In media created for the 15-19 age group, especially dystopian and urban fantasy narratives, there is a trend of presenting the protagonist with two (or as many as six) virtues or ideals which are pitted against each other, due to circumstances which force those values to be expressed in their unhealthy extremes, to the exclusion of each other. Sometimes the young reader is railroaded by the narrative into agreeing with whichever side the protagonist ultimately takes, due to the author treating the "opposite virtue" as innately flawed or prone to extreme black-and-white thinking. Other times, the choice is agonised over by the character at first, but later it is revealed to be a false choice, under a hegemonic authority which pits various sides of society against each other as a mechanism of control.

Truth versus Beauty

Anthropological science fiction is science fiction that primarily looks at alien cultures. While there are probably spaceships and fancy technology involved, the main point is to explore how aliens live, and to highlight the conflicts that come from humans trying to interact with an alien culture.

Star Trek liked to highlight culture clash, although this was fairly ham-handed and based more on holding a mirror up to current Earth politics than alien

I grew up in Arizona, and the "short back and sides" was also a part of my childhood haircutting routine.

I can only recall my Mom taking me to haircuts, with one notable exception. When I was very young, perhaps 7 or younger, my Mom's main preference for my hair was that the bangs be "choppy," rather than straight-across, which I presume looked too much like a bowl cut. At some point, the choppy bangs were supplanted by "short back and sides." I'm not even sure how this happened, if it