Comments on: Photoshopping gone wild: ah, but you should see the pictures! http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:12:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.1 By: DuMaurier-Smith http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67889 DuMaurier-Smith Thu, 15 May 2008 19:02:50 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67889 "Now, of course, we can do a great deal more—to get less or more, as the body part dictates. Less cellulite. More breasts. Longer legs. Whiter teeth. And on and on and on, while women compare themselves to these otherworldly images and turn to the next step, plastic surgery, in a vain attempt to approximate what only the photoshop can accomplish." We seem unable to leave well enough alone. An aunt once remarked that if humans had zippers down their midline, they'd be forever rearranging their innards to match someone else's. The quest for the perfect appearance is only part of the package. We can't be partially anything desireable--safe, comfortable, loved, etc. Or as Kenneth Burke defines the human: “Man is the symbol-using inventor of the negative separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making goaded by the spirit of hierarch and rotten with perfection." “Now, of course, we can do a great deal more—to get less or more, as the body part dictates. Less cellulite. More breasts. Longer legs. Whiter teeth. And on and on and on, while women compare themselves to these otherworldly images and turn to the next step, plastic surgery, in a vain attempt to approximate what only the photoshop can accomplish.”

We seem unable to leave well enough alone. An aunt once remarked that if humans had zippers down their midline, they’d be forever rearranging their innards to match someone else’s. The quest for the perfect appearance is only part of the package. We can’t be partially anything desireable–safe, comfortable, loved, etc. Or as Kenneth Burke defines the human:

“Man is the symbol-using inventor of the negative separated from his natural condition by instruments of his own making goaded by the spirit of hierarch and rotten with perfection.”

]]> By: Cappy http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67903 Cappy Thu, 15 May 2008 21:56:37 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67903 What if you were sentanced to prison in France for proposing excessive thinness and you went on a hunger strike? What if you were sentanced to prison in France for proposing excessive thinness and you went on a hunger strike?

]]> By: Daniel Stark http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67919 Daniel Stark Fri, 16 May 2008 01:19:37 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67919 The models in magazines are getting thinner (or doctored so) while we are supposedly having an obesity "epidemic." Is there an opposite effect going on in society or something? The models in magazines are getting thinner (or doctored so) while we are supposedly having an obesity “epidemic.” Is there an opposite effect going on in society or something?

]]> By: njcommuter http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67927 njcommuter Fri, 16 May 2008 05:02:00 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67927 Typical male question: If we outlawed mirrors, or at least taught that vanity about appearance was a sin, would anything change? Typical male question: If we outlawed mirrors, or at least taught that vanity about appearance was a sin, would anything change?

]]> By: sergey http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67947 sergey Fri, 16 May 2008 09:45:31 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67947 Humans are not the only species affected by this striving for perfection and maximum sex appeal. There are plenty of examples in courses of evolutionary biology showing that this tendency can run amok and produce decadent extremal designs barely compatible with survival and even leading to extinction, as 3-meter wide branching horns of an extinct great deer sometime dwelling in boreal forests in miocene. Humans are not the only species affected by this striving for perfection and maximum sex appeal. There are plenty of examples in courses of evolutionary biology showing that this tendency can run amok and produce decadent extremal designs barely compatible with survival and even leading to extinction, as 3-meter wide branching horns of an extinct great deer sometime dwelling in boreal forests in miocene.

]]> By: joe http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67951 joe Fri, 16 May 2008 10:46:09 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67951 Neo, If you substitute me for you and Tae Kwon Do for dancing, then you've written my story too. But at 5'0", I was at least a little further from the ideal than you. Funny how that works out. I never got to the point of being a tournament champion, but perseverance paid off. I did earn my black belt. Neo,
If you substitute me for you and Tae Kwon Do for dancing, then you’ve written my story too. But at 5′0″, I was at least a little further from the ideal than you. Funny how that works out.

I never got to the point of being a tournament champion, but perseverance paid off. I did earn my black belt.

]]> By: MikeM http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67956 MikeM Fri, 16 May 2008 12:49:36 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67956 I've never understood why women would idealize these models as female perfection. For myself, the fashion models are the farthest thing from sexy: mere androgynous swizzle sticks! Ugh! I’ve never understood why women would idealize these models as female perfection. For myself, the fashion models are the farthest thing from sexy: mere androgynous swizzle sticks! Ugh!

]]> By: Ymarsakar http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67957 Ymarsakar Fri, 16 May 2008 13:59:05 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-67957 To a certain extent, photoshopped people don't seem real to me. They are, if I hadn't noticed it already, purely an image on paper rather than the portrait of a person. To a certain extent, photoshopped people don’t seem real to me. They are, if I hadn’t noticed it already, purely an image on paper rather than the portrait of a person.

]]> By: Linking around: Bush/Obama/Hamas & more | The Anchoress http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-68037 Linking around: Bush/Obama/Hamas & more | The Anchoress Sat, 17 May 2008 04:09:44 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-68037 [...] spoke against appeasement… Provocative: Refusing background checks on principle? Informative: Neoneocon on photoshopping Short/Sweet: Peace begins in the womb Inspiring: Rocco with a Righteous Gentile Sad: A death in the [...] […] spoke against appeasement… Provocative: Refusing background checks on principle? Informative: Neoneocon on photoshopping Short/Sweet: Peace begins in the womb Inspiring: Rocco with a Righteous Gentile Sad: A death in the […]

]]> By: Matteo http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-68093 Matteo Sat, 17 May 2008 17:50:32 +0000 http://neoneocon.com/2008/05/15/photoshopping-gone-wild-ah-but-you-should-see-the-pictures/#comment-68093 You've just reminded me of a magazine cover I saw last year. It showed three different well-known blonde starlets of different ages (I don't remember who), with title text that said something along the lines of, "Whether 25, 35, or 45, They All Look Great!". Of course each and every one of them had been photoshopped to look 21. The 45-year-old looked exactly the same age as the 25-year-old. It was completely absurd. You’ve just reminded me of a magazine cover I saw last year. It showed three different well-known blonde starlets of different ages (I don’t remember who), with title text that said something along the lines of, “Whether 25, 35, or 45, They All Look Great!”. Of course each and every one of them had been photoshopped to look 21. The 45-year-old looked exactly the same age as the 25-year-old. It was completely absurd.

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