With the resurgence of interest in all things SweatPant we’ve decided to create a portal for your questions, comments and insight.
Email heysweatpant@sweatpantsociety if you need advice, have an idea for a post I should write or just to shoot the shit.
SweatPant Out….
“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.
SweatPant Out….
“Feel like a brand new person”
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.
SweatPant out…
“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?
SweatPant out…
“Existence is an imperfection.”
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.
SweatPant out…
“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.
SweatPant out…
“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 man whether 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.
SweatPant out…
“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.
SweatPant out…
Young SweatPant & my dad circa 1989
“What a wonderful thing it is that drop of seed, from which we are produced, bears in itself the impressions, not only of the bodily shape, but of the thoughts and inclinations of our fathers”
I would like to take the time out today to show my respect to all the fathers of the world including my own. A father plays an important role in the life of his child helping to rear, educate, and influence their off-spring. I once read that mothers provide their child with self-confidence through their nurturing while fathers help in shaping and giving direction to this newly formed self-confidence I can agree with that. We live in a society today were less than 50% of children live in a traditional household now I’m not going to get into alternative styles of living based on religion, sexual orientation, or personal ideology that’s a deeper conversation. The position of influence a father has on his child cannot be understated and that is a default position given to the father at birth, the mother’s baby father’s maybe is a detrimental state for society there is a difference between siring a child and being a father.
On this father’s day I hope the father’s that find joy, love, adventure in raising their children continue to reap the rewards for their hard work and dedication and those men that have not put in the time, effort, and understanding to know why they even put themselves in the position to become a father take a step closer to learning that for their children and society at large.
SweatPant out…
“The game of history is usually played by the best and the worst over the heads of the majority in the middle.”
For those who do not follow professional basketball the NBA finals are currently underway. The Cleveland Cavaliers are facing off against the Golden State Warriors in a rematch of last years finals in which the Warriors took the championship that’s not what I’m here to talk about.
Ayesha Curry is currently in hot water for serious of tweets espousing the fact that the games are rigged. Some of you may not be as deep of a conspiracy nut as uncle SweatPant and names such as Tim Donaghy may not ring a bell but please humor yourselves. This is not the first time a claim such as this has been made but it is for a person in the position Ayesha is in as the wife of the current NBA mvp and overall media darling she has been up until this point. The NBA and it’s collaborators such as ESPN and other sports outlets took no time in dragging Ayesha for filth due to her now rescinded claims (she deleted the tweets) and championing the transparency of the game and it’s officiating.
Now let’s keep it real, the average NBA team is worth 1.25 Billion dollars now that doesn’t automatically allude to foul play but the propensity for foul play is amplified the more you have to lose. Cheating in all levels of sports is as American as Pete Rose and the higher you go the more likely you are to find it. I’m not going full Alex Jones here but sport and play hold a high status in all modern societies for good reason it allows people to escape from the mundanities of their lives and gives them the rush and exhilaration of watching well oiled machines perform at the top level in their respective sports. It also acts as a sedative in that manner as well being used as a tool to occupy peoples time, aspirations, and emotions isn’t it interesting that when we were kids and the “adults” had to have a serious conversation they would send us out to play as to not disturb them. The lengths these players and their respective teams go to is par for the course ask Nesta Carter.
Now to take off the tin-foil hat and level with you. If you think there is no foul-play at the elite level of sports then the bad guy losses at life, sociopaths are not in the upper echelons of our society, and Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee for President as he has no I repeat no political experience. Hmmmmmm
SweatPant out…
