Square

[ethel_aardvark]

I was going to post about how old and boring I have become and how much I feel like I should be getting out my metaphorical pipe and slippers to sink into a comfortable middle age. But, upon further reflection I can't work out whether I *am* old and boring or whether 'society' is trying to convince me that I am so, to encourage me to rush out and

Comments

[specialknives]

I also think it is trying to convince us that we are old and boring so that we will buy their useless crap. Magazines, films, television and newspapers would not exist if it wasn't for the advertising they attract, so it's in their interest to promote impossible ideals that the advertisers claim their product will let you achieve.

A lot of it's based on fictions about what makes a good person or a happy person that we seem to believe, but are so obviously not true, eg, "Fat= lazy" (body size is more strongly influenced by genetics than physical activity or diet) and "if you're beautiful you'll get everything you want and be happy" (didn't work for Princess Di or Marilyn Monroe) or even "if you make sufficient effort on your appearance then you will look beautiful" (well, primarily you'll look like you've made a lot of effort on your appearance, which will only attract people who think that appearance-slavery is a good thing).

[/rant]

[ethel_aardvark]

I agree - as long as it gets you do 'do something ' i.e. consume something, you won't be 'old and boring'.

I also had a further thought in relation to this , which was that the other thing that seems to be insidiously promoted is being successful - whereby people can't just be doing things because they enjoy them, but because the ultimate aim of doing something involves being 'successful' (with success defined in an appropriately narrow way) at doing that thing. And this often puts people off trying/doing things, or valuing what they do do because it seems the socially-imposed corollary to 'success' is that not being (narrowly defined) successful means that you're a failure (whether that manifests through thinking you're old and boring, not 'attractive' etc).