Back in middle (or junior high) school, you were likely one of three types of people: the beautiful, the ugly, or the middlings. The beautiful were the upper echelon who ruled benevolently over the middlings, who were of average looks, and terrorized the uglies by confining them to the outskirts of school. In those days, the uglies dreamed of transforming into the proverbial swans upon adulthood when the beautiful would no longer reign and all were judged by their character, rather than their fake tans. It would seem however, that the dream has yet to become reality. The Internet, a would-be haven for the less aesthetically pleasing, has instead been conquered by the "beautiful" with everyone and their cousin spending more time than they'd admit posing for "hot and sexy" pictures to post on their social networking profiles.
One perfect example of the superficiality of the Internet, is a newish dating site called BeautifulPeople.net. This dating/networking website works a lot like any other dating site: you post pictures and a blurb about yourself, and then stalk, er, search for potential mates. The twist with this little ditty, is that not just anyone can pay up and join - you must be initiated by first filling out a profile and posting a picture and then waiting over a 3 day period during which existing members vote on your hotness! If you are found to be lacking, then you will be sent a tasteful rejection letter stating you are not hot enough for the site. According to the rejection letter, only "one in five applicants are accepted" so don't feel too bad losers! However, if you are deemed worthy, then you are given full membership for 2 months, after which you must pay a subscription fee to continue your membership.
As an experiment, I submitted a picture of myself. Criteria for pictures state that it must include your face, be clear, and contain only yourself. I submitted the picture below, then waited nervously. Was I beautiful enough???
After 3 days I received my answer: I am beautiful enough!! Upon looking at my rating statistics, most voters thought "Yes, definitely!" with the next highest scores being "Hmm, ok" and "No, certainly not!". WTF IS WITH "No, certainly not!"?!?!?! Douches. I must admit that most members do exhibit a pretty good level of hotness, though a lot of the pictures look professionally taken. I also haven't decided if I agree with BeautifulPeople's membership criteria, since there is more to love than just looks! However, let's also be honest and admit to ourselves that when we see someone in a bar, we don't think to ourselves "Boy, they look like they'd be a supportive and thoughtful mate!" so maybe while it's not PC, it does help to root out some weirdos. What do you think?
6 comments:
Of course you'd be accepted, silly girl! Who would say no to a young hot Asian girl with huge eyes? :P
I'm curious as to how many people join up just for that sense of validation, though. And what if you're just freakishly photogenic but kind of funny-looking in real life? This kind of reminds me of the time I sent an application to Miss Chinese Vancouver knowing that they called back 1 in 3 (or was it 5? I can't remember) contestants for an interview based on photos and measurements, and being freaked out to no end when I got a call. Jeebus.
Ah high school. I was definitely one of the uglies. And it's left me with a complex to this day.
I bet a lot of people join just for that exact reason. It is pretty silly b/c yeah some people are just better at taking photos! And you are so not ugly!! Though I do know how you felt; in HS I was the ugly nerd who dressed in fleece everyday haha.
Well, just because someone's hot doesn't mean they're not a weirdo...maybe they should have a dating website where you have to take a psychological assesment before you can join? Or an intelligence test? hahaha
it is a very interesting concept; i mean realistically physical appearance is what people notice first when they meet someone in person. I wonder how many people submit real pictures; or some might steal others off the internet?
"However, let's also be honest and admit to ourselves that when we see someone in a bar, we don't think to ourselves "Boy, they look like they'd be a supportive and thoughtful mate!" so maybe while it's not PC, it does help to root out some weirdos. What do you think?"
I wonder if you would have stated that and then asked, "What do you think?" if you had been deemed not beautiful. Me thinks you would not.
Naw, I'd still think that because I'm shallow that way ;) However in all seriousness I don't think being "beautiful" or not would make you think differently, it's more about who you are as a person and whether you let that appearance be the _final_ factor. If you truly look at someone and don't think about their looks then I salute you for your enlightenment, but unfortunately I believe more cynically of the rest of us.
Post a Comment