don't stop the music

수요일, 8월 17, 2005

was just surfing around random blogs and read a particular entry that sparked my interest on rina's blog:

As the next generation, we have a responsibility to shoulder these normative claims, not to distance ourselves from them. We need to become aware of the legacies we inherit and what thoughts and ideals we pass on. So here is my proposal: over the next fews days, think about something that really matters to you. Then write about it. Post it on your journal. Write about what you believe in, what issues bother you, what you think is wrong and how you would change it, no matter how idealistic you think it is. Copy and paste this paragraph in your own journal, if you want to get your own friends-list thinking.

what really matters to me? i cut and pasted the paragraph and continued surfing, telling myself i'd chew on that thought later. then i happened to chance upon the blog of someone who used to be a friend of mine. she's completely changed her look now from when i knew her back when we were younger, and currently living the life of decadence she'd always hankered after. on her blog was a post about this place called beautifulpeople.net, which allegedly only accepts 1 in every 15 applications in order to create the most elite and professional group where beautiful people can meet.

so the niggling issues i'd like to address today are of three: the validity of idealistically creating such an online community, what i found there, and the underlying concept of beauty and confidence and what it means to other people.

first -

alright, so fair enough, beautiful people bladibla. no matter how elitist it professes itself to be, at the end of the day its still a glorified internet personal service that is pretty much like all the others. let's face it, as a famous man once said, "we have no privacy, so deal with it" (computer law classes really paid off there) any information posted up on the internet constitutes publishing, and can be viewed by whoever you authorise to view it, which usually tends to be a huge potential number of people. i just cannot believe that things have gotten to such a head where only good-looking people can meet only good-looking people. sure, there are some below-average-looking perverts lurking on the internet, but honestly, isn't that the way it is in real life too? come to think of it, since the good-looking people are so good at getting with each other in real life, there really isn't a need to create a whole online community just to do the exact same thing right?

it's more of a publicity stunt than anything else, i think. kinda makes me think back to school days when the 'popular' girls used to rule the roost, and anyone else who wasn't part of that group was shunted past like the waves of ye olde red sea when moses crossed it with ten thousand israelites. after today's experience, i realise that things never really change do they.

don't judge me just yet - i'm not being bitter. i like admiring pretty people too, but this is taking narcissism to a whole new plateau here. sometimes the vanity in people's lives can turn the stomach and makes me think that, if that's the mindset that's been cultivated in the new generation, then nothing will ever get done because everyone will be too busy doing their hair when the bombshell hits. the vanity and sheer arrogance of man will be enough to bring the whole human race to its knees, because at the end of the day, the bible tells us that man was made in God's image -- yet to what extent did we replicate His love, compassion, kindness and wisdom?

instead we repay Him with the cockiness of both the person and the soul that can fell whole nations. there needs to be a whole lot more humility in this world, because we already have quite a lot of love, sweet, (self) love.

two -

ok, so i say, what the heck i'll just click on the 'find out more' button to well, find out more. and it leads me to the active uk site. great, i think. let's see what the uk definition of beautiful means.

when i got there -- not one profile involved a coloured person, and by coloured i mean someone else not of the caucasian variety.

nice, isn't it? i remember once while walking along back to Boy's place, we passed a couple of townies on the way. from a distance, the second they clocked me jeers and cusses started to issue from them, which didn't stop until they were out of earshot. why? couldn't have been because i was wearing blue that day. must have been because my skin was a different colour from them.

the ignorance that these people hold is prevalent everywhere when one lives in the uk for most of the year. ethnic people tend to group together with other ethnic people, people they can relate to, and for good reason too, although i strongly promote mingling with people from all races. sure, i have caucasian friends, Boy is white too, but of course there are exceptions to the norm. someone once asked me when they heard that i came from singapore:

"so doesn't it get cold in singapore during the winter? it must be so cold."

okay, now look here buddy, i know about the geographical composition of the dorset hills, so why don't you know about the weather in singapore? that's not asking for much you know.

as the world gets progressively smaller due to the prevalence of air travel, and as people become more and more affluent, that same stigma remains - that sense of racial superiority that people think sets them apart from others. obviously on beautifulpeople.net, the requirements of beauty need you to have bog standard blue/brown eyes, blond/brown hair, and need the ladies to be dressed as skimpily as possible (don't believe me? see for yourself the scrolling pictures of the women in the half nuddy) and the men to have their most 'come on' look plastered all over their faces. with abs, even better.

come to think of it, my first thought was - good looking meh?

anyway, moseying on -

at the end of the day i think it's simple. the notion of beauty is overrated. in life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and that is all that matters. the main purpose in life isn't meant to be put in a glass case for the rest of the world to salivate over you and praise your wondrous beauty, a life is meant to be spent trying to achieve what is important, good and wise for one to achieve, not to be shallow as to just concentrate on looks alone. sure, you hit the genetic jackpot, but what of it? the most beautiful people i know aren't 6 ft 2, wear a size 0, or have 20/20 vision. in fact, they're beautiful to me because they're my family and friends, people i love, and it's the relationship i've had with them over the years that makes them beautiful in my eyes, to which not even the most physically beautiful person in the world can even try to hold a candle to. words that my mom taught me when i was younger ring true - no matter how beautiful a person is, they can only marry one person, they can only love one person. which is true, and once that happens, it doesn't matter how awful you may really look - if the person loves what they see inside you, there's no arguing that that person is beautiful.

of course, some people love themselves, and i really can't argue with that.

sure, spend loads on trying to smooth your skin/stop the onward march of time/keep fit/generally beautify yourself, but if inside there is no substance for people to get to know, then all that effort will go to waste. man's vanity fuels his eternal quest for perfection. in fact, this dissatisfaction should be transferred to bettering instead of beautifying one's outer shell. when i was in singapore, every other television ad was hawking slimming, spa treatments and facials alongside icecream and chocolate.

irony, no?

forget the sweets, my main focus was on the spa ads. they made me sick, because if that's what tv is selling to the people, then that only drives that kernel of vanity deeper into the cranium. let's face it, being perfect isn't the be all and end all in life, that's just shallow. man comes into the world with nothing, and he leaves this world with nothing. all that money spent on plastic surgery (hear! hear!), liposuction, collagen implants, facials and all manner of other things people spend money on will pass away. God doesn't look at your face, He looks at your soul, and if all that's left in there is a dirty rag hankering for praise and adoration, then there is a serious problem going on that needs immediate appraisal.

to whoever's reading this, you may agree with me, or you may think i'm just talking a load of hot air. let me know what you think, but be assertive, not malicious while airing your views. maybe i'm wrong about the people who make up beautifulpeople.net, or people in general, who knows. this is just my own opinion.

this was what was bugging me, so now i'm getting it off my chest.