I criticised the beard movement here ages ago, just another hipster fad. I think that article completely overthinks it though. Impressionable young men always copy trends - this started as far back as the movie 300 came out. As time went by more and more people tried to copy the Spartan look. Then those people became copied then hipsters destroyed it all by combining it with their shitty skinny jeans. End result? People over analyse it in articles like this while stroking their stupid beard and regretting that sleeve tattoo staring at them every letter they type.