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I don't think Americans are obsessed with their looks at all, to be honest. Not as a whole, anyway. Some would argue that Americans are, in fact less concerned with their looks than other countries, given the high obesity rate in the US. To be fair though, anybody who says that Europeans are less fat than Americans has apparently never been to Germany. Just sayin'!
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Absolutely Not. Go to Argentina, Brazil or Columbia the way you look down there is more important than anythinig else.
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I really don't think Americans are "obsessed" with their looks as much as they are "obsessed" with what people think about them. I think the reason why people worry so much about their looks is because they are afraid of what other people will think about them. We all tend to think that if we aren't perfect ALL the time that people will judge us. Society as a whole can be pretty nasty sometimes. I just wish everyone would realize that God made them beautiful and I wish everyone else could look beyond the imperfections and see people for who they are.
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Cultural influences. Bottom line. The media runs the world and makes society go round and round. Without media, we wouldn't care. We'd all achieve health rather than perfection. But somewhere along the lines of history, we've developed this group brainwash, where advertising and hollywood is embedded into our sub conscience on a level where we all secretly strive to achieve an unrealistic goal of perfection that is, quite frankly, unhealthy. If you want to achieve perfection, why don't you enjoy life and for once, never wonder what it's worth, help your neighbors with love and kindness (in an effort for them to pass it on) maybe even try eating healthy and taking care of the planet the way you'd take care of a child. I know this is the age old speech and "nothing ever changes" but it starts of with you (the individual) I think the whole world has some sort of subliminal message for the masses, to keep the people in conflict, selfish and down. So no, America isn't the only country who tries to obsess over looks per se.
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I think it speaks to a sort of spiritual crisis that has been steadily building for a long time. People are looking to the outside world for their identities: to culture, family, ethnicity, TV, idols, peers, etc. Even though we are all subject to the outside world and its influences, our own inner worlds are what determine the course of our development and how we will interpret future experience. These inner worlds are being neglected by the masses: instead of comparing their present self with their past self and what they hope for their future selves, people are seeking to compare themselves to others. This obsession with comparison to others is not only pointless for the goals being sought after (recognition, respect, a stronger sense of self), it is dangerous because it locks our minds in constant competition without a an equally robust attention to cooperation.
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I think it speaks to a sort of spiritual crisis that has been steadily building for a long time. People are looking to the outside world for their identities: to culture, family, ethnicity, TV, idols, peers, etc. Even though we are all subject to the outside world and its influences, our own inner worlds are what determine the course of our development and how we will interpret future experience. These inner worlds are being neglected by the masses: instead of comparing their present self with their past self and what they hope for their future selves, people are seeking to compare themselves to others. This obsession with comparison to others is not only pointless for the goals being sought after (recognition, respect, a stronger sense of self), it is dangerous because it locks our minds in constant competition without a an equally robust attention to cooperation.
We are a social species: we all crave to be accepted and recognized by one another. Too many people think that acceptance is a prize that has to be fought for and won (and that others have to fight for and win their respect). Our commitment to the rights and freedoms of the Individual need to be tempered by the needs and resources of the Community, which includes that fundamental need of recognition in all of us.
The massive scale that feelings of insecurity, impotence, and apathy have grown to may seem like a problem that is too large to tackle, particularly for any one individual. And it is hard, speaking as an individual trying to tackle it, but it isn't impossible. The problem is that we aren't taking care of each other and through that habitual neglect we are poisoning ourselves with unattainable aspirations, jealousy, and shallow person-hood. The best solution, generally, is do what is best for yourself AND the group.
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Well, going off of stereotypes I want to say that East Europe probably is. I'm not saying that everyone there is good looking, because honestly it can get pretty intense when it comes to looks there. But it seems that they harbor most of the body builders, models, and porn. Which basically can mean that they make vanity of the highest importance. But that may just be me.
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You tell them!
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You tell them!
Media + Government = Social Nuclear Bomb.
The reason I got my teeth straightened, was because I they were gonna flail upwards, and be odd.
I think dressing up and making yourself look beautiful is okay, at least if it is you. Not some media wanna be.
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It's sort of weird. America is considered to be a country with a lot of fat people. That is not entirely false.
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It's sort of weird. America is considered to be a country with a lot of fat people. That is not entirely false.
So that would mean, they aren't too concerned about their looks because if they were, they wouldn't be too fat.
However, I see where you are coming from. I think it may be because America has a huge entertainment district, so many Americans may aspire to be like them. But this is not just America as people all over the world aspire to be just like their idols. It is sickening.
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I've been to South America (Colombia/Brazil) and the obsession with looks is pretty rampant there too. I would say we're not winning that competition. yay
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To take a more Joseph Campbell approach to this, I would say that the American obsession with looks comes from a lack obvious meaning granted to each individuals life. In european countries, values and morays of their society dictate that the meaning of life comes from a life lived in a healthy balance of social, economic, and religious dedication. Therefore, if they're living a life with a good job, a strong family, and close relationship with god, its all that matters to their quality of life. Therefore shaving, bathing, and dental hygiene take a back seat to a quality life.
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To take a more Joseph Campbell approach to this, I would say that the American obsession with looks comes from a lack obvious meaning granted to each individuals life. In european countries, values and morays of their society dictate that the meaning of life comes from a life lived in a healthy balance of social, economic, and religious dedication. Therefore, if they're living a life with a good job, a strong family, and close relationship with god, its all that matters to their quality of life. Therefore shaving, bathing, and dental hygiene take a back seat to a quality life.
In America however, religion has taken the back seat, a family is just an unfortunate byproduct of sex, and one's salary rather than the good they do for society is the basis for employment. because of all this social turmoil, focus is turned to the appearance of success, or convincing others that we have it all under control. Instead of proverbs and myths to guide us to a fulfilling life, we have Jersey Shore and other reality TV shows teaching Americans what a fulfilling life is.
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I actually did a project for my French class on this a couple of weeks ago. What that led me to believe is that, Americans are probably equally as vain as most other cultures, but the ideals of beauty are much more extreme. I can really only speak to the French and American side of things, but the French tend to favor a much more natural beauty whereas Americans are very extreme, ie: lots of makeup, hair dye, fake tans etc. The extremism of American beauty is what makes it seem so sick.
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It's been intriguing to see the younger generation's take on appearance obsession - men being much more numerically included than in my youth.
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It's been intriguing to see the younger generation's take on appearance obsession - men being much more numerically included than in my youth.
I would say that Indian obsession with looks is focused less on fashion than on brightness and jewelry - the Japanese have been obsessed for years and more and more akin to the USA when it comes to perfect teeth and so on...
African tribal groups go to great lengths to alter their bodies sometimes - scarification, neck stretching etc
and anceint China had foot binding and incredibly tough dress code.
all these things are for the monied classes only - Americans in that group are more numerous and have too much money for their small American dream to cope with - so they waste it on excess of this obsession among other things.
I think plenty of Europeans do exactly the same - but maybe they eat a bit less.
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I've got some good news and I've got some bad news....
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