Let's face it. You have to go down into a really deep, dark place in your soul before you are capable of cutting off a man's beard-and making him eat it!
Of course, alcohol was involved. Whiskey, to be precise, and who knows what else. In another report, the perpetrator Troy Holt, in typical alcoholic fashion claims the fault lies mainly with his victim, Harvey Westmoreland, by whom he supposedly had been threatened, and by whom he claims he still felt threatened.
It is also worth noting that, although the men were friends, a significant part of their problem could be traced to a woman, one which allegedly one or the other (or both) had been seeing.
Whether or not this is true, it seems patently obvious that this has been brewing for quite some time. The controversy over the lawn mower was simply the spark that blew the lid off.
Interestingly, there is some evidence that beards among at least some prehistoric cultures were viewed as expressions of virility. If true, this cultural attitude might well be stored in the human unconscious, where It is possible that it could be accessed while in a deep state of alcohol intoxication.
Seen in this context, by cutting off Westmoreland's beard-which he had grown for eight years, and which was evidently very long and thick-Holt and his partner James Hill were not only humiliating their victim, but symbolically emasculating him as well.
In other words, its probably a damn good thing for Westmoreland that he and Holt were friends. If anybody needs "supervised diversion", it's these two guys.
