12:10 a.m. - 2003-08-11
the hotornot manifesto
You know, i've said it before, but i'll say it again here in this more public and permanent manner... The most pitiful thing about exhibit-yourself-for-ratings sites ( hotornot.com, the ratings communities at livejournal [thanks to jiji lurko for tip], wouldyouhitthis.com) is not the insecurity that might drive someone to put up pictures of themselves on the internet to be rated by strangers. Nor is it the gross distortion of ratings caused by the clear dominance of a few superficial criteria in evaluating beauty (ie, blonde women and women showing cleavage rate higher than other women). Nor, indeed, is it the fact that the existence of these sites stands as yet another grim reminder of how utterly comfortable we (and I'm not excluding myself) have become evaluating people based on their looks alone. It's not even the willingness of participants to abuse Microsoft Paint by drawing big arrows all over their photos with kindergarten writing saying "ME ----->" "KAREN ---- >", or just plain painting over or cropping out other people when there could be confusion.
No, the most pitiful thing about these sites is how none of these people have better pictures of themselves! I'm serious, I feel sorry for them! I know I'm a little more crazy about snapshots than most people, but honestly, if you're well-situated enough to be on the internet, clearly you exist in a culture with resources enough to get you a decent, clear image of your own face without webcam graininess, overwhelming flash side-effects (red-eye, flattened features, washed-out high-contrast appearance), a complete lack of features because you were in the shade when they took the picture which was metered for the light area, etc. etc! It's a national catastrophe!
This is my new manifesto: Everyone, no matter how sincerely ugly they may be, ought to have at least one picture that flatters them in some way or another, or at least makes them visible.
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