Consumer culture is largely based on dissatisfaction with self; thus it is in the culture’s interest to make sure everyone feels flawed.
No matter who you are, what you look like or how you behave, consumer culture is ready and willing to make you feel bad about it!
Skinny? Ugh, protruding ribs are gross. Fat? Ugh, lumps are gross. Average? Ugh, that’s boring, you should stronger/ leaner/ /taller/ etc.
The system is designed to make you aware of “flaws” so you will attempt to compensate via consumption of products to correct them.
Changing to correct these “flaws” leads to discovery of a whole new set of “flaws” to be fixed. Lose weight? Now you need a nose job.
Adherence to external standards is the ultimate hamster wheel. No matter what you do, you cannot win, unless you stop playing the game.
And of course, getting off the hamster wheel is both difficult & dangerous when the whole world is spinning on the same treadmill.
@_nadine Yeah, your posts were what triggered my thought process on this. I mean, I fit into a bunch of social beauty standards, and yet…
@_nadine I’m still made to feel inadequate. Everybody is. Some more than others, I agree, and there are benefits to fitting the social mold.
@_nadine But still. Sham all around!
@_nadine Even if you can push through it for your own self, you still have to deal with all these people who’ve internalized those standards
[140 Philosophy is a blog post summing up my life-theory Twitter rants. More on this topic when I have a free second, ha!]
