The Red Hat Society

[Nuzzolese]

Opinions, please. I know what I think about it, but I just want to know what you all think.

[synch]

Link?

Or is this one of those "if you don't know what it is you don't need to know" things?

[TAL]

I don't think it's about open source.

[synch]

Yeah, gathered that much.

[mickill]

I think that Freebasser is a part of this elite group. You may wanna ask him.

[wanton wench]

most annoying old women (http://www.redhatsociety.com/) !
who walk around wearing red hats and purple shirts. they think they are so cool and crotchity! they want despertatly to be like the ya-ya's

[synch]

I think any organisation that calls itself a "phenomenon of unparalleled proportions" has it's head (plus hat) up their own ass.

[Qdrop]

ridiculous...
they are at every local festival in my city.

they just sit around and get drunk....like a sorrority for old ladies.

[zippo]

http://www.redhatsociety.com/

this is great, im intrigued to know what it is they serve in their teas. id love to go and be charming for one afternoon with them, and pick up a purse for my elder friends when theyre dropped from their chair, or not know what the type of tea theyre offering me is and listen to the history of it by the "queen member", and agree on how incredibly rich the chocolate on the cake is, and...

[zippo]

every time i read more about it they intrigue me more



...and do something wrong like use the dessert plate to serve the main dish on and be corrected by one of them and have them feel maybe their life has been more fruitful than they thought, so they go back to their past in their minds for a few minutes while theyre waiting for the buffet chef to refill the duck tray, and...

[zippo]

I beat you to it, Nuzz.

The red hats frequent Pooper's often. One of them called me a "rude, gothic schmictidy-doo" or something along those lines.


They're all bullshit.

id love to be present in one of those situations

[Nuzzolese]

What did you beat me to? :confused:

[Nuzzolese]

zippo they're not like that! They're shrill harpies who would reject you because you're too young and smooth-skinned and you haven't lived enough to really know what verve and gusto are. I think this social phenomenon is begging for a spot in a movie to facillitate a smashing comedic drag moment that gets carried away.

[TAL]

What did you beat me to? :confused:

Making a thread. (http://www.beastieboys.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=53577)

[Nuzzolese]

Oh that! I remember seeing that earlier, I'm sorry, I forgot!

[zippo]

but why cant i be one of the pink hatted ones that are younger? maybe they have a limit to how young you can be. anyway the point would be going as some kind of apprentice and answering yes to everything they say to you, shutting up and just blinking when they scold a new younger member for folding their napkin back after using it, having a whole "i know i have a lot to learn from you" attitude so theyll buy it. like a "going native" type journalism experiment. and bring tape recorders under your sweater, or even take them out and have them speak.

[jabumbo]

i think you would look cute in a red hat

[Medellia]

It's basically a big middle finger to the world. "I've changed so many diapers and waited on my lazy husband hand and foot for years, so now I'm gonna do whatever the hell I want and wear obnoxious clothes and be as loud as possible." I love it.

But there is no way in hell you would catch me in a red hat and purple dress. No fucking way.

[TurdBerglar]

my hat is dark navy blue


and suede. im willing to start a society if anyone is willing

[jennyb]

I think it's creepy. (n)

You can get cuckoo in your old age without brandishing such obnoxious labels.

[guerillaGardner]

Looks like just another example the human tendency to pick an arbitrary quality and somehow translate it as superiority over the rest of the human race - i.e., bullshit.

It's like the arrogance people get if they do something well like being a great chef, or great artist or great something, or having a degree - except it makes them think that it translates to being a better person when all it really means is that they are good at that one specific thing and otherwise are just as stupid and self centred as the rest of us.

It's just that these people have chosen to romanticise themselves - i.e., to create a fantasy of themselves and to live in it. Therefore its a delusion.

[Nuzzolese]

I don't think it's delusional, that they are just celebrating who and what they are. But why 50+ year old ladies have to have a 'scene' just because they're finally finding themselves reeks of self congratulatory pomposity and a demand at reclaiming the significance of target market control they had as teenagers in the 1950s and 60s - all under that vague mission of living life to the fullest and embracing middle age and such nonsense. Why can't they live life to the fullest as individuals? Why can't it be a highly personal culmonation of an entire life's work instead of some new induction into a totally commercialized pseudo sorority placing so much importance on accessories and matching outfits? How can that feel genuine? It seems desperate, like a huffy overcompensation.

BUT, what do I really know anyway? I'm only 25. I don't know that much about it. I was in a sorority in college, what is the difference really? It seems to me the popularity of it goes along with the surging popularity of chick lit and the philosophies of the divine secrets of the travelling sisterhood pants, in which women have chosen to reject fitting into the male world of entertainment and friendship (which is fine as an impulse) but instead of creating something to rival that depth, have instead disappointingly indulged in the stereotypes and fluff, as if that were the truth of life as a woman and not just the outer trimmings.

Okay, so maybe having fun and not taking things seriously is the most important thing in life, and if women as a gender on the whole serve some kind of balancing, tension-maintaining, socio-biological purpose, then maybe that is the purpose we serve. But I'm still opposed to the way it depends more on itself being a shallow definition of a social stereotype instead of actually encouraging (in any way that can be seen) the underlying motives it claims to promote.

BUT.....I really don't know.

[synch]

Mob mentality for the 50+.

Someone selling red hats was smart enough to tap into that market segment.

[Nuzzolese]

I read the history of it, and apparently it started with one woman and the way she identified with a poem about a woman in a red hat and purple dress, after she had bought a red hat that she thought was fun and silly. It's American. British women have been wearing outrageous hats and feeling superior for centuries. So have old black southern women. In fact, this red hat society is just acting like they reenvented the wheel. They're showing off and admitting to it, and honestly when is that ever classy?


I hate tearing them down though. They're having fun. Nothing wrong with that. It might be shallow, it might be stupid. So are lots of things.

[Nuzzolese]

I wonder if this society is going to last, if it's a trend and it's going to be forgotten and then remembered in the distant future by historians and women's studies professors. There were ladies social clubs all throughout history, but why give them credit for anything if all they do is party? I think they should form more of a Clarissa Dalloway club, pay hommage to Virginia Woolf and her society of writers, find inspiration from Mrs. Dalloway and the lines from Cymbeline:
Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!





Or alternately, Blue Oyster Cult's 'Don't Fear The Reaper'

All our times have come
Here but now they're gone
Seasons don't fear the reaper
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain
We can be like they are

Come on baby... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby take my hand... Don't fear the Reaper
We'll be able to fly... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby I'm your man...

Valentine is done
Here but now they're gone
Romeo and Juliet
Are together in eternity...
Romeo and Juliet

40,000 men and women everyday... Like Romeo and
Juliet
40,000 men and women everyday... Redefine
happiness
Another 40,000 coming everyday...We can be like
they are

Come on baby... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby take my hand... Don't fear the Reaper
We'll be able to fly... Don't fear the Reaper
Baby I'm your man...

Love of two is one
Here but now they're gone
Came the last night of sadness
And it was clear we couldn't go on
The door was open and the wind appeared
The candles blew and then disappeared
The curtains flew then he appeared
Saying don't be afraid

Come on baby... And we had no fear
And we ran to him... Then they started to fly
They looked backward and said goodbye
She had become like they are
She had taken his hand
She had become like they are

Come on baby...don't fear the reaper

[Qdrop]

Looks like just another example the human tendency to pick an arbitrary quality and somehow translate it as superiority over the rest of the human race - i.e., bullshit.


It's just that these people have chosen to romanticise themselves - i.e., to create a fantasy of themselves and to live in it. Therefore its a delusion.

well done, sir.

[Qdrop]

I was in a sorority in college, what is the difference really?

*jaw hits floor*

[Qdrop]

the red hat society is an example of why women should never be allowed to leave the kitchen.
this is what happens.

[fucktopgirl]

"where there is fun after fifty (and before) for women of all walks of life. We believe silliness is the comedy relief of life and, since we are all in it together, we might as well join red-gloved hands and go for the gusto together.
Learn more about the Red Hat Society"

i dont want to think pervert,but i am really wandering what there are doing togethers with their redgloves hands :eek: :p

[ms.peachy]

Oh look, anothe opportunity for me to plug my aunt's book. (http://www.invisiblenomore.com/) Christmas is coming; buy one for your mom :)

[zippo]

I think it's creepy. (n)

but i like creepy.

and i dont think they expect recognition or respect for forming this little gem, i think they just love basking in their own ridiculousness, and they probably love it even more if people see them as ridiculous, cuz its as if theyve invented a way to value something empty and with no content (such as turning 50) without feeling guilty about it. so if we see them as ridiculous, its because we still havent "understood" them, theyre "beyond" us...

or maybe thats not what they think at all


it would be great to be staying at a hotel and run into a RedHatSociety reunion. these crazy woman intrigue me.

[instigator7022]

i went to a festival once and a bunch of those ladies were dancing to this terrible coverband

[Bitchamachacha]

OHMEGABBYGOOSE!

We had a party of Red Hatters at the restraunt where I work yesterday. One lady wore the hat, the others sat around eating from the salad bar and slurping soup. They were rather snobbish.

"I would like iced tea with lemon. Half sweet, half unsweet."

The girl who served them found them a bit annoying.

[Bob]

OHMEGABBYGOOSE!

We had a party of Red Hatters at the restraunt where I work yesterday. One lady wore the hat, the others sat around eating from the salad bar and slurping soup. They were rather snobbish.

"I would like iced tea with lemon. Half sweet, half unsweet."

The girl who served them found them a bit annoying.

it's her fault for being young

[kll]

zippo they're not like that! They're shrill harpies who would reject you because you're too young and smooth-skinned and you haven't lived enough to really know what verve and gusto are. I think this social phenomenon is begging for a spot in a movie to facillitate a smashing comedic drag moment that gets carried away.


but, zippo's skin is like an alligator... will she be accepted now?

[zippo]

but, zippo's skin is like an alligator... will she be accepted now?

i wanna be accepted, i wanna be a redhatter, seriously. i have the rest of my life to be a 50 year old red hatter.

[sam i am]

My mom's a freaking member and all they do is go around acting obnoxious and not giving a fuck because they're old and no damn police officer will arrest an old lady in a red hat and a purple dress.

They have freaking CONVENTIONS, one of which was in Las Vegas earlier this year. They had 8,000 ATTENDEES!

Scary as shit, man.

[jennyb]

They have freaking CONVENTIONS, ...They had 8,000 ATTENDEES!

*shudders*