Topic : 01/28 The Baggy Pants Debate

God bless you!   My kids don't 'sag' but when I tell them what you said they NEVER will!!    hehehe

Dr. Phil

 

 I watched your show today and was very surprised of all the talk on baggy pants but not one said a word about the girls walking around with the hip huugers and g-string hanging out .  If there is a problem with the pants for nem and boys make one also for the females.  I say just have repect for yourself and others around you.  I see these young ladies with low cut top and there but hanging out at least with the guys you do not see there but just the underwear. 

 

 I have children and I too believe it is up the the parents to moniter what there kids wear i check my kids everyday but as parent you be with them all the time you have to trust they will do the right thing.  And as for the Mayor of Dallas a man is not the only one that can make a man out of a boy there are alot of single mothers out there that have raised men and not boys.  So. I guess you are saying only a women can raise a girl what about the men that were raise by women and stepped up and are raising there children now.  You have just as many single men and women raising kids and they are turning out fine. 

 

Don't police what people wear it is just clothes and people do change keep the canpaign going it may work.    Good Luck   

First of all Dr. Phil i have to say telling people what they can and can't wear when fashions are always changing just tells me that or government is really ignoring the more important problems in the world.Instead of making laws to an sagging pants they need to make laws to hold parents accountable for failing to parent their children.I am just so sick and tired of people running around acting like crime and disorder started with hip hop.I have 6 boys and 3 girls ages 9years old to 20 years old and i know its my job to teach them values and morals.I know there as no hip hop or saggy pants when Cain killed Able.But lets blame hip hop anyway.My job as a mother is to raise my kids and teach them Right from wrong.I do not think that anyone on T.V., on videos or anyone else is suppose to teach my sons how to be men or my girls how to be women thats what me and their father are for.I get so tired of lazy parents blaming music and games and t.v. for ad kids.Where was all this stuff before t.v.? i don't think the mob got it's start from hip hop.I never read in the bible where Cain killed Able his brother after they played a little Play station.Bottom line if parents slow down stop worrying about getting to Star Bucks,or lunch with friends or just plain passing the buck and start getting back to the basics they won't have to worry about how their kids come up.I say this parents need to tune in and try spending real time with their kids and let their actions make their children want to follow in their foot steps,let parents be their children's hero's not rappers,singers,and T.V. stars. they are just doing their jobs like parents need to do theirs.Telling kids that a suit means your safe is a lie,if I'm not mistaken some people in suits have molested children and have stolen money from companies and their are quite a few me in suits with the most important jobs i know and they start wars at the drop of dime so lets stop trying to convince ourselves that clothes dictate character.No you are who you are.And if we can't take the time to get to know someone before we pass judgment then all we are saying it's OK to judge people on appearance with that way of thinking we just said prejudice is OK

 My teenage years were in the 50's....what did we wear? Levies hangin real low! with pointed shoes and greasy hair...short sleve shirts with the sleves rolled up and collar turned up. Did our parents like it?
Hell no...and you could get kicked out of school foe those low slung pants. Hey...although this baggy attire started in the black community...it has spread everywhere...ALL generations make their sartorial statements....just wait till the old age homes are filled with the tatooed and pierced generation with orange and purple hair...man, that ain't gonna be pretty....get over it ...if these baggy pants guys want a job....they will find their size.

My boys used to wear baggie pant when they were younger. Now they are out of the phase. It is like very generation. What was bad then is now good. In 1970 boys wore long hair. Then that left. Just chill, something will come along next.

I'm convinced that Al Sharpton is a racist. A racist against white people. All that man ever says is "well if it was a white person then it wouldn't be the same".....he says that crap about every subject. And honestly I thnk it's ridiculous that Dr. Phil keeps asking for his input, which is pointless cause you'll get the same answer every time. I think he brought up some valid points about making it a law and whatnot, but as far as that...I have no respect for him. None.

I have a brother who is into skateboarding, who does NOT listen to or has any interest  towards the hip hop community and he wears baggy pants. I think it's something that is so common that it's normal anymore. When you stop and think about it, it's pretty ridiculous. I mean sagging a little bit doesn't bother me, but when your pants are hanging a lot bit above the knee, that's just plain stupid. Come on...

As far as making it a law, as long you don't see the bare ass cheeks, then what's the big deal? I support the whole trying to make it uncool thing, and trying to set new examples, but it's against American rights to make it illegal.

I agree!  Rev. Sharpton turns everything into a race debate and the "baggy-saggy pants" is not even a racial topic, it's a clothing style topic.  Dr. Phil needs to ban him from the show because he is clearly a racist, and sometimes even against his own people.  I think his initial intentions were good to protect people from unfair prejudices and practices, but it has bittered him to the point that he plays the race card into every debated issue.  This topic was not about race, it was about placing a ban on wearing a certain style of clothing, and the reasoning being the ban was so that weapons could not be hidden in over-sized clothing. Just because your wearing baggy pants doesn't make you a thug or a criminal...just a BAD DRESSER!  Banning the clothing is NOT the answer either.  The government should not ban attire.

 

So the way I see it is, Rev. Sharpton is "labeling" black people as thugs and that is so very, very wrong! People of all races, backgrounds and colors are wearing these clothes because that's just the style and the cool thing to do.  Should we have banned hip huggers in the 70's because of navels showing or Hot Pants, because legs were showing?  NO!  Styles change, this one has gone on way to long. Find something else to look cool in, I say lets bring back the ZOOT SUIT!  Now that style of baggy pants was classy and I love a man in a suit!  It would be so cool to see our young men wearing suits again, instead of having their boxers show as a fashion statement.  I remember we tried bringing the zoot suit back in the 70's, but it didn't last very long.  However, they are still available and on the racks at the Men's Warehouse in L.A.

 

History of this trend dates back to 1943, when after a three month long trial dubbed the "Sleepy Lagoon" trial Mexican American youths were beat up and stripped of their draped jackets and pegged pants in riots that went on from May to June 1943.  Well in August of 1942, the police lined up outside of dance halls, armed with pokers to which sharp razor blades were attached, and they ripped the peg-top trousers and "zoot suits" of the boys as they came out.  These crimes committed by law enforcement went unpunished and the L.A. Press started the crime wave by making up stories about "Mexican zoot suit gangsters".  The Los Angeles newspapers actually started the riot by giving zoot suiters bad press, and they should have also been held accountable for their actions. Go figure!

 

• The Los Angeles City Council banned zoot suits within the city.

 

This ban was wrong!  The clothes didn't cause the riot, prejudice, bad press and law enforcement did.  Then the city then added insult to injury by banning the suits!  They should have banned racism instead!  

 

California's Governor at the time, Earl Warren, formed a committee to investigate the causes of the "Zoot Suit" riots. An excerpt from his report says it best:

• Any American citizen suspected of crime is entitled to be treated as an individual, to be indicted as such, and to be tried, both at law and in the forum of public opinion, on his merits or errors, regardless of race, color, creed, or the kind of clothes he wears.

The entire article can be read here: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/mexican_voices/voices_display.cfm?id=104  The Zoot Suit Riots May and June 1943

I watched the show today, and I believe everyone missed the point.  Baggy pants are not the issue, but rather baggy pants worn half way down the legs with the underwear exposed to public view is the issue. Baggy pants are not an ethnic, racial, or gender thing, as your guests seemed to feel so strongly about and claim.  I do not believe that the government should dictate what we wear, but rather we should use common sense and good judgement to present ourselves in the best light, by what we wear in public.  Almost all cities in this country have laws on the books regarding INDECENT EXPOSURE, which I feel is the real definition of baggy pants worn half way down the legs with the underwear exposed to public view.  By themselves, baggy pants are not offensive, as long as they are worn up around the waist, where they belong !!

I think that's an intelligent thought.  The gov has always abused it's power. The government even goes out of it's way to make sure people who have invented/discovered other resourceful ways to run our vehicles on things other than oil, are basically killed. They recieve major payoffs from oil companies to make sure that stuff doesn't get out in the public.