Q. Why is it comon for people to equate physical beauty with goodness and upstanding morality?
A. Why does a rabbit look cute, a rose charming and a snake or crocodile fearsome (if you're not Steve Irwin)?
Q/Argument: A rabbit may carry disease.. a rose may sting... snakes and crocodiles are made into "beautiful" luxury items.
A. May, but it's not their natural quality. Some things are already fed in our head. A person who is not beautiful in societal terms is prone to be more bitter and revengeful (if he/she doesn't opt for positive defences which is a luxary of educated or well brought up people), nobody wants to be with such people for obvious reasons. The people who won wars set the standards for beauty, but would anyone marry a person with full blown leprosy (still it can happen but out of humanity and care) and not for personal wellness. Some may argue that psychopaths are charming, but we all will agree that pasts and childhoods of most of them are not, and we come to know that we would leave their company.
Q/Argument: Your argument attempts to justify cultural vanity.
May you explain your initial assertion.. a rabbit carrying disease is somehow unnatural?
A. The general idea we have of a rabbit is a harmless, cute creature, a diseased rabbit is not apart from nature, but say if you want to pet a rabbit, would you pet a diseased, disfigured rabbit, knowing how a healthy rabbit looks?
Q/Argument: The general idea is not the only idea about rabbits. Is disease always so obvious by sight? In a bad situation, believing cute rabbits are harmless can also be harmful. Say if you pet a seemingly healthy rabbit, contract ticks and most unfortunately die of lyme disease.
A. We observe the world through our senses, we can only think good of ourselves as we are aware of. In our teens we used to smoke cigarettes, knowing that it is bad for health because it would help us to get accepted among our peers, and would make us look cooler in front of women (social acceptance and a woman would increase our chances of survival many times more than a few fags would do, (one would never generally shoot himself in head to look cool). We act on how we are aware of the world around us, which is different for each one of us.
Since socially standards of beauty have been set, it is better to follow that(socially better for people and not better in my opinion), and that is why we use all these cosmetic products.
To make myself clear, I am not saying that I support the current standards of beauty in the world. And if someone can change it, it is well and good, but what is derived from nature will remain.
