Labour leaders: a hereditary obsession with baldness
Published:
June 5, 2011 at 2:30pm
From timesofmalta.com, this morning
timesofmalta.com this morning used a very amusing new photograph of Joseph Muscat to accompany one of his many speeches.
It shows him with an interesting new hairline and a nice new thatch up top, aiming for the dark and handsome look.
What is wrong with these people?
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wow
I’m sorry to say this because:
a. I admire DCG
b. I often love to criticise the PL
But this is simple ‘hdura’ at its best and typical only of those who feel they are drowning (politically). From my experience of this blog I am used to constructive criticism and ideas. In this case this is pure character assassination. It’s your blog and obviously no one is forced to read it but I think this ‘hdura’ is way beyond decency.
[Daphne – How can I drown politically when I am not a politician, Anthony, and when this blog is rife with criticism of the Nationalist Party anyway? Character assassination? You really know nothing, do you. Let me tell you what character assassination and hdura are, Anthony: it’s what the Labour Party and its allies do to me and members of my family, sinking so low as to write anonymous internet posts calling my sons rapists and cocaine-dealers, saying that my husband has a mistress (while being gay) and that I cheat on him all the time and my father has a second family in Sicily. THAT is character assassination, not making fun of a party leader who thinks it is fine to appear in public on Saturday with balding ginger hair and again in public on Sunday with a thick rug of dark brown ‘hair’. So get a grip, because you’re really getting on my nerves now. You seem to live in some kind of parallel universe.]
How do you rate political figures who wear make up for TV appearances??? Hair thickener is ‘make up’ just as a blusher or foundation is.
[Daphne – Oh yes, indeed. You really know nothing do you. Make-up for television is there because of the lights, and most men choose not to wear it. But a politician is very, very poorly advised to appear on television with a full head of dark hair one day and go out in public with his balding ginger look the next. Please don’t push my sense of the ridiculous to the limit.]
Nevertheless I never read a drop of criticism towards that! You will surely gundown this argument but it is a FACT!
I have nothing against foundation or blusher mind you or the people who wear it for public appearances on national television. You, on the other hand, should either criticise both or none. Well I can see the writing on the wall “i have the right to criticise who I like” but then again we leave it up to the readers to judge the ‘critical’ bias.
[Daphne – You know, Anthony, the inability of some people here on this blog to understand that some things are social signifiers (table manners) and others are personality signifiers (wigs, acute neuroses about hair loss) is about as bad as the inability of others to understand the separation of church and state. I wish you luck. http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts8379706.aspx ]
I fully sympathise with you and the members of your family. I NEVER hinted I support an inch of that…. never did and never will.
[Daphne – I really don’t need any sympathy, Anthony, and I didn’t ask for it. I merely gave you that as an example of character assassination, and what it really is.]
The problem is 2 wrongs don’t make a right and mocking their leaders reseeding hair will get you nowhere.
[Daphne – Two wrongs don’t make a right? Honestly, how dare you be so rude and crass as to compare the extreme things I described – calling one of my sons a cocaine dealer and another a rapist (I don’t give a damn what they say about me) – with a discussion of the Labour leader’s REAL AND ACTUAL use of dark hair volumiser for a PUBLIC APPEARANCE? You are unbelievable. Truly, I despair. I trust you are not one of those who feels he is in a position to criticise Edwin Vassallo’s thinking skills.]
Criticise their dirty tactics, useless press, lack of program and vision etc etc but the hair spray ‘saga’ is frankly ‘hdura’ and sickening.
[Daphne – Hdura? Sickening? You’re not au fait with the way these things work. Here’s a bit of reading to help you catch up. And please don’t come back and tell me that the BBC is stuffed full of hodor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/dec/17/sticky-patch-head-cameron-hair
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/3790112/Why-David-Cameron-is-lacking-a-bit-upstairs.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6459283.stm
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Budget-2009-Stings-In-The-Tail-The-Chancellors-Bald-Spot-And-Camerons-Lustrous-Mop/Article/200904415267071?lpos=Politics_Article_Related_Content_Region_29&lid=ARTICLE_15267071_Budget_2009%3A_Stings_In_The_Tail%2C_The_Chancellors_Bald_Spot_And_Camerons_Lustrous_Mop
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/simon-carr/the-sketch-miliband-turned-on-the-charm-but-all-eyes-were-on-camerons-bald-spot-768788.html
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/192028
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/03/10/cam-s-hairs-n-graces-115875-22099198/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-506764/Hair-scare-Camerons-locks-bald-patch-spotted.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1300400/Curse-PMs-David-Cameron-going-grey-record-rate.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/harry-mount-grey-hair-works-no-hair-works-but-combovers-are-just-a-joke-2046377.html
By the way……….
It’s NOT a wig! Its NOT fake hair and its NOT pubic hair either :)
It is simply a spray applied to your EXISTING hair which makes it look fuller and thicker. Link explains it all:
http://www.maneuk.com/
[Daphne – Oh sweet Jesus, that explains your fox-terrier-like fixation with battling me on this one right into the night. You’re an insider. You actually know what spray he used. With subtle people like you around him, what great heights can Joseph Muscat not scale?]
I’m really getting entertained this evening. Joey’s “reseeding hair”. I love it.
[Daphne – Literally reseeding.]
yes I agree with Anthony here – this is an attempt at character assasination. Daphne, you don’t even deserve to be called a journalist. And then you quote a thread from the plentyoffish forums (a dating site!!) from 2007 in a silly attempt to back your statements! You should look at yourself in the mirror before criticising others as you aren’t so young yourself – when you were coming out of the courts a few months ago – you looked like a clown with that dress!
[Daphne – What dress, sweetheart? Have you translated ‘libsa’? Clowns usually have red hair, very wide mouths, pale faces, short legs and large feet. You can see where I’m going with this, so don’t encourage me.]
NO!!
It’s the first search result you get when you type “hair thickening products” on a simple google.
How’s that for conspiracy theories :) incredible.
[Daphne – Just yanking your chain.]
And it’s back to the blue eyes. Or are mine being deceived?
Yes, blue eyes (but brown face).
Il fratello di Berlusconi.
“What is wrong with these people?”
Contrary to what they say, they always try to hide the truth. But the people will always know the truth.
How is this important or relevant? A receding hairline is not exactly a welcome event in any man’s life. He happens to be in the public realm so he is obviously more aware of it.
Chances are that had he let himself go bald in public, this column would still be mocking him for failing to take proper care of his appearance.
[Daphne – Not at all. All the men go bald in my family. I grew up surrounded by bald and balding men. I think it’s completely normal. Dyeing hair, hair transplants and wigs, on the other hand….That’s why I think Sant and Muscat are so absurd. It’s like a weird pathology, being unable to accept that you’re going bald. Now for a woman, of course, it’s not the same at all, which is why wig-wearing is acceptable with women.]
You can only hope that the electorate will be voting according to Muscat’s choice of hairpiece. Bitchy observations of this kind only work in lessening the validity of your critiques.
[Daphne – Oh God, now where have I heard that a thousand times over? Oh yes, with Alfred Sant 1996 to 2008. We were all supposed to look at his wig as it changed shade and tone and developed streaks of grey and then turned jet black again for electioneering, and not mention it. Sad. Instead of the elephant in the room, we had the hairpiece in the room. And now, apparently, we have the failing hair transplant and volumiser in the room. I’m beginning to think that when Joseph Muscat was off duty for most of last summer, it wasn’t because of a hairline fracture but because of a hair transplant.]
“How is this important or relevant?”
Try equating someone who cannot accept reality with someone occupying the post of Prime Minister.
Hair transplant? Does that mean he’s wearing his pubes on his head? (Sorry, but I couldn’t resist!)
Daphne,
Do you have the same problem with men who, because they are beginning to go bald, shave their hair off completely leaving a shiny dome up top?
[Daphne – Not at all. I repeat that baldness is normal to me. Most men in my family are bald, and nobody ever tried a hair transplant.]
Ahh ….but isn’t shaving one’s head simply another way to deal with a receeding hairline?
Some wear a wig – some shave the remnants of their hair off completely.
Both are trying to improve their image.
For one’s argument to be consistent one would have to feel the same about balding people who shave their hair!
[Daphne – Rubbish.You just don’t get it. You might as well compare wearing a wig to washing your face. And hell, why not compare it to wearing a hat? After all, it’s something that goes on your head, isn’t it? Please try hard to understand this (and it’s not ‘Daphne’s opinion’): when a man wears a wig or has a hair transplant it is read by observers as a psychological flaw. If a man doesn’t mind being perceived that way, then fine, he can go ahead and wear a rug or have his pubes transferred to his head. And he can wear lipstick while he’s at it, because by your thinking there’s nothing wrong in a man trying to improve his appearance. The mistake you make is to think these things improve a man’s appearance. They don’t. That’s what the advertisements tell him, preying on his insecurities.]
On the contrarty, I DO get it ……….. what I am saying is that the man who completely shaves his head because he is balding is doing this for the exactly the same reason as the man who wears a wig.
[Daphne – No. He doesn’t. The man who wears a wig does so to pretend he has hair. The man who shaves his head makes a spectacle of the fact that he hasn’t any at all. Are you another bald person in denial, by any chance? You seem inordinately keen to justify wig-wearing.]
Thus if you argue that a man who wears a wig has a pyschological problem ….then you’ll have to agree that the man who shaves off his last few hairs to end up with a bone-dome suffers from the same problem.
[Daphne – Really, why? I can’t see how it follows. Baldness in men is normal, as we have seen. So making yourself more bald is normal too. Pretending to have hair is, well, let’s not repeat the arguments. You are obviously a wig-wearer yourself or very much in love with somebody who is. So perhaps there is hope for our Gordon, elsewhere on this thread, after all. Now please don’t come back at me with more self-justification, or you’ll prove my point that wig-wearing and hair-volumising (in men) is neurotic. http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts8379706.aspx ]
Since you asked – No, I don’t wear a wig; I do not shave my head and I am not married to someone who wears a wig.
In fact I don’t even think I actually know anyone who wears a wig…..
I just don’t agree that making oneself “more bald” is “normal” – which really was the gist of my original comment.
I think that exhausts my posts on this subject!
“That’s why I think Sant and Muscat are so absurd. It’s like a weird pathology, being unable to accept that you’re going bald.”
It is your comments that lack sense. Some men look great with a bald head, others don’t…. it is not about accepting you’re going bald – it is about improving your appearance. If you find this queer I would find all those cosmetics and great sacrifices (not to mention pain suffering) which women endure to look good REALLY, BUT REALLY QUEER. Even you are queer (with your logic) for selecting the way you dress the way you do and for arranging your hair style in your particular way instead of leaving it naturally looking!
[Daphne – I see you you fail to distinguish between men and women, a massive flaw in your argument. Shall I explain very carefully why men shouldn’t wear wigs or have hair transplants or clearly spend hours worrying about their appearance? It makes them look weak.anxious and vulnerable. People, especially women, are instinctively repelled. Imagine if Obama wore a wig. Now look at who had a hair transplant: Berlusconi. This is all linked to the fact that baldness is universally acceptable in men and that men are not expected to prink and preen like women. It is not acceptable, hence the term for those who do: metrosexual. Except, of course, that you have to be young for that, and Muscat isn’t..]
I disagree and Muscat doesn’t need to attract women so your comment is out-of-place.
[Daphne – “Muscat doesn’t need to attract women.” You know this for a fact, do you? There were some rumours that he is homosexual, back in 2008 when he became leader, but I dismissed them out of hand. If anything, he gives off more of an asexual vibe than anything else, but that might be just the pale and flaccid look. All heterosexual men need to feel they are attractive to women, Gordon. It’s crucial to their ego. The crux is whether you act on it or not. Any man who goes through life feeling not even the merest flicker of interest in a member of the opposite sex, just because he is married, is dead from the waist down and probably from the neck up too. Women are no different. Stick George Clooney in a room full of married women and none of them is going to treat him like he’s a piece of furniture or Great-Uncle Tom. Your faith in the power of marriage to kill off all interest in being attractive is touching in the extreme, but a bit naive.]
And I don’t use hair products specifically to attract women thank you nor do I care about what cave men did…
[Daphne – Oh, so I was right in suspecting that your touchiness springs from self-defence as a user of baldness products yourself. Bin them, Gordon. Hair volumiser is not a chick magnet.]
Your comments remind me of some ridiculous tack originating from the anti-divorce campaign – like yours their arguments were so absurd that they almost sounded funny – only they weren’t because they were intended to manipulate. You are attacking people personally here trying to make fun of them for their physical attributes – that is evil.
[Daphne – Listen to me carefully, Gordon. You might think baldness is a physical deformity, but I don’t. I am used to it. I think it is normal for men to go bald. All the men in my life while I was growing up did so, and to this day I think middle-aged men WITH HAIR are unusual. If your own thinning hair has taken over your life to the extent that you are this touchy and must justify yourself anonymously with me, then you have a serious problem that has nothing to do with the lack of hair on your head. And THAT is exactly what I mean when I say that people are innately wary of men who are fixated about their (lack of) hair.]
Everything!
Oh look, his hairline isn’t straight! Michelle must have slipped up while putting it on.
Wayne Rooney recently had a hair transplant and he’s very happy with the result.
[Daphne – Funny how the ‘people with good taste don’t mention hair transplants’ village police don’t write to The Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/players/wayne-rooney/8556643/Wayne-Rooney-had-hair-transplant-at-Harley-Street-clinic.html ]
Since when was Wayne Rooney the epitome of good taste and better judgement?
Shrek
[Daphne – Just look at Shrek the Sheep’s magnificent ‘hair’. No volumiser on that one.]
Ok, Daphne. The Times has another picture of Joseph that can be used to heal up any debate whether he is balding or not.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110605/local/muscat-calls-for-national-healing-process.369053
It’s been cropped!
Prince William’s hairline was edited for his weddings. Gonzi’s face, Chiara, etc etc have all been photoshopped several times. Would gladly be myself, if I had to appear on every newspaper.
I’d be more worried on what is inside his head than what is on it.
That Burlusconi phony Max Factor made up look will get him nowhere.
La xtaq jaghmilha, sewwa ghamel :) Lili ma tani l-ebda fastidju. Nahseb hija wkoll mentalita’ sessista li nghidu li mara tista’ tirranga u ragel le. Ragel ghandu jzomm ruhu sabih daqs mara hu u jikber.
Il-problema, ghaziz Sagittarius, hija li kapiljatura “because I’m worth it” m’hija worth xejn jekk tkun fuq gisem pudgy.
Muscat mhux hair transplants ghandu bzonn, izda siegha cardio kuljum u dieta sura.
Sorry ta, hi, u sitt pulziri ohra ezwell.
U ahjar ma jiehux ghalih, ghax nghidulu ”jekk int ma tistax tissaporti s-shana, mela sparixxi mil-kcina. Ginger”.
F’dan il-kuntest, il-kumment “ohrog mill-kcina” huwa appropjat hafna.
How about something about Austin Taliban Gatt? Could this be the flash preceding his twilight?
“Gatt says Joseph Muscat has lost his divorce majority – PN to ‘save the day'”
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110604/local/gatt-claims-joseph-muscat-has-lost-his-divorce-majority-pn-to-save-the-day.368879
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13661538
Daphne, I am a reader of your work. I appreciate your honesty and courage to speak out on, often, controversial topics.
This is something I thought you would be interested in, Daphne. I do not have another way to contact you, so I have posted it here.
Excellent research! It is proven that politician’s brains are thick.
And whilst seemingly empty full to the brim with a selective conscience when required .
Dear Daphne, veru m’ghandekx xi tghid illum.
Been said before, but will say it again.
Why, do people insist on using Maltese on what is clearly an English language blog?
And secondly – why, but why, that as soon as something is writen about the Great Leader, the elves fall over themselves in their haste to swing a cudgel in his defence?
Le, Carmel. Daphne qiegħda taqleb bil-mod il-mod għall-“election mode”.
Tgħid qed ixxomm xi ħaġa li ħadd mhu qed isemmi?
[Daphne – Not at all. How you could describe this as election mode is anybody’s guess. On the other hand, Labour MPs have confirmed to Malta Today – what else – that the Labour Party is in election mode. What a surprise. The same mistake again: peaking too early by starting too early.]
The real news will be when the Labour Party is NOT in election mode.
It has been in election mode continuously since 1998.
Dear Carmel
U int ?
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110605/local/libyan-rape-victim-al-obeidy-heading-for-malta-report.369075
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1394575/Libyan-woman-claimed-shed-raped-Gaddafis-forces-flees-America.html
Iman al-Obeidy is in transit through Malta. She’s very popular; perhaps Joseph Muscat should ask her to become a PL candidate.
Oh, wait. It wouldn’t be prudent. You know, in case uncle Muammar got to know.
It’s not just the roadkill and hairline, but the ‘Pippa Middletan’ fake tan. which Muscat has never before been seen with, not even at the height of summer.
Compare it with this: http://www.google.com.mt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.josephmuscat.com/UserFiles/image/articles/DSC_7074.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.josephmuscat.com/pages/lc/articleDetails_lc.asp%3Fid%3D2311&usg=__KKq6LSQ7fbcN3oPKJOjfAtb86jg=&h=458&w=620&sz=276&hl=mt&start=141&zoom=1&tbnid=FIahKuuZ60e0cM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=142&ei=ntfrTailLIfOswaSpISBCQ&prev=/search%3Fq%3Djoseph%2Bmuscat%2Bphoto%26hl%3Dmt%26sa%3DX%26rlz%3D1W1ADRA_en%26biw%3D1345%26bih%3D540%26tbm%3Disch&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=1062&vpy=256&dur=978&hovh=193&hovw=261&tx=153&ty=136&page=7&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:23,s:141&biw=1345&bih=540
I meant “up top” …
With his new tan, he is looking more Pumpkin Positive, even though we are still in June.
http://daphnecaruanagalizia.com/2010/10/19/in-the-spirit-of-the-month/
Thing is, he DOES look better in this new look. Before he used to look like a ginger Humpty Dumpty. He still looks like Humpty Dumpty, just not ginger and now he’s aiming for a Bee Gee look.
Anyway, either version of Humpty Dumpty would easily take a dump on Gonzi’s Bond villain sidekick.
I wouldn’t buy a used car from either of them.
Gonzi is paying you up to Euro 2,000 if you buy a new one.
My mate Spud can get you a used Beemer from the UK at half the price, PLUS 2000 Euros, PLUS Labour’s VAT refund once they win the election. You’ll be 6000 up, which you can spend on hair products, provided you ask for Kjun mill-Isfar.
He looks like il Duce who has just fallen on his head in a mudbath.,
New or old look it does not matter – it is all bluff from start to finish – Labour has been at the bluff game since time immemorial
These people really seem to be obsessed with image and diplomas.
Ara l-veru tipprova tghatti x-xemx bl-gharbiel( if you know what it means dear). Mela ghandna gvern fi krizi bla precedent, maqsum fi tlieta, bl-ikbtar esponenti tal-partit stess jghidu li dan mhux il-partit li jafu huma(Frank Portelli, Peter Darmanin etc), wara li l-gharef Lorry Gonzi dahhal il-partit fi sqaq, u our dear Daphne inkwetata fuq il-hairstyle ta Joseph, Marija Santa! Ma tistax taqa baxxa iktar minn hekk! Keep on digging your own party’s grave dear, cause there’s only one way for you lot, and it’s down.
[Daphne – Damn shame you’ve only read this post and not the others leading up to and after it. But then smartness was never a Labour voter’s main attribute, was it. And I don’t mean smartness in appearance, though that too.]
mela biex taqra l-posts tieghek bilfors trid tkun smart?!! ma tantx naghti kashom il-posts tieghek dear, ghax tant int vojta li ma wigibtx xejn mill-kumment tieghi. U kieku stess, allura min hu illitterat m’ghandux dritt ghall opinjoni jew li jkun rapprezentat fil-parlament? jekk biex inkun smart nispicca vojt u arroganti u moqziez bhalek ahjar inkun injorant thank you. One other thing dear, since you took the time to reply, sinjal li niggistek fil-laham il-haj, hasra tahli l-hin twiegeb xi laburist injorant!!!! U xorta m’ghidt xejn fuq il-FROGA li jinsab fih il-partit tieghek, u bilhaqq, ma min qed izzomm fil-kawlata tad-divorzju, Gonzi, Austin, JPO, Edwin? min ghandu ragun?
[Daphne – I should write more posts about Dom Mintoff and Joseph Muscat’s hair. The feedback is always so interesting.]
“Daphne – I should write more posts about Dom Mintoff and Joseph Muscat’s hair. The feedback is always so interesting.”
Aye, and be called ‘dear’ every sentence.
Is this the start of a new trend in Maltese politics?
Do we vote according to what our politicians look like, dress like? What has it all come too?
[Daphne – You may not, Silvio, but I certainly do. The way people dress, whether a man wears a wig, sends out strong signals to others. Those who are acutely aware of the meaning of non-linguistic communication, as I am, are more acutely aware of these signals, but even those who do not understand the meaning at a conscious level pick it up subconsciously. That is why, if their daughter brought home a man in a wig, they would be unhappy about it, without exactly knowing why, perhaps even allowing themselves to be persuaded that come on, it’s just a wig. But it’s not just the wig, is it – it’s what it says about the man, and they are unable to precisely put their finger on it. It’s the same with clothes. There are press photographs that say so much about Maltese politics in the late 1980s: the incoming Nationalist government ministers in 1987 and 1992, bossed by the person then responsible for their image into wearing dark suits, white shirts, black shoes and sober ties, and the Labour opposition, a ragtag bunch of men in a circus of brown suits, beige shoes, basket-weave slip-ons, awful ties, pale grey jackets with wide lapels and a narrow waist, even trousers with a slight flare to them. Image doesn’t matter for its own sake: it matters because of what it says about us.]
Elections are no beauty contest, or Mr. Universe competition.
[Daphne – We are not talking about physical attractiveness here, Silvio. We are talking about PERSONAL CHOICES. Nobody can be blamed for their face, because they were born with it, so we don’t judge people on that basis. But we judge them on their PERSONAL CHOICES in appearance just as we judge them on all other PERSONAL CHOICES. A hair transplant, a wig, a bad suit, ugly shoes, wearing make-up (in a man): those are all personal choices. Fuzzy hair, bad skin: those are not personal choices. That’s why nobody assesses the personality traits of a bald man but people do assess the personality traits of a man in a wig. The latter is a choice he has made, but the former is not. The only exception to this- and I have to point this out – is extreme shortness in a man. A man’s lack of physical statute can, and often does, warp his personality, leading him to develop behavioural traits which he believes (and sometimes short men aren’t even aware they are doing it) make up for his lack of physical presence: Short Man Syndrome.]
What if Dr.Muscat wants a new hair style, does that make him a less worthy politician (even if to me it’s debatable)?
I suggest we take a look around (on both sides of the house) – we would be surprised at what we might find.
Come on what’s in a new hairstyle.
[Daphne – Nothing, if it were just a new hairstyle. You have to keep up with the times. But it’s not a new hairstyle. It’s new hair.]
We even have an M.P. who has a direct line to the Madonna. That is what I consider something very, very worrying.
[Daphne – Agreed, but criticising one does not exclude criticising the other.]
Describing Gonzi’s beauty takes a bit more than seven lines.
[Daphne – Being deliberately obtuse, are we? This isn’t about beauty. It’s about fakery. A man can have the most beautiful face in the world, but the minute he puts on a wig he’s finished and the ugly man wins. If you don’t know why, read up. Haven’t you noticed that ‘hard men’ shave their heads when they begin going bald? Imagine if they put on wig instead. My, that would seem really threatening, wouldn’t it.]
When mentioning the word fakery can’t help remembering Eddie Fenech Adami’s views on divorce and the picture his own children / close family.
With regards to hard men shaving their head, I’m a pen pusher and I shave my head – but I do have the most gorgeous face the world has ever seen.
I enjoyed the recent entries, but today its back to the negative mode. Is it something with me or with you?
[Daphne – Read your comment back again. You enjoyed the recent entries because they criticised the Nationalist Party and the prime minister (that’s positive) but today it’s ‘back to negative’ because I’m on about Joseph Muscat’s hair volumiser and foundation.]
What is pitiful is that people like Daphne and commentators go this low. With all the problems, corruption, arrogance by members of parliament, debt, absurd and irresponsible rises in cost of living and continual scandals you selected a silly area to make a story.
What you found amusing is probably the result of a very common hair transplantation which is common procedure nowadays. There’s nothing wrong with trying to improve yourself and make yourself more presentable – and this is more so for people like Joseph Muscat who are constantly in the public sphere. I use hair thinning products myself – with the same logic you can say that women who colour their hair or do their cuticles are obsessed with their appearance.
[Daphne – Oh, you sad men, trying so hard to justify yourselves and absolutely unable to understand the millennia of social development that have led European civilisation (and not just European…) to where it is now: men who preen and wear wigs or make-up and are devastated by hair loss are as far beyond the pale as a man who wears a satin dress and a feather boa to a party while trying to justify it on the grounds that if women can, he can too. That’s why Wayne Rooney’s hair transplant made the news even in the super-conservative, no-gossip-allowed The Daily Telegraph. A word of advice from a woman here: if there actually is a woman in your life, for your own sake don’t let her see the hair thinning products or you will sink terribly in her esteem, and if you carry on fussing and obsessing, and buying more and different products, she will eventually despise you. The only men who can afford to behave like this knowing they will still have women run after them are those with major assets which allow women to overlook any man’s hair-obsession and other obvious nervous weaknesses: like maximum earning power (hence Wayne Rooney, Silvio Berlusconi and I believe also one of our very own homegrown opera stars) or star-power. If you’re just your average guy, ditch the hair thinning products and try getting yourself some confidence instead. That’s what women find attractive, not hair. ]
Gordon, oh come on! I could go the whole transplant thing (I have a certain amount of earning power) but what a waste of time and effort.
The hair’s going anyway.
1. Am I happy? No, but hey shit happens. I’m 45 not 20.
2. Do I go for the thatched look? No, because it looks absurd and weird.
3. Wig or camouflage? No way, you just look like a sad f**k.
4. Luckily I have a personality and confidence, and shave my head (which when in the army, I hated but now is de rigeur).
Ok good for you. so what? It is natural to have hair. You lose hair because of your genetics. Suppose they develop genetic therapy allowing bald men to grow hair back naturally – would you not consider that therapy?
Is it bad/weak to consider that therapy?
Is it bad/weak for us men to pluck away some odd facial hairs?
Is it bad/weak to have laser eye correction surgery or do we have to be stuck with spectacles!!? [stuck with a bald head…]
That’s the area Ms Galizia has touched. Technology is what it is and it is good to use technology to make our life better for whatever reason.
[Daphne – There’s nothing wrong with correcting your eyesight by laser therapy. Just as there is nothing wrong with wearing spectacles. As for genetic therapy, there is nothing ‘wrong’ with it, but the same reasoning applies as to wig-wearing and hair transplants: it’s not the wigs and the transplants as such that make a man look weak and psychologically vulnerable. It’s the message they give out about the man’s neuroses. Genetic therapy to make your hair grow again is just as bad. Imagine having to break it to a woman you’re having a relationship with: “I’m having gene therapy to get my hair back.” She’ll go out for a long walk, then your future depends on her facial expression when she walks back in through the door. And now contemplate the alternative: hiding it from her. Do you think it might be grounds for annulment? Give up, Gordon. You’re talking to a woman here – you know, one of the gender that men have hair transplants and wear wigs for. Maybe you all should ask us first. http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts8379706.aspx%5D
Tell you what, Daphne – not all men wear wigs for women. Take Elton John, for instance. As for Joey and Gordon – I’ve no idea.
[Daphne – Yes, I’ve just put up a comment asking gay men for feedback about whether men in wigs and hair volumiser are as unattractive to them as they are to women. http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts8379706.aspx I’d taken it for granted that Gordon was trying to be more attractive to women, which is why I tried to give him some advice, then it turns out that he’s not interested in attracting women.]
A wig is not the equivalent of a prosthetic limb
I disagree and wasn’t asking for advice. Who cares about what women find attractive? Are you implying that Mr Muscat is doing this so that women will find him more attractive – erm he’s married and does not need to attract the opposite sex :)
[Daphne – Who cares about what women find attractive?! Oh, I see. It’s YOU who’s gay. Sorry, I hadn’t picked that up. Let’s hear it from the gay men who read this blog: are men who are neurotic about their thinning hair as unattractive to you as they are to women?]
I don’t use these products so that women will like me more but because I know that its better for me to be with hair than without.
[Daphne – Who says? Where did you pick that up? The reality is that it makes no difference to anything, unless you’re aiming to run Britain. If you think you’re going to knock them out at that job interview with painstakingly arranged tufts and hair volumiser, boy are you wrong. It will actually work against you in a way that baldness will not. No interviewer ticks a box for baldness, but they will tick a box for the equivalent of ‘neurotic.’]
You say that its okay for women to use cosmetics but not men; that is ironic from you seeing that you constantly preach on the issue of equal rights for women [I recall that once u went berserk when someone mentioned that the right place for women was at home looking after the kids]. Or perhaps these days some women are more equal than men!!?
[Daphne – It’s not me saying that it’s OK for women to use cosmetics but not OK for men: that’s the worldwide standard, except at some Indian weddings where the men might use kohl around their eyes. You don’t like it? So fight it. But don’t expect it to catch on. ]
Apart from that it only takes switching the TV to see that the media is all about looking young and with hair – I don’t see that many bald actors – most of the bald ones appear to be the ones who achieved fame before going bald!!
[Daphne – Young and with hair, eh? Hardly. And it’s bloody obvious that bald actors achieved fame before they became bald. In acting, if you haven’t made it by your 20s, you’re never going to make it. The telling thing – though you missed it, in your obsession – is that they’re still working while bald, unlike women, however earth-shatteringly famous and beautiful, who are rarely given an acting job beyond the age of 40. So clearly, bald men are marketable and acceptable in a way that older women with hair are not.]
Galizia, my god you are so full of sh**
[Daphne – Well argued, Gordon. Splendid. You should join Edwin Vassallo’s office (or Anglu Farrugia’s) as a speech writer.]
Daphne you are so full of crap. What about these women who use liposuction or silicon to enhance their breasts. Don’t tell me again that men and women should be treated differently – we are not in cave men ago thanks god.
[Daphne – ‘Thanks God’. Jaaaaqqq. Sorry, couldn’t help it. “We are not in cave men ago”. Maaaaaaa, x’biza. Look, Gordon, stop fixating on your hair and find a copy of today’s The Times. There’s a large advert somewhere in there for courses by the English Speaking Union, on how Maltese people can improve their written and spoken English. Go for it, and while you’re at it, take John Dalli and Joseph Muscat with you, ghax il-vera kaz. One was excruciating on the subject of cucumbers and the other painful on BBC radio on the subject of divorce.]
Not all actors achieve fame before going bald, there are some exceptions; William Shatner wore a hair piece long before he started galloping around the galaxy, Burt Reynolds always wore a wig, but he was bold enough to take it off on live television. Even Sean Connery had to put one on for his first outing as James Bond, but that was by contractual obligation.
Yul Brynner
Same thought, Daphne. “European proWductsss”…
Does it occur to you that the PN leader or for that matter any political figure doesn’t wear make up when appearing on important TV appearances?
A quick look through Google pics proves the point.
Tall, dark, and handsome.
I have a solution for the “tall”.
http://www.google.com.mt/imgres?imgurl=http://www.finanzaonline.com/forum/attachments/arena-politica/989382-due-gemelle-e-un-solo-regalo-tacchi_sarko.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.finanzaonline.com/forum/arena-politica/1002061-due-gemelle-e-un-solo-regalo.html&usg=__fS9Ha4mQkUnhWRt0eZD6pV7S-QY=&h=345&w=400&sz=37&hl=mt&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=03lyh51RL6gSBM:&tbnh=139&tbnw=161&ei=WOntTdWEOZDCswa8lpzmAw&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dscarpe%2Bdi%2Bberlusconi%26hl%3Dmt%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1425%26bih%3D709%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divnsfd&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=508&vpy=217&dur=11672&hovh=208&hovw=242&tx=101&ty=113&page=1&ndsp=29&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:0&biw=1425&bih=709
I suggest you send this link to Kurt Coconut Farrugia.
unbelievable. look at this line
http://www.facebook.com/notes/john-bundy/affari-taghna-18-ta-gunju/10150220099411545
Gone! What was in it?
” 6 nisa li kollha kemm huma ghamlu success fil hajja personali taghhom izda kollha ghandhom responsabbiltajiet kbar anke familjari”
Any one knows what Karen Mugliette is famous for?
[Daphne – You must ask Jason Micallef. He appears to be much acquainted with cookery writers.]
Incredible, and what an insult to women that they are still conducting programmes on ‘women who work’ as though they are some strange breed. Women have always worked and they still do.
And even though we have an officially low participation rate of women in the labour market, the rest work very hard in the black economy.
I would rather listen to how these women manage to reconcile work and family responsibilities when they come home knackered after a hard day’s work doing menial jobs and have to face yet more housework, cooking and laundry. Unlike the women to appear on Bundy’s show, who all have home help.
What can we learn from these women who feel they are exceptional because they have family and career? This is will be just another exercise of ego massaging.
As for Mrs Muscat, isn’t she a full-time housewife and mother, with nannies for the twins? What is her problem? With balancing her leisure time with time for the family, maybe?
Labourites posting en masse again, that’s what is degrading and not Daphne’s choice of subject.
One thing you failed to mention; I am sure Dr. Gonzi underwent skin surgery to correct his acne’s blemishes. If you watch some pre-2003 footage (say 1998 for instance), you realise that Dr. Gonzi had his acnes scars more visible. Now, don’t tell me that when you age they fade away. Moreover he is looking younger, maybe a facelift? And what, aren’t these signs of deficiency and of metro-sexual obsession?
[Daphne – You’re in the full grip of Labour propaganda, sweetheart. Incidentally, Labour cartoonists used to portray him with a pockmarked face, until I pointed out that they were most unwise to do so, because Alfred Sant – then party leader – has exactly the same kind of marks. Then they stopped. I remained mystified that they hadn’t noticed and needed me to point it out. Truly, love is blind to facial flaws. Facelifts don’t get rid of acne scars. That’s another procedure altogether. If you think the prime minister looks younger than he did, then frankly, you need to visit an eye-doctor, and fast. But then let’s not forget that Jason Micallef, on BondiPlus just before the general election in 2008, decided to tell everyone that I too had had a facelift. Me, who doesn’t even wear make-up. Maybe all the women he knows are extensively wrinkled by 43, and he found me weird, but there you go. http://forums.plentyoffish.com/datingPosts8379706.aspx%5D
I think you are exaggerating this!
It is not a wig and neither a transplant!
It is merely a thickening spray or something similar which makes hair look thicker/fuller
What the hekk is so wrong with one taking care of himself?? Aren’t we trying to pick the needle in the hay stack here??
I am very sure one can find may other things to criticise in the PL and its leader but this is ridiculous!
[Daphne – Call me crazy, but I’d rather my political leaders didn’t use temporary spray-on fake hair, and especially not in dark brown when they’re gingerish for the rest of the week. I consider this to be a very serious political issue. The thought of a man with spray-on fake hair becoming prime minister is deeply disturbing. A man in a black wig like a ventriloquist puppet’s was enough, thank you. They say that a bald man can never become prime minister in Britain. Imagine if a man in roadkill had a go.]
Attlee made it.
[Daphne – Yes, in fact he is the one who is mentioned in all the newspaper articles that say you must have lots of hair to become prime minister in Britain (and yes, they have all had lots of hair, including Thatcher) and that no bald man has made it since Clement Attlee.]
Douglas-Home was bald.
[Daphne – That’s right. How did all the ‘British PM/baldness’ writers forget him? I suppose it’s because he was prime minister for just a year, and because he wasn’t really elected prime minister ‘by the people’ anyway but came in through the House of Lords and a by-election, so the argument did not apply.]
He became PM at age 60. He had a bit of a receding hairline by then, but with a good growth of hair on top (don’t think he used volumiser). Not what one would call bald. Which is why he wasn’t forgotten by the writers. As he reached his nineties his hair continued to thin out. Trivial pursuit anyone?
Well, Attlee was also one of the most successful British prime ministers of the 20th century so would not have had any obsessions about hair (or lack of it).
I’d rather my political leaders hold aback from other things – rings a bell???
It’s ‘heck’, not ‘hekk’. And one *looks* for a needle in a haystack.
His obsession with hair loss
His past obsession with the EU
His obsession about becoming the youngest PM in Malta
His over competitiveness
to me suggest that he has not gone past his anal stage.
On Gorbachev and his “Naevus flammeus” (from wikipedia)
“Though some suggested that he might have his prominent port wine birthmark surgically removed, Gorbachev opted not to, as once he was publicly known to have the mark, he believed it would be perceived as his being more concerned with his appearance than other more important issues.[57]”
No, I can’t agree with you on this one. When I started losing my hair I bought this rug which, you must admit, has a touch of class to it, and girls just flock around me now.
http://www.80stees.com/products/Blond-Mullet-Wig.asp
First he had to give up the hair on his chin, now he has to give up the hair on his head. Maybe it’s all too much for him.
Yes it’s very weird, but what it is also weird is the amount of time that was dedicated towards commenting about his hair job.
Maybe Joseph thinks he is the new Wayne Rooney.