DON SURBER: In Praise of Ties: They helped build a society that we are destroying. “The first thing I notice when I watch a black-and-white TV show on one of the rerun networks is the ties. In the 1950s, every man wore a tie. The milkman wore a tie. The mailman wore a tie. The policeman wore a tie. Even Elvis wore a tie on occasion. Chuck Berry always wore a tie. Gas station attendants wore them. You could trust your car to the man who wore the star because he had a tie on. Men wore ties to ballgames because men were civilized.”

I had some related thoughts here.