The Perfection Manifesto
If we humans must be perfect, that is, if we continue to hold ourselves (and one another) to a standard of perfection which the fashion, fitness and entertainment industries have perpetuated, we will keep buying their products. It only makes sense. Or, in the case of the fashion industry alone, not "cents," but big dollars: "The United States is home to about 100,000 retail clothing stores,
which reap annual revenues of $150 billion annually. This tally results
in a per store revenue average of $1.5 million" (Chron.com, 2012).
In a quest for the perfect face, body, and style, we will keep butchering ourselves with plastic surgery, starving ourselves with eating disorders, and relentlessly comparing ourselves and never feeling "good enough." And here's the psychological secret that the corporations know will keep us coming back for more: odds are we will never feel "good enough," because the average consumer has the lingering, uneasy feeling that we don't measure up (thanks to being bombarded by media messages). And besides, there's always a new, improved product to try that holds out the distant hope for us that we may someday, in fact, feel "good enough." More accurately, that we might be seen as at least close to perfect?
I can think of no other perfectionist manifesto so evil except that of the Nazi's ideal of a superior Aryan race. Hitler's mania sprang from the hope that he could create the perfect people, superior to all others in looks and intelligence; they would have blond hair and blue eyes, and be tall in stature. What is so pitifully ironic is Hitler's eyes and hair were brown, so he himself refused to father any children, because not even HE was "good enough!" Yet his tyrannical thirst for perfection to create a master race was the cause for the euthanasia of at least 11 million people (one also encounters the statistics of 11-17 million). And who were these "less than perfect people" that didn't deserve to live? "6
million of these were Jewish. In addition, Hitler targeted homosexuals, political dissidents, most Slavs, Jehovah's Witnesses, Protestant pastors and Catholic priests, black people, the mentally and
physically disabled, and others. The figures include the camps as well
as the mass graves in the countryside, killings in the street, organized
mass shootings (such as Babi Yar, etc.) and basically, any person
singled out for their race, religion, political beliefs, or their sexual
orientation" (wikianswers.com, 2012). I dare say many of us would have been included in the Nazi's extermination had we lived then, being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Those who didn't measure up to the Nazi's ideal of perfection were judged and condemned. Why do I make this dramatic comparison?
Less than a century later, the world is still caught in the sticky web of striving for perfection. The perfect look, perfect style, perfect mate, perfect job, the perfect life. Because perfection is not attainable, the result is dissatisfaction and unhappiness. Soon afterwards, depression and anxiety set in. Add to this substance abuse. Or worse, the ultimate act of self-hate and hopelessness: the act of suicide or homicide. Are we really so different in our thinking from Hitler's ideal of creating the perfect human, or are we just as susceptible to demanding perfection from ourselves now and the German nation was then?
If we somehow managed to get off this hamster wheel that the money mongers have us consumers on, and accepted reality as it is, maybe we could learn to accept instead of reject. Perhaps we could learn to love instead of hate. Perhaps we could learn to be perfectly imperfect?
References:
Wallace, Maxwell. (2012). Chron.com. Retrieved from: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/much-revenue-average-clothing-company-make-30775.html
wikianswers.com. (2012). How many people were killed in the holocaust? Retrieved from: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_people_were_killed_in_the_Holocaust
No comments:
Post a Comment