The Lab || Experiment - Vanity, thy name is debatable

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Got rich by embezzling Nazi gold

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I was watching TV today, and I saw an ad for "The Swan", a new show on Fox. The gist of the show is that they perform cosmetic surgery on women and then there's some sort of beauty pageant. My initial reaction was that of disgust; to think that people would so casually recreate their entire face to match some transitory sense of beauty an acceptance.

But then I thought a little more about it... so much is made of "inner beauty" - it's quite often claimed to be more important than physical beauty. But why? Is it fair to assign greater importance to one attribute over another?

Link this post 2004-05-10 00:38:56

"Children need to be taught from preschool that they might have to put a bullet between the eyes of their own undead mother." - Evans City, PA Police Chief Gino Fulci

Somnium

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Finally has a custom title

quote from clank-o-tron
But then I thought a little more about it... so much is made of "inner beauty" - it's quite often claimed to be more important than physical beauty. But why? Is it fair to assign greater importance to one attribute over another?

Yes.

Seriously, think about what people mean when they say "inner beauty". Yes, that's more important.

As for The Swan, I'm less bothered by the surgery than the attitude behind it - 'without looks, you're worthless'.

Link this post 2004-05-10 09:58:31

"Death is truly a blessing"
-- The Carico sales guy, trying to sell us china and cookware

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Got rich by embezzling Nazi gold

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quote from Somnium
Yes.

Seriously, think about what people mean when they say "inner beauty".

No, goddamnit - I don't want to think, I want your opinion. Why is one attribute more important than another?

Link this post 2004-05-11 00:53:26

"Children need to be taught from preschool that they might have to put a bullet between the eyes of their own undead mother." - Evans City, PA Police Chief Gino Fulci

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Recovering Religious Zealot

posts: 2233

I think inner beauty is more important. Because inner beauty is all about character.

Edit:// That better?

((modified by Ramus@2004-05-11 12:55:10))

Link this post 2004-05-11 00:54:34

We just wanted to deal with that issue... just a couple of point... just changing the attitude towards AIDS from being "Ew... AIDSY." to more like "Ah... Fun monkey disease."

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Got rich by embezzling Nazi gold

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Perhaps I wasn't clear in my request. Let me raise it to a meta-level: you have an object. This object is divided into two equally-sized pieces: which piece do you assign greater importance to?

Link this post 2004-05-11 01:10:16

"Children need to be taught from preschool that they might have to put a bullet between the eyes of their own undead mother." - Evans City, PA Police Chief Gino Fulci

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Recovering Religious Zealot

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Neither. If they are truly equal pieces, then you can't possible give greater value to either piece.

Link this post 2004-05-11 01:15:51

We just wanted to deal with that issue... just a couple of point... just changing the attitude towards AIDS from being "Ew... AIDSY." to more like "Ah... Fun monkey disease."

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Got rich by embezzling Nazi gold

Founder

quote from Ramus
Neither. If they are truly equal pieces, then you can't possible give greater value to either piece.

EXACTLY.

Yet society can take a person, divide them into two categories (physical and mental) and then assign a greater importance to the mental aspects?

Incidentally, I do believe that inner beauty is more important - I just think it's important to understand a beliefs structure.

Link this post 2004-05-11 01:27:19

"Children need to be taught from preschool that they might have to put a bullet between the eyes of their own undead mother." - Evans City, PA Police Chief Gino Fulci

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Recovering Religious Zealot

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Uh... ok.

Actually I think society places more importance on outer beauty actually. But I could be wrong.

Link this post 2004-05-11 01:39:27

We just wanted to deal with that issue... just a couple of point... just changing the attitude towards AIDS from being "Ew... AIDSY." to more like "Ah... Fun monkey disease."

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Got rich by embezzling Nazi gold

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Okay, but did you see the point as you blew past it? WHY is one of these two equal (logically, if not emotionally) pieces considered better?

Link this post 2004-05-11 01:51:50

"Children need to be taught from preschool that they might have to put a bullet between the eyes of their own undead mother." - Evans City, PA Police Chief Gino Fulci

Somnium

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quote from clank-o-tron
Okay, but did you see the point as you blew past it? WHY is one of these two equal (logically, if not emotionally) pieces considered better?

I don't think they're equal, logically or otherwise, so I'm having trouble figuring out what you want me to say here.

You said:

quote from clank-o-tron
Is it fair to assign greater importance to one attribute over another?

And I said yes.

quote from clank-o-tron
No, goddamnit - I don't want to think, I want your opinion. Why is one attribute more important than another?

So here you go:

First of all, I didn't realize that mild-mannered Clank-o-Tron was actually Semantics Man. Just because both are often described by using the word 'beauty' does not mean they are equal or even have anything at all to do with each other. In this case both are used to describe one or more characteristics of a person, so sure - there's some connection. Still not equal, or even similar.

As for why one is more important than another, I guess the best I can do is to say that while both can change, physical beauty is more likely to be transitory (not quite the word, but I love to use it) and is something you are born with. The other stuff is learned, practiced, and has a greater impact on society - nobody looks at your ass over the phone or online, and your photo doesn't usually go in your resume unless you're a model or actor. Outer beauty is just a snapshot, whereas inner beauty is courage, dedication, compassion, integrity, good will, charity, and everything else that allows society to function.

But guess what?

Everything I just said is bullshit.

Because in the end you can't compare them. Send Semantics Man home, there's no fire. Physical beauty is altered by inner beauty all the time, because it can reflect vanity, sloth, or anything in-between. It can tell people our views. Also, some aspects of inner beauty mean nothing without the physical. It's easy to be humble about your appearance when getting beat by the ugly stick would be an improvement. In the end if you want me to put more importance on one of them, I'll pick inner. But you can't really compare them as if they were equal because they are both separate and connected.

Link this post 2004-05-11 10:29:06

"Death is truly a blessing"
-- The Carico sales guy, trying to sell us china and cookware

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Recovering Religious Zealot