I asked this in another thread, but it dawned on me that it would make a good debate topic all on its own.
Why do we care what other people look like? How much they weigh? If they wear fashionable clothing? If they are 'attractive'? What drives us to be so judgmental about another person's appearance? Why does it consume so much of our time and energy? Why do we have entire channels programmed around shows about appearance? Magazines? Industries?
Me, personally, I'm not appearance driven, but it is useful in distinguishing one individual from the rest of them. For one, I'm near-sighted and don't have any depth perception. Everything looks kind of flat to me. I never notice someone's new hair color or style unless it's a drastic change. I watch body language more than facial expressions because it's hard for me to look people directly in the eye (I've got a lazy eye. It wanders, and usually makes me look like I'm looking over someone's shoulder at rapidly approaching doom or something). I don't care about how much other people weigh beyond some vague sort of 'that can't be healthy' agreement when talking about someone who is either anorexic or like, half a ton being pulled out of their home with a backhoe. I'm fat, but I've been skinny, and I don't feel like skinny people or fat people are offensive. They are people who have little or no bearing upon my existence or who are involved in my life, and even if you're involved in my life then I don't care what you look like as long as you don't smell bad & aren't sick with something contagious. To me, variety makes people interesting. If someone has a truly unique feature, I will remember their name more likely than if they don't stick out. I work with a girl who has sort of a frog-like face. She's nice, cute, and I remember her name because I think to myself 'Frog-Face Michelle', differentiating her from 'Supervisor Michelle' and 'Cocktail Waitress Michelle'. If Supervisor Michelle put on a cocktail waitress uniform, I couldn't distinguish her from Cocktail Waitress Michelle. Frog-Face Michelle? I'd totally know her.
So it's weird to me, the caring if someone else looks a different way. Appearance, to me, isn't that important that I'd waste a huge amount of brain space on it. About the only part of it I 'get' is physical attraction. You can't always determine what you're going to find attractive. I also understand certain features setting off genetic compatibility alarms, indicators of good health, that kind of thing. Those are instincts coming from the alligator brain - I don't get where the judgmental attitudes are coming from.
Why do we care what other people look like? How much they weigh? If they wear fashionable clothing? If they are 'attractive'? What drives us to be so judgmental about another person's appearance? Why does it consume so much of our time and energy? Why do we have entire channels programmed around shows about appearance? Magazines? Industries?
Me, personally, I'm not appearance driven, but it is useful in distinguishing one individual from the rest of them. For one, I'm near-sighted and don't have any depth perception. Everything looks kind of flat to me. I never notice someone's new hair color or style unless it's a drastic change. I watch body language more than facial expressions because it's hard for me to look people directly in the eye (I've got a lazy eye. It wanders, and usually makes me look like I'm looking over someone's shoulder at rapidly approaching doom or something). I don't care about how much other people weigh beyond some vague sort of 'that can't be healthy' agreement when talking about someone who is either anorexic or like, half a ton being pulled out of their home with a backhoe. I'm fat, but I've been skinny, and I don't feel like skinny people or fat people are offensive. They are people who have little or no bearing upon my existence or who are involved in my life, and even if you're involved in my life then I don't care what you look like as long as you don't smell bad & aren't sick with something contagious. To me, variety makes people interesting. If someone has a truly unique feature, I will remember their name more likely than if they don't stick out. I work with a girl who has sort of a frog-like face. She's nice, cute, and I remember her name because I think to myself 'Frog-Face Michelle', differentiating her from 'Supervisor Michelle' and 'Cocktail Waitress Michelle'. If Supervisor Michelle put on a cocktail waitress uniform, I couldn't distinguish her from Cocktail Waitress Michelle. Frog-Face Michelle? I'd totally know her.
So it's weird to me, the caring if someone else looks a different way. Appearance, to me, isn't that important that I'd waste a huge amount of brain space on it. About the only part of it I 'get' is physical attraction. You can't always determine what you're going to find attractive. I also understand certain features setting off genetic compatibility alarms, indicators of good health, that kind of thing. Those are instincts coming from the alligator brain - I don't get where the judgmental attitudes are coming from.
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