you gotta own it

Just fucking stop. He's trying. If he likes it, it works, okay? Goddam everyone gotta be so fucking mean and judgemental. And yes, I'm going through some shit rn
- nah fuck that. you don't need to justify it.
  wear your fucking hat. its better than 100% of the idiots making fun of it.
  
  I think he meant "stop being judgemental" not "stop wearing the hat"
  Or so I hope.
- She isn't baggin' on the dude, only saying it sucks to see the hat wearer so uncomfortable. I'd call that a score for empathy.
  
  I fail to see how going behind someone's back to publicly tweet about their insecurity is a positive thing
- What colour cowboy hat did you buy?
- You're living in real life. This is the internet. Everyone is fearless behind a screen.
  
  Wait, you guys are fearless behind a screen? D:
- for real, no matter what you do, someone will hate on you for it….
  not too long ago, i was walking through a large wooded dog park with my guitar, dicking around on it quietly as i walked over to a nice private spot to play away some feelings (going through some shit myself).
  the next day, some frumpy middle aged lady came up to me and said, “what, no guitar today?” in a clearly taunting manner… i responded with distain but i should’ve yelled at her….
  can i really not play an acoustic guitar in the woods without someone giving me shit for it? i wasn’t strumming and singing all loud or anything, wasn’t seeking attention… just entertaining myself quietly….
  everyone listens to music, it’s one of the most universal human traits… but nowadays if you play music people act like there’s something wrong with you…. unless it’s in a prescribed setting….
  
  I try to not get mad at people who say stuff like this, it's just not worth it.
  Instead I try to really confuse them by giving them some strange answer, it's usually funny.
- Yea but it's valid. I wanna try a cowboy hat.
- Imagine seeing the guy with the hat and not only judging him but thinking “this is an opportunity to get likes and shares on the internet.”
- Cowboy hat is worse than a Fedora
  
  Where does a fez fall on this scale?
- But it’s funny if it’s mysandry!
  —The Internet
  
  A cowboy hat is mysandry?

Hey, some looks you gotta build yourself up to. I'm a dude with long hair, when I first let it grow long enough to tie back, it felt really weird being in public with a ponytail/ bun. I didn't feel like "the guy with the ponytail" yet.
A few more trips to the coffee shop, and hopefully this guy will just be "the guy in the cowboy hat" 👍🏽
- When I first grew my hair out as a young teen, I didn't put it up at all until I cut it short again. The next time I tried growing it out it became my thing to always have it up
  
  Yup, I never tied my hair back growing up. Now that on my last hurrah with it as it's falling out, I tend to tie it back more often than not when I'm working.
- Oh shit, I thought it was just me. I was so subconscious about it, I actually tie it up all the time. Then one day I started to get more confident and just let it down all the time.
  One time(while wearing a mask) someone called me ma'am. Another time a Indian man in Brisbane was being a dick and told me women can't be in the male bathroom.
  
  I also used to have long hair and would accidentally get called ma'am back in the day. I noticed the person who said it is usually wayyy more mortified than you are. Partly because they misgendered you, but mostly because they totally just checked out your ass too. After realizing that, it never bothered me again.
  
  Growing my hair out forever ago is how I learned (started, anyway) I have only a faint attachment to the male identity. I got called "ma'am" with surprising regularity and it never bothered me to be misgendered. My hair's still long, but I'm fat and bearded so waitstaff are a lot more confident from all angles. People were a lot more casually homophobic back then too, but girls loved to play with it so the joke's on them.
  I've always kept it brushed and loose unless I'm working and need it out of the way. (Or it's windy. Damned wind.)
- Ive always been the "photographer friend" of my friend group. But up until recently it was either just on my phone or my little point and shoot (Olympus Infinity II).
  But i really prefer to shoot on my SLR (Canon AE-1) so I've started carrying that around with me. Sometimes I still think about how I'm the "weirdo with a camera" but to be honest with you everyone loves it and it's a really great conversation starter. I've gotten pretty confident now but every once and a while it gets me again.
  
  I went on a trip a couple months ago with some friends, one of which had recently gotten into photography. He brought a camera along (no idea what kind, it used film 🤷🏾‍♂️) and that little piece of plastic made the trip so much more enjoyable, through it he became our "in" for several fun interactions.
  Some people will feel otherwise, but until you give me a reason to add "weirdo" myself, people with cameras are just people with cameras, haha.
- Very much so. Wore a bun for years until I was like oh this doesn't look like complete shit.
  I'd want someone to say if it did though lol
  My dad was cowboy hat guy. It helps if you get a porn stache going as well. Adds to the mystique.
- Same when I first started wearing glasses it takes some getting used to.

Give him a complimentary sugar lump for his horse. That ought to make him feel better.

Give the guy a compliment. Help him to be more confident.
- Maybe give him a peanut m&m
  
  That story reminded me of an ex that was click training me. I didn't realize it until her mother heard the clicks and asked them all upset about it.
- Waiter at the Mexican joint called me caballero the other night. Made me feel good. I also get called the redneck Crocodile Dundee. Yep, that suits.
  
  De nada Don Cocodrilo!

A real cowboy takes the hat off indoors.
- Is he even a cowboy if he doesn't put his hat over his heart and address a woman as "ma'am"
  
  I guess cowbiy is different to everyone but to me you lost the Cowboy at the entering of a coffee shop. Various reasons, 1 being it's cheaper at home, and 2 being that the last cowboy I knew made $35k a year, so he couldn't afford a coffee shop
  
  Tips ten gallon "M'aam"
- A cowboy once told me, that you can spot a fake by how clean their hat is.
  Since (so he told me) in case a bull had an episode, they would throw their hat in the other direction and climb over the corral fence. The bull would often go after the hat.
  
  Maybe they have a second hat for "not work" aka partying.
- At Texas A&M you won't get ten seconds inside a building without someone politely but very forcefully telling you that you are being disrespectful wearing a hat inside.
- Jesus tipping Mary, thank you! The hat was specifically to keep the sun off my face, out of my eyes, and the rain from running down my neck. As a fashion statement, I hate it. The 'rodeo' near me has so many dipshits rocking it because they think it makes them look the part, and meanwhile they're on the third topo chico and sweating in the indoor AC.
  
  I want a straw cowboy hat for work. My boonies hat works well, but it's too damned hot. Know where I can get a solid deal?

The only thing worse is someone wearing a cowboy hat who's overly confident about it
- Like this fuckin' douchebag.
  
  Oh god please let this human turd fade into obscurity in a couple weeks
  
  Looks like he needs a larger t-shirt, maybe they were out of mediums?

Sometimes people are just having tough days. Sometimes their insecurities aren’t worn on their sleeves or hats. Occasionally, we just have to wait a few days until our scalps recover from freak birthday candle accidents, and the hat fused to your skull by singed flesh and fat can be removed without surgical intervention. Everyone is living their own life. Don’t jump to conclusions.
- I this scenario. Do you happen to wearing a wig? Or rather is there a wig infused to you scalp?
  
  Look, we can talk about fictional wednesdays or overpriced wigs all you like, but that doesn’t make the restaurant any less culpable. Metaphorically.

I still remember the sudden look of realization when I told a fellow shy nerd at the NerdCon rave "We're already shirtless and covered in body paint, we might as well dance".
- That's sweet he was able to cut losses that day, we all deserve to be free from judgment to just have fun every now and then

That hurts. Do you attempt to give him a boost at the risk of the insincerity seeping into your affect, or try to just ignore it?
- I feel like, if you are categorically incapable of coming up with something nice to say about someone's hat with a degree of sincerity necessary to make it through that one-off interaction, then one of two things is true: either you're the wrong person to be involving themselves, or the hat is so horrendous, the kind thing to do would actually be insulting them so they never wear it again. My money is on the former tho lol

B U L L Y

Just keep singing this in your head, you'll make it.
- No! N-O i just got that song outta my head.
  For days
- I know it's an ad, but every young man needs to watch this.
  
  Pink Pony Club isn't a real place.

Men in cowboy hats are hot. But it needs to be a nice hat.
- And also, the guy has to be hot.
  
  Rules 1 and 2 apply.
- I would expect cowboy hats in general, but especially a nice, good quality one, to have been designed specifically to prevent the wearer from overheating when exposed to harsh sunlight.
  Or in more technical terms, man's not hot.
  
  But is it high quality enough to prevent you from being burned from a jealous comment?