Friday, November 15, 2013
Jon Stewart Gives Us the Best "Racist" Conversation In Years
This is truly gold- from the panel to the clips. It's refreshing to mock our political correctness, identify the difference between stupidity and racism, and laugh where laughter is due. Thanks Upworthy for the reference!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
History Made Real: Vintage Photos in Color
This awesome article shows a series of black and white pictures that have been "colorized." It really brings history (hi-story... it often seems like a story rather than a reality) into something that looks like it could be happening in our streets. Check out this car crash in Washington D.C. in 1921:
It certainly seems close to life now, not just an incident 92 years ago. For the rest, check out the article here.
The "Perfect" Female Body- Mannequins and Plastic Surgery in Venezuela
This is a really great video showing how mannequins are changing, along with Venezuelan women's ideas about their bodies, culminating in a trend of plastic surgery. I find it interesting how different the "perfect body" is in Venezuela compared to the U.S., but how similar the conception of needing to conform is.
While the Venezuelan ideal emphasizes large breasts and a big butt, boob jobs soar as women seek out larger and larger breasts (note the woman at the end, saying that she will probably get more than one surgery so that she can increase her breast size further) and more perfect bodies.
The man speaking in this video, who is part of the Miss Venezuela pageant, takes pride in the "perfect woman" rather than the natural one. It is not her inner beauty that matters- he says that inner beauty is merely something made up by ugly women to justify themselves. Nor is it her natural beauty- he talks about the need for women to conform to the ideal he's created and finds no benefit in staying natural; artificial is better if it makes the woman "perfect".
It's alarming to think that people like this can shape the concept of what an entire country of people view as beautiful. Indeed, the women in this video agree they need surgery. And looking in the U.S., it makes sense that boob jobs, liposuction, diets, waxing, threading, facials, manicures, implanted eyelashes and a million other beauty procedures exist to help us fulfill our ideal.
As an American, I think that we can never be thin enough (until we're too thin- "Oh, she needs help," says the person who told you you're fat six months ago), our breasts need to be large (this is inherently a contradiction, since breasts are composed of mostly fat), and our skin and hair care need to reflect our youth (brazilian waxes, flawless baby skin, long, fluttery eyelashes). Our concept of beauty is just as flawed and impossible to reach.
On the upside, looking at a similar problem elsewhere, though with a different vision of "perfect," emphasizes how subjective beauty really is. In the past, fat women were considered beautiful because it displayed their wealth (since they could eat enough and do very little physical labor). In Venezuela, the emphasis on a curvier woman contradicts the American dainty woman ideal. So if beauty is really subjective and cultural, we have the ability to recreate what we call beautiful, and that gives us all the power.
While the Venezuelan ideal emphasizes large breasts and a big butt, boob jobs soar as women seek out larger and larger breasts (note the woman at the end, saying that she will probably get more than one surgery so that she can increase her breast size further) and more perfect bodies.
The man speaking in this video, who is part of the Miss Venezuela pageant, takes pride in the "perfect woman" rather than the natural one. It is not her inner beauty that matters- he says that inner beauty is merely something made up by ugly women to justify themselves. Nor is it her natural beauty- he talks about the need for women to conform to the ideal he's created and finds no benefit in staying natural; artificial is better if it makes the woman "perfect".
It's alarming to think that people like this can shape the concept of what an entire country of people view as beautiful. Indeed, the women in this video agree they need surgery. And looking in the U.S., it makes sense that boob jobs, liposuction, diets, waxing, threading, facials, manicures, implanted eyelashes and a million other beauty procedures exist to help us fulfill our ideal.
As an American, I think that we can never be thin enough (until we're too thin- "Oh, she needs help," says the person who told you you're fat six months ago), our breasts need to be large (this is inherently a contradiction, since breasts are composed of mostly fat), and our skin and hair care need to reflect our youth (brazilian waxes, flawless baby skin, long, fluttery eyelashes). Our concept of beauty is just as flawed and impossible to reach.
On the upside, looking at a similar problem elsewhere, though with a different vision of "perfect," emphasizes how subjective beauty really is. In the past, fat women were considered beautiful because it displayed their wealth (since they could eat enough and do very little physical labor). In Venezuela, the emphasis on a curvier woman contradicts the American dainty woman ideal. So if beauty is really subjective and cultural, we have the ability to recreate what we call beautiful, and that gives us all the power.
Thanks to Upworthy for the reference!
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Unexpected Contributions from Veterans
On this Veterans' Day, men and women who have fought for this country will be saluted for their bravery in the face of danger. (No political statement.) But I'd like to also draw attention to some of the contributions that veterans may have unknowingly made to our society.
First, a small thing: the great game of Goal Ball. You haven't heard of Goal Ball?! Designed for soldiers who had lost their vision in WWII, today the game is quite popular among blind and visually-impaired athletes. A small bell is placed inside a ball, and players are blindfolded (sighted and blind players alike), forced to rely on the sound of the ball to block their goal. Goal Ball is an official sport of the Paralympics, and pretty cool to watch.
Secondly, an unexpected contribution: modernist furniture. No, seriously. Charles and Ray Eames developed the technology to bend wood using steam when they were asked to improve leg splints for disabled WWII veterans. They then applied this technique to make sleek, streamlined chairs that caught on and spurred a whole trend in modernist furniture.
Last, a pretty big one: the Disabilities Civil Rights Movement. With more and more military personnel coming home disabled, the treatment and rights of all people with disabilities -- combat-related injuries or not -- gained more attention from the public and the government. The military community did a great deal to get the Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990, granting basic rights to millions of people, the majority of whom were unaffiliated with the military.
So as we thank Veterans for their obvious -- and very significant -- service, let's also acknowledge that their contributions may go deeper than even they realize.
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