I know you are right Vor Lady but the fact is Liberal academics DO wear beards to be noticed as intellectual elites with a smug lefty bent.
Agreed, it seems to be their way of proving they have testosterone and gravitas.
I get rankled when folks--primarily men folks--on FR make blanket statements about some ones' looks: i.e. Hilary's ankles; any female not a blond, blue-eyed, busty size 0 as being 'guilty'; ears that stick out; beards being commie; etc. It is their ideas that we should be paying attention to, not their external appearance.