The Blind Leading the Blind

Where Corporatism and Marketing Myopia Have Gotten Us.

In several articles there was agreement on one thing, if you are not a “hottie,” life is over.

This was even discerned at the pre-teen level, where the most hip among the genre are already rating each other as to whether they are hot enough.

This was a mood unfortunately contributed to by the new crew of people running things in Hollywood. I suspect at some point, they won’t consider anyone for an acting part, unless they are a cartoon. But that is a bit off and dependent on people becoming more machines than human.

The truth is that the current “hottie” trend is not that far apart.

No longer does your tenuous celebrity have anything to do with training, talent, and expertise.
It’s now only are your buttocks firm and your ‘abs’ ribbed.
But changing Hollywood trends by themselves are not cause for concern; or are they?

Unfortunately, they are. Because this tomfoolery on the part of Hollywood has infected the rest of us who worship at the throne of “Hottidom,” if there is such a word, the penultimate expression of one’s “hottie” rating—the only rating that counts for anything in today’s brand economy.

If you are not granted hottie status, your life may just be over and this goes for sub-teens way up to adults who still work overtime to keep those abs firm and the clothing size at 8 and below to the chagrin of people of previous generations who have decided it is better to die off than have to put up with such unmitigated nonsense..

The danger is that desire to improve one’s admiral qualities like a firm butt and ribbed ‘abs’ has created a kind of keen competition and virtual zealotry resulting in unhealthy obsessiveness with dieting, wizard health tricks, and plastic surgery. Unfortunately, such obsessive also triggers bolemia and under diseases that seem to evolve from people’s lack of confidence and self respect in a world that only recognizes beauty…

Clearly, this suggests a slavish life with transitory rewards and obsessiveness that can result in bad health, self medication and neurosis of the worst kind.

The trouble is that instead of stemming this false god of self-love, parents tend to give in or raise their hands in confusion while their progeny must impossibly try to keep apace on a race building on such fatuous thoughts as ribbed abs and tight butts in order to rank high on some goofball’s personal pantheon….

It is a sick, sick world we inhabit.

Les Aaron
The Armchair Curmudgeon