good corner man has to know when to throw in the towel to protect their fighter for us laymen we need that same expertise from our support group to do the same. This is not to say we cannot have dreams, goals, aspirations but as time goes by our scope must change with it. The thirty year old ball player should not be lying about his age to enroll in high-school to live out his bygone dream of winning a championship or securing a college scholarship that time has passed. An over optimistic spirit can be like beer goggles for some clouding our visions to the true realities we face. No amount of hope, wantonness or dreaming will pay a bill, reward you with a degree, drop the love of your life onto the same 6′ o clock train with you they all require effort and execution.
“He who does not live in some degree for others, hardly lives for himself.”
The proverbial chain is only as strong as its weakest. We as humans are social creatures who make/break social groups as we go through life. With the recent brexit we have a birds eye view into the renegotiation of social groupings on the global stage. Our interactions on all scales including the familial, communal, societal, have all increasingly become intertwined due to the rise of the internet we all can learn about local art projects in Brooklyn with the click of a button something new in our modern world.
This mingling of worlds has created very interesting results in both positive and negative aspects. Internet fundraising via vehicles such as patreon and gofundme has opened us all up to supporting ideas and dreams of people on our block to far away nations many of us have never visited. The communal aspect of our existence cannot be understated we are birthed, fed, reared, from our inception by a community. Some cultures have a head-start on this type of thinking compared to others but none have a monopoly the understanding of this give-and-take has been handed down to all humans throughout the ages as a tool for survival.
I now pose a question to you dear reader what does collectivism mean to you and are you actively engaged in its growth? Has a large number of berniebro’s put their democratic socialists shirts down to rally behind Hillary for the greater good of the democratic party, were you a part of the 48% of people in the United Kingdom willing to stay the course with the EU. The ebb and flow of ideas has a great way of balancing itself out, but what do I know I’m still waiting for the disco revival.
“The business of art lies just in this, — to make that understood and felt which, in the form of an argument, might be incomprehensible and inaccessible.”
Is art for arts sake a true statement? is brushing your teeth, working, and other mundanities acts of art?
The delineation’s of art, artistic expression, and being a hack have all converged to create a new imperfect union. This whimsical world does not require astuteness in craft neither an avant-garde approach in dissemination. Pushing the envelope has been relegated to the humors of manwhether it be nudity, sexuality, or vulgarity if it’s packaged in house of art we tend to look at it as revolutionary. This concept would be seen as foreign throughout history the use of nudity in Michelangelo’s the last judgement was not the focal point of the fresco, but a piece of the vehicle to push his artistic message.
In our 4G, high-speed internet age the point of least resistance in art has become the trope of the human form whether nude or clothed an easy way to open the floodgates of opinion is to use that medium visually. This is not to say with proper execution the message trying to be conveyed cannot be exciting, intriguing, and captivating D’angelo’s how does it feel was a perfect balance of content and application the visuals tied in nicely with the song, lyrics, and D’angelo himself. Artistic nuance is lost when the medium becomes a race to the bottom.
If the glove does not fit you must acquit and if the art is shit it is shit. A dope video for a wack song is just that it doesn’t make the song dope. I don’t believe in art for arts sake I believe art serves a purpose being molded and fashioned into something for an exact intent and reason, used to bring awareness, convey a message, or brash and unadulterated angst. Art does not bring the aesthetician to the artists destination, but it is upon the artist to be a good guide. The role of a good artist and in-turn good art is when all is in harmony the art, the message, it’s concept, and it’s application. It is hard to tell if allowing stranger finger bang you raises awareness for women’s sexual freedoms although I applaud Milo Moire for her tenacity.
“The conduct of our lives is the true mirror of our doctrine.”
With the rise of social media one would think that making connections and relationships would be easier to come by but boy would you be wrong. Marriage is at an all time low and a number of social groups have sprung up in the four corners of the internet professing new virtues on male female interaction mgtow to true forced loneliness, the ideology of the “man” has been growing and he is pissed some may say rightfully so as a balancing point to modern women’s proclivities. I know this may be a shock to hear but men are scared yes scared trying to find their place in this new modern world where they have no modern measuring stick for their masculinity. As the number of women earning degrees and entering the workforce grows it is not being the financial provider, it is not the de facto protector as with recent developments in selective service something only men in the U.S. were required to sign up for in the future women may be required to as well.
Men have given up, there has never been any established rights of passage for men in western nations and that cultural misstep is rearing it’s head in the twenty-aughts. This issue isn’t relegated to just the west with birth rates falling across first world nations and the rise of “herbivore men” in Japan we find ourselves in a very precarious state. A scroll through youtube or the numerous message boards that exist paints a very detailed portrait on this sad state of affairs with no sound answer in sight. Some call this social Darwinism at work which alludes to an interesting future as positive relationships and procreation sustain a society the government can’t tax someone who doesn’t exist.
SweatPant is like Sway Calloway I ain’t got all the answers but what I can say is this. We as people have to take stock of ourselves and our interactions with society at large. We all can’t be the next snapchat celebrity or “hot felon” somebody got to bake bread and drive the buses in this world too. Philip Zimbardo brings up a great point in the video above “society consistently tells men what they can’t do but does not tell them what they can” that is conversation we should be having. Both men and women play a role in the creation and development of positive relationships and have to take responsibility in that.
“Of all our infirmities, the most savage is to despise our being.”
We all have personal prisons they are a part of the human condition we are our own prosecutor against ourselves, judge who hands down the sentence, and warden to keep ourselves in check. Now don’t get scared there’s levels to this shit these prisons we build are not always bad. Routine is a personal prison imagine waking up and doing the same exact thing for the next 15 years sounds like hell doesn’t it, but many of us fall into that very thing. Life is a journey filled with many pitfalls that can be considered personal prisons things we fall into and do our time until we serve our time. Whether it be dealing with a vice or bad eating habits these prisons all satiate us enough to keep us entertaining them.
Stay frosty friends there is no need to worry unless your personal prison is in fact killing you and if it is break the mold or if you’ve found joy in that allow the journey to run it’s course “So enjoy present pleasures as to not mar those to come.” We are all here having a human experience, when we are born and raised we aren’t told what it means to be human we are just guided in what humans do (learn, educate, procreate, build, etc) those are attributes of our humanity although important are greatest gift to ourselves is to find our individual path and follow it to it’s completion before we die including all of it’s bumps and pitfalls.
“There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.”
Basic hygiene is of the utmost importance, but traveling on public transportation or running errands easily shows that some of us readily ignore something so basic. Uncle SweatPant is gonna put y’all up on game just follow these tips to hygienic success.
7 Basic tips for hygienic excellence
Brush your teeth
Wash your ass
Take time time exfoliate your skin and lips
Essential oils are essential learn about them, use them, enjoy them
Store bought shit isn’t always the top of the pops black soap, black seed oil, & natural butters can work wonders for your hair and skin
Work your way from the inside out not outside in i.e make sure your diet is in order!
The most important tip take your time and enjoy taking care of yourself. So many people treat basic upkeep as a chore don’t be one of those people.