Beauty is only Skin Deep, or Why I Hate the Media.
I'm going to try and keep control while I write this one, but this is a huge hot button for me. I've struggled with this for years. I absolutely loathe how the media portrays the portrait of what idyllic beauty is and how they try to make people feel horrible for not looking like the people on TV. As much as people try not to let this effect them, it does on some small level. I even look at myself, and I do think it has effected my outward appearance. Not in the way that it was supposed to, but more through an act of rebellion. Even thought I don't stand out in a crowd that much in my everyday work clothes, after work hours things change. The long sleeve shirts come off so I can show off all the ink, which in turn accents the hole in my ear I can put a cigarette through (guess I won't be doing that trick anymore since I quit smoking)...Sorry, I strayed from the point here. Didn't want this to turn into a "look at the freak with the ink" paragraph...Damnit. Onto the point.
Most women I have met in my life have been effected by the atrocious stereotyping of the media. Maybe this is because they are forced into what "idyllic beauty" is from the time most get their first toy. Gotta let everyone in on a secret. "Barbie" is physically impossible. She'd fall over. The point here is from the time that a girl starts playing with her first toys, the brainwashing has already started. This is the media's portrayal of what the perfect beauty should be. The force feeding and the brain washing continues throughout the developmental process until most females are trying to become this "perfect" person, rebelling against it, or are physically damaged by trying to attain this image and failing. There isn't a way to win this one. By the time you've attained the perfect beauty, the picture changes and you have to start over. This is ridiculous. It's all manipulated to keep you spending money to try to achieve this impossible goal.
One thing I have noticed more and more is the same kind of brainwashing tactics being focused towards males. It has always been there (hell, I remember the Charles Atlas ad's in the back of my comics insinuating I'd never get laid unless I could bench press a VW Bug), but now I'm starting to see ad's for stuff like anti-wrinkle cream for men. Albeit, the vanity is always a good advertising angle, but I never really thought that companies would try to play it against the male consumer market. I guess it's working though.
The thing that really pisses me of is how self-conscious some people are when there is absolutely no reason for it. These fictionalized flaws that people seem to think exist aren't there. I can't stress this enough. Damnit, there is nothing wrong with any of you. Stop worrying about what the corporate world says you should look like and embrace what you are. If we were all the same think of how boring the world would be.
Unfortunately, there is some mob mentality going on here as well. The shallow, insensitive people out there who have embraced the brainwashing are nothing more than zombies pushing the media's ideas and belittling people who don't follow same idiotic path that they do. I feel a couple of emotions towards these people. The first is anger at how people can be that stupid and keep towing the line, and secondly is pity. These people are never going to see all of the other kinds of beauty (and the true beauty) that exists in the world.
I'm trying to think of the correct way to write this next statement because I don't want it to be misinterpreted. Trying to put a mental image into words can get tricky. There is always the aspect of physical attraction to a person when you are first interested in meeting them, but in my case, that is just the initial reason to have a look. Like when you are buying a car, it's got to have a nice look, but if it doesn't have the engine and the accoutrement's you are looking for, you won't buy it. This is the part that is important to me. I am interested in the whole package, rather than what is just viewed by the world. In every case where a friendship has turned into something more for me, I catch myself seeing that new interest becoming more and more beautiful every time I talk to them. Appearance is fleeting but personality and intelligence are forever.
Beauty is only what you view as being beautiful, don't accept the force fed, brainwashing bullshit that is fed to us through the media. Being unique is the most beautiful thing you can be, and never, ever be ashamed or self-conscious of who you are. If you are self-conscious, make sure that it is because you want to make a change for yourself, and not because of some image that has been projected onto you from outside sources.
Sorry, no amusing anecdote or absurdism this time to finish it off. I can't think of one to finish this off that wouldn't take away from the seriousness of this entry. This is more of a reminder to everyone who reads my little corner of the Internet to be happy with who you are, and if you are not, change for your own reasons, and not because it has been dictated to you be companies. If some one does call you beautiful, take it for the compliment that it is. Most times people actually mean it.
I'm going to try and keep control while I write this one, but this is a huge hot button for me. I've struggled with this for years. I absolutely loathe how the media portrays the portrait of what idyllic beauty is and how they try to make people feel horrible for not looking like the people on TV. As much as people try not to let this effect them, it does on some small level. I even look at myself, and I do think it has effected my outward appearance. Not in the way that it was supposed to, but more through an act of rebellion. Even thought I don't stand out in a crowd that much in my everyday work clothes, after work hours things change. The long sleeve shirts come off so I can show off all the ink, which in turn accents the hole in my ear I can put a cigarette through (guess I won't be doing that trick anymore since I quit smoking)...Sorry, I strayed from the point here. Didn't want this to turn into a "look at the freak with the ink" paragraph...Damnit. Onto the point.
Most women I have met in my life have been effected by the atrocious stereotyping of the media. Maybe this is because they are forced into what "idyllic beauty" is from the time most get their first toy. Gotta let everyone in on a secret. "Barbie" is physically impossible. She'd fall over. The point here is from the time that a girl starts playing with her first toys, the brainwashing has already started. This is the media's portrayal of what the perfect beauty should be. The force feeding and the brain washing continues throughout the developmental process until most females are trying to become this "perfect" person, rebelling against it, or are physically damaged by trying to attain this image and failing. There isn't a way to win this one. By the time you've attained the perfect beauty, the picture changes and you have to start over. This is ridiculous. It's all manipulated to keep you spending money to try to achieve this impossible goal.
One thing I have noticed more and more is the same kind of brainwashing tactics being focused towards males. It has always been there (hell, I remember the Charles Atlas ad's in the back of my comics insinuating I'd never get laid unless I could bench press a VW Bug), but now I'm starting to see ad's for stuff like anti-wrinkle cream for men. Albeit, the vanity is always a good advertising angle, but I never really thought that companies would try to play it against the male consumer market. I guess it's working though.
The thing that really pisses me of is how self-conscious some people are when there is absolutely no reason for it. These fictionalized flaws that people seem to think exist aren't there. I can't stress this enough. Damnit, there is nothing wrong with any of you. Stop worrying about what the corporate world says you should look like and embrace what you are. If we were all the same think of how boring the world would be.
Unfortunately, there is some mob mentality going on here as well. The shallow, insensitive people out there who have embraced the brainwashing are nothing more than zombies pushing the media's ideas and belittling people who don't follow same idiotic path that they do. I feel a couple of emotions towards these people. The first is anger at how people can be that stupid and keep towing the line, and secondly is pity. These people are never going to see all of the other kinds of beauty (and the true beauty) that exists in the world.
I'm trying to think of the correct way to write this next statement because I don't want it to be misinterpreted. Trying to put a mental image into words can get tricky. There is always the aspect of physical attraction to a person when you are first interested in meeting them, but in my case, that is just the initial reason to have a look. Like when you are buying a car, it's got to have a nice look, but if it doesn't have the engine and the accoutrement's you are looking for, you won't buy it. This is the part that is important to me. I am interested in the whole package, rather than what is just viewed by the world. In every case where a friendship has turned into something more for me, I catch myself seeing that new interest becoming more and more beautiful every time I talk to them. Appearance is fleeting but personality and intelligence are forever.
Beauty is only what you view as being beautiful, don't accept the force fed, brainwashing bullshit that is fed to us through the media. Being unique is the most beautiful thing you can be, and never, ever be ashamed or self-conscious of who you are. If you are self-conscious, make sure that it is because you want to make a change for yourself, and not because of some image that has been projected onto you from outside sources.
Sorry, no amusing anecdote or absurdism this time to finish it off. I can't think of one to finish this off that wouldn't take away from the seriousness of this entry. This is more of a reminder to everyone who reads my little corner of the Internet to be happy with who you are, and if you are not, change for your own reasons, and not because it has been dictated to you be companies. If some one does call you beautiful, take it for the compliment that it is. Most times people actually mean it.
posted by Reverend Moloquin at 1:04 AM
1 Comments:
I just like how you used the word "accoutrement".
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