Monday, July 2, 2007

On so called 'unrealistic beauty ideal'

So much rant everywhere on this subject. So, here, to all complainers:
By complaining about media promulgating an ‘unrealistic’ beauty ideal you are totally missing the point. More over, your effort to fix that perceived problem is like trying to put a band-aid on a pimple that is on already dead body.
The beauty ideal by definition is unrealistic and unattainable by most. (Note: It is one of the conditions of beauty, not all of them. But probably the only condition that’s obvious and universal.) Nothing is perceived as beauty in the first place unless it’s rare. ‘Everybody is beautiful’ is an oxymoron, because, once everyone possesses a certain quality, it becomes ‘common’ and is no longer sought after. In lean times, everybody was thin- so plump and curvaceous was in. Now, in times of plenty and lack of necessity to work hard physically to survive, thin and fit is in. Youth is fleeting- which is why it was always considered a part of the ‘beauty package’. Especially now, as we live longer and population grows older. Older people looking young are rare- therefore, people looking younger than their chronological age are considered more beautiful than their ‘chronologically average’ peers. Most people with age put on fat on their stomachs and backs- so those who don’t for whatever reason (intense exercise and scientifically shrewd diet, rare genetics or just plain stupid lazy lipo) stand out and attract attention. Etc, etc.
The problem is not that the media ‘promulgates’ a certain ideal of beauty or ‘creates’ it. Media does not create any ideals- it follows the already exiting trends and picks up on already existing ideas, and sells you what’s the most sellable. The real problem is, the beauty is overemphasized, and too much importance is put on being beautiful. As opposed to being intelligent, talented, achieving, or having a great character. PS Though, I’m sure, if the media "promulgated" those qualities in place of beauty, there would be whiners complaining that not everybody wins genetic lottery of talent and high IQ, or that ‘being a mother and wife’ is more important than being a high achiever. Which brings us to the argument 3.
I said in my second argument that the real problem is in too much emphasis being put on beauty, I also compared that ‘problem’ with a pimple on already dead body. Why? Because the population is so grossly overgrown, there are so many of us now, that standing out of the crowd even for one brief moment in one’s lifetime becomes extremely difficult. And more and more conditions are added to the ‘standing out’ being possible. Beauty seems became another one of them. I can theorize that if human population shrunk to at least acceptable maximum (that our planet can sustain long term) which is a third of what we are now, each individual would get much more appreciation and acknowledgement.
In conclusion, beauty is rare, life is unfair, deal with it. Do not judge people who exercise ‘too much’ or ‘don’t enjoy life’ because they are more careful than you with what they put in their mouth, or those who use plastic surgery, or are just plain lucky and stay younger a decade longer than most, etc, etc. Life is short and so is joy- let them be. Whether someone has boob job or not is totally irrelevant in the bigger scheme of things. None of us is in a position to judge others or to give a ‘moral’ advice. Let’s instead do our best with what each of us got- intelligence, talents, physique- and put our energy in and derive our self-respect from that.