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Hey man I'm on this forum too; I've been here a while and I have had my own taste of baldness as well. It only seems like what I said was banal because it is cliché. And it is cliché because this simple truth has been uttered far too many times to the point of perhaps losing it's otherwise important meaning. Yet another such statement would be "you only live once" or something to that tune. It's just a simple truth.
I think you might be mistaking my curt response for general apathy. That's not where I am coming from, but I see that it could sound that way. My reply was in response to a young man whose perspective, to me, appears flipped. With enough talk of potential cures and loathesome discussions of the alopecia experience, I fear that there is a type of dysmorphia and reality distortion that one can fall prey to. My intent was to repudiate that view and remind everyone that it is the condition itself that is banal. We are literally surrounded by bald people.
This isn't to take away from the negative consequences of the condition itself, but rather to reaffirm that it is something one can deal with and if need be, accept, if for no other reason than to move on with life. The cure may or may not come out. Who knows? I am optimistic, but I think I need to be cognizant of reality as well. Yes it may suck to face the reality of baldness, but that may very well be reality. It is in that sense that I meant baldness is your problem.
And I cannot fully agree with your analogy of a viral or bacterial epidemic. I saw what you wrote about alopecia leading to suicides and while this is true, that is a very small minority of people. The vast number of people who bald do not come to seek refuge in internet forums. They don't even use finasteride or minoxidil. They just move on. Yes Androgenetic Alopecia research should receive more attention. But let's be objective when we assess its threat. I think a lot of the suffering is self inflicted. In other words, if losing hair is so painful, what would one do if he/she lost an arm in an accident? Have even more extreme responses that depression, anxiety, and contemplation of suicide? The loss of function, aesthetics, and having to bear the burden of being different - these negative consequences are all objectively worse in the case of a lost limb than hair. But I think we all know and hope for a person in such a situation to try to live his/her life to the fullest and move past the trauma. We would hope that the person is able to joke about the lost limb and put people at ease, rather than turn bitter and shy away from the world. And we in turn, having our limbs intact, and not having to bear the psychological burden of limb loss, would be able to use compassion and empathy to simply accept that person.
I think the journey of baldness definitely makes one feel much worse about life than they need to. Balding still sucks, I know of course. But we've all heard that other people don't care as much as we do and I think that is true. I hope the analogy of a person with a lost limb, as well as the reality that most men seek no treatment, as well as the fact that almost one in two men bald and that this condition has been around since the dawn of humanity all support that claim.
As far as I can see, the young people on this board who are really suffering don't need to be assured that there will be a cure or when it will be out. Nobody knows that and that's besides the point; I don't think the point should be that some external source should appear to annihilate the problem they face. Perhaps they instead just need assurance that regardless of what happens, they will be OK. Life will be OK. It's not all doom and despair; there will still be plenty of happiness in the future.
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