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The Cosmetic Class

zandercutt.com

31–40 of 60 posts

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#32
post #9

Reading this kind of reminded me of old Christian Slater movies like Pump up the Volume and Heathers, and other movies of the GenX era. (But, I’m sure films of the 60s fit, as well) Hopefully this is a sign that this generation is forming its identity and ready to express it with some real cultural movements! I’ve been waiting eagerly for their cultural identity to emerge and express itself with authentic art, music,…

> I’ve been waiting eagerly for their cultural identity to emerge and express itself with authentic art, music, film, etc.

I think it's already happening/happened, it's just not as easy to see and commodify because media is not being funneled through a few mediums. I don't think we'll ever see these large generational "identities" like we did pre-internet and especially pre-social-media. I predict that from now on the defining identity trait is that there is no defining trait. You can choose one identity from the many pre-existing ones or create your own, then find your community online to make you feel good about your choice.

I also enjoyed the article. Not perfect but hey, it's fostering discussion. I'm actually more interested in their authenticity article, which I will read next

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#33
post #16

Yes, it's absurd. I've my 20 able developer friends who weren't able to find job despite being very good developers. They were always messing up interviews. Yes, they can solve whatever tricky questions you throw at them because they've lots of experience working on low level stuff. People's eyes are so used to Instagram people that they think less attractive people are less healthy so they'll not be good at problem…

People celebrate diversity of all kind: sexual orientation, disabledness, tattoos, piercings, hair styles, whatever. Shouldn’t we start embracing ugliness as well? I think we can agree that most of us are below 8/10...

I don't think anyone is celebrating diversity of hair style or body art in the workplace.

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#34
post #4

Sometimes I think the deepest, most absurdist corners of the internet are its last bastion of humanity. Where the memes are fueled by people's desire to be so incredibly nonsensical and inscrutable as to defy marketability. Of course, if you look at recent trends in corporate Twitter accounts you can see companies doing their very best to appropriate even that.

Even commercials are tapping into absurdist themes. I can remember a few asian ones I've seen but a recent one that comes to mind is the newest Sprite commercial where the kid is running around the house yelling about how they are out of sprite.

Haven't commercials been doing absurdism for a while? Speaking of Asian ones, it's been known that Japanese commercials can be weird AF (to the western mind) that it was made fun of in the Simpsons with the Me Sparkle episode back in the early 90s. US has also been creating absurdist commercials pre-internet for a while now as well

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#35

One could just live in the real world where you don't know or care what a finsta is.

Eh. For many young people, this IS the "real world". These are their experiences. It's not productive to discount so many other people's realities.

Nope, it is plenty productive to call out corporate pseudo-cultural production for what it is: fantasy.

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#36
post #12

Yes, it's absurd. I've my 20 able developer friends who weren't able to find job despite being very good developers. They were always messing up interviews. Yes, they can solve whatever tricky questions you throw at them because they've lots of experience working on low level stuff. People's eyes are so used to Instagram people that they think less attractive people are less healthy so they'll not be good at problem…

The fuck? This is a joke right? I would have thought development would be the one sector unaffected by look / image etc. Unless you're interviewing for some hipster startup.

Humans are all susceptible to the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect -- it predates civilization.

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#37

Yes, it's absurd. I've my 20 able developer friends who weren't able to find job despite being very good developers. They were always messing up interviews. Yes, they can solve whatever tricky questions you throw at them because they've lots of experience working on low level stuff. People's eyes are so used to Instagram people that they think less attractive people are less healthy so they'll not be good at problem…

So the (male) programmers were wearing makeup during the interview, and this gave a higher success rate?

And they were reading from a script rather than responding to questions?

Are you sure this actually happened? To be honest this sounds like some kind of fantasy.

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#38
post #22
post #19

I really, really dislike this kind of medium-to-long form article that don't bother to even expose some sort of context (topic introductory line). This is incredibly disrespectful to the reader. You read the first half trying to put the pieces together, while given that this is a proto-longform article (does not have the length, but has the tone), there is fluff added here and there for flavor. This is so frustrating…

"I am 23 as I write this" . I can't say I'm surprised, and the author is clearly of the "I love the sound of my own voice" type. That's how the piece reads at least. Narcissism isn't only about looks.

I read this article hearing a vocal fry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsE5mysfZsY

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#39
post #19

I really, really dislike this kind of medium-to-long form article that don't bother to even expose some sort of context (topic introductory line). This is incredibly disrespectful to the reader. You read the first half trying to put the pieces together, while given that this is a proto-longform article (does not have the length, but has the tone), there is fluff added here and there for flavor. This is so frustrating…

This comment seems unnecessarily mean spirited. The article is on someone's private blog. Nobody's forcing you to read it. How in the world is it "disrespectful" to write in a certain style on your own blog, providing your thoughts to the world for free?

Stylistic points aside, I strongly disagree that the obsession with image has been the same with every generation. It's existed, for sure, but substance used to matter more. For example, college admissions were previously more reliant on tests than they are today. Kids are stuck in a vicious circle of pretending to care more and more about things they hate like public service and high school sports--that's, I think, the point of the article, and it's an important point to make, even if the article's style could use some polishing.

Re: The Cosmetic Class

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People's eyes are so used to Instagram people that they think less attractive people are less healthy Instagram has little to do with that; the two-way association between perceived health and attractiveness is deeply ingrained (the exact extent to which it is a very ancient feature of culture vs. an evolved biological trait independent of culture, I don't know, but it's one or both of those things.)

> Instagram has little to do with that; the two-way association between perceived health and attractiveness is deeply ingrained See a professional makeup artist and see how he can improve your attractivness without improving your health. Go to interviews/dates/event with and without professional makeup and compare your success rate.

But you're agreeing with the parent, unless you're still arguing that this perception stems from Instagram, rather than the other way around?
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