Change what you can

The new billboard ad for Nip/Tuck, which won a Golden Globe(why?) says Change what you can. Hide what you can't.

It struck us that this statement can be applied to many things - our personalities for example, or the way in which governments operate, or the way in which we deal with difference/ conflict in society, or indeed the way we handle relationships.

It makes us wonder whether the current fetish for cosmetic surgery isn't just another way in which Western society deals with its, IOHO, deeply suppressed guilt at the impact of its structures and values on its members and on everybody else.

I read somewhere that the average person has 50,000 'conversations' with themselves everyday, 80% of which are negative and many of which are about their physical attributes. - Queenie

Cosmetic surgery, digital enhancement of photographic images, low carb diets and our obsession with our appearances (all exemplified by the image of the actor on the billboard - a complete non-entity whose name I can't even remember) appears to fill the void left by our inability, or disinclination, to undertake the admittedly very difficult journey towards self-acceptance. Not only that, those who actively avoid that journey through surgery or other transformative means are often rewarded by society with increased status, fame and wealth.

And of course, the added benefit is that if self-acceptance is not a valid activity/ outcome, then we sure as hell don't need to undertake the even more difficult task of accepting other people's little idiosyncracies.

A curse on the dragon Perfection - Percy