I don't believe standards have changed. Times have changed. Fashions have changed. My parents generation would have been alarmed at the fashions of the 80s (as should we all be - it is the decade that fashion forgot after all). Their parents generation would have been alarmed at their sartorial choices in the 60s. I could continue ad infinitum.
I'm afraid that whenever I read threads like this I just believe it makes the poster look old and out of touch.
I'm not saying I like the sound of the fashions you have described, I just respect their right to choose to look as stupid as they like. Like it or lump it this does not reflect a lowering of military standards. It is just an acceptance of modern times.
I do not condone the racism but any man who has hair long enough to make a top knot is clearly not a high intelligence individual!
BV
(Is there an emoticon to show judgmentalness (is that a word?) and pompousness?!)