POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY THE DAILY TELEGRAPH'S ANDREW MCKIE
Favoring facial hair in the modern world usually, but not always, involves the fact of very bland of otherwise dull faces.
This was certainly true of Hitler.
Facial hair effectively makes the eyes relatively more important in the face.
This was also certainly true of Hitler, whose eyes were his only interesting physical feature.
Facial hair is also frequently used to hide scars or birth marks.
Of course, there is the long tradition, affecting our emotional response, of 'holy' men or 'prophets' sporting beards.
God, or Jesus, is rarely pictured without a beard.
This tradition likely comes from the fact that so many venerated figures come from ages when shaving was difficult and expensive.
For all these reasons, beware of beards.
