However, this is not the actual reason we're here. My recent loss of approx. 50 pounds of weight thanks to a (not so hard) diet, brought back memories of the past. Also reminded me of the way I felt (and sometimes feel) when my face was smashed on the ground in an accident 3 years ago, ruining my exquisitely manly nose I was so proud of and leaving it in a state of wreckage.Made me think about how the same person functions differently and is treated differently by others on basis of looks. So, we're here to discuss how our physical appearance affects us, the others, the greenhouse effect and the shrinking of the universe.
Yeah, I know I am exaggerating. That's a tendency of mine I cannot part of and to be honest I am not sure I'd like to. In this case at least, I''ll stick to my exaggeration, as I believe it serves my cause in pointing out the importance of looks in varied degrees in all human societies. Damn, looks mean something even in animal life.
So, what's such big a deal about it? Lots of 'ugly' peeps have it fine, lots of model looking persons are unhappy. Excuse the term 'ugly', but we'' ll use it as a short for ''less physically attracting, according to the majority of their society's beliefs''.
Sooo, am I wrong? No. Because, even then, looks can be the source of actual behaviors that lead to results. A wide array of results, but still , in my opinion,one of the key power that drives us somewhere at some point(s) in our life is this.
Global business is fed by the looks industry. Fashion, cosmetics, jewelry, pharmaceuticals, sports, weight loss,plastic surgery, car industry, the whole financial system is based on that. It is based on making us look good or making up in other ways (cars, style, fitness state, etc) for the fact that we're not.
Ancient Greeks praised Beauty. Athenians promoted the ideal of 'Καλός καγαθός' (kalos kagathos). It had the meaning of a combination of physical alongside intellectual, mental beauty. A person beautiful in every aspect. A reason for Greeks to sculpt their bodies in sports and keep a healthy mind inside a healthy body, something that Latins also embraced. Let alone mythology, where Dias/Zeus took thousands of animal forms to mate with beautiful women and wars were started for a Beautiful Helen (OK, I don't even buy that, wars always have economical motives, but you have to admit that I really had to put it here, it matches our issue so nicely :P)
Ancient Greece or Rome, Egypt (remember Cleopatra and Nefertiti), Babylon (Semiramis), Judea (Salome), Middle Ages (Umberto Eco has many things to say in his book), Renaissance (Rembrandt too, through his paintings), modern times. Beauty is an asset not to be looked down at, whenever and wherever.
Probably it is the survival of the fittest thing, we wanna mate with the best in order to have the best possible offspring. That's why as a first impression , looks rules for 99,9% of the population. That's the first to notice on someone, unless of course we fall in love with that voice on the radio... Naturally, Neanderthals probably appreciated raw muscle in the looks (more food), while later on chubby appearances were considered as more attracting, due to the subconscious correlation of fat with abundance of food,wealth and social status.
It's no secret that we hear about beauty since childhood, since when we still understand shit, rocking happily in our cradles when our parents and the relatives spam us with compliments of how cute we look. Does it affect the degree of love we receive from our parents? No. From others? Maybe. Still, we keep hearing that since our day 1, either intended to us or to other individuals.
Beauty opens doors. It's a key to many halls. Beauty also closes doors, especially when stereotypes of 'beautiful but dumb' happen to be facts confirmed by the theory.
That has an unavoidable and tremendous impact on us. We wanna look nice, we compete in beauty with others and when we can't win, we use all the arrows in our quiver to make it happen. Alternatively, we seek other ways to improve ourselves through intellectual cultivation, rich amassing or social climbing, without in most cases giving up on the physical aspect part. Sylvio Berlusconi i.e. He is a tycoon alright. He owns the press, he governs Italy, he is famous beyond any doubt. Well, that didn't stop him from hair implants neither kept him away from Marinella ties or Caraceni and Kiton suits. He is not thaaaat young anymore. Still, the man wants to be stylish, to look nice, feel nice, feel desirable. He has the opportunity to get any girl he wants in his bedroom, maybe he already did (remind me to ask my girl when I'm done with this). He knows it. His actions though intensify the common belief that the definition of 'il Cavaliere', even in fairy tales, engulfs the looks part.
People get rich (or die tryin') to make themselves more desirable to the opposite sex or to the same sex in a lately rising percentage. Monogamy or polygamy as an orientation will be coped with in a future article. People work their asses off to get inside other peoples' body or mind, to capture them briefly or eternally. On the other hand,some people also slack and ignore their intellectual or financial growth on grounds that 'pretty is enough'. Imagine the effect on them when they grow old or deformed. It's ''hello plastic surgeon or hello Misery or hello both''.
This is kinda what makes the world go round according to Sigmund and my perspective is identical. This continuous struggle has a toll on us, no matter whether we make it or not. We wanna be liked, loved. It can get us sky high or totally destroyed, either as a result of the outcome or as a consequence of the Herculean effort.
In this ongoing, never-ending, usually -but not always- bloodless war, we use all we've got. Don't dare tell me that our physical appearance is a water pistol in this war. It's a goddamn NUKE. In any war, we seek the competitive advantage through any means. If we can get our hands on the nukes, be sure as hell we'll do it. Ok, maybe some infantry, navy and air force are handy too (spirit, soul, riches), but a nuke is a nuke.
So, to bring this Great Chinese Wall of text to an end, I can't stop wondering what our world and ourselves would be in a parallel universe reality, one without beauty mirrors or with a selective neural vision system that left our appearance part imperceptible to our brain. I really don't have an answer to that. I know for a fact, that I need beautiful people, in mind and body,around me. Am I shallow? Maybe I am, but I do. Excuse me for the impertinent and extreme attempt to rephrase you, Mr. Voltaire, but I honestly think that ''If there was no such thing as beauty in people as well as everything else, we' d have to invent it''.
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