WTF IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIETY??? (interesting, sad NYT article)

[FlashHarry]

Read this article in today's New York Times about girls preparing to go back to school. Prepare to be sick, yourself.

<snip>
The back-to-school rush has reached a feverish pitch here and across the region. But increasingly, especially for teenagers in affluent suburbs like this where reputations and cliques solidify faster than cold gravy, it is less about pencils and notebooks and more about the high-gloss, high-expense business of personal appearance.

"It's like the new start of everything," Samantha said. "Everyone will say they don't care, but they do. Everyone's trying so hard. Everyone's at the tanning salon. Like seven kids I know got nose jobs just this week."

Teenagers across cultures and income levels buff themselves before school, but in affluent enclaves like Long Island's Five Towns, Scarsdale in Westchester County or Wyckoff, N.J., the preening is lavish and elaborate, and a force in the local service economies.

So what's on the menu? According to Irma Zandl, a Manhattan consultant who studies trends among teenagers, this year, it's Japanese hair straightening, Brazilian bikini waxing, teeth whitening at a dental day spa and eyebrow sculpturing.
</snip>

[arcane1]

1. "rarely is the question asked, is our children learning?"

:eyes:

[neuvocat]

2. Such young, little, plastic bubbleheads.

They aren't learning anything. Those parents of theirs must not be too bright either-spending all that money on surgeries and spa treatments instead of making sure they're educated.

[Mel]

10. yes they are

learning to be good little consumers.

[Wickster]

15. They are being groomed

to be Stepford Wives. But, how many young Stepford men will there be to go around. That kind of money needs older men to care for them.

What is so sad is the deep disappointment most of these girls will face as they grow older - which will keep the psychiatrists and drug companies in business. All those hours in the tanning booths will be keeping the plastic surgeons busy. Voila! Jobs for the future of our country.

[BlackRhino]

3. What... no anal bleaching?!

...

[midnight armadillo]

5. Brazilian waxes at 14?!?

I must say I never encountered any of that in my HS days... There's a disturbing difference between normal preening and attention to appearance and this sort of all-out packaging at such a young age. Consumer culture is pretty awful, esp. amongst the spoiled-motherf*ckin'-rotten upper class kids.

Dare I ask what on earth anal bleaching is????

[LittleApple81]

19. anal bleaching is exactly what it says.

People involved in "exploratory" sex want every surface and/or orifice to be perfect. And it is done. Don't know how, and don't want to know how.

[tom_paine]

4. The Moribund Decline of Amerika

That's what's going on.

And we shouldn't kid ourselves, the forces that are gathering which are leading to the death of the Old Republic were forming and working decades ago. Now that the pustules have burst, so to speak, to we notice how advanced the disease.

Of course this is just an article about kids going to back to school.

But it is emblematic of "Virtual Amerika" where we have stored up vast tracts of dissociation and inappropriate responses.

[bryant69]

6. Come on.

This article goes out every frickin' year since at least the 1970s. I mean they might have blasted designer jeans back than instead of Japenese Hair Straighteening (whatever that is), but this is always a complaint.

"Those darn kids with the music and the hair."

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[cally]

13. Absolutely correct

I've read a variation of this article every year. I don't believe it. Sure, some teens are doing this but most are worrying about the grades, the future, the world, and whether the person they love cares for them.

I hated these assumptions when I was a teen and I hate them more now. The teens are not bringing about the downfall of our society. Our own shallowness and materialism are doing that for all of us.

:mad:

[htuttle]

7. We're going to party like it's 399

[uptohere]

8. finally a reason I can use to tax the crap out of some rich people

these families clearly have too much money for the brainpower they possess.

pardon me while I go puke...

... ok, better... no, its back... later

[Plaid Adder]

9. Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christ.

I grew up in Westchester County (not Scarsdale, thankfully, but close enough). Even back then it was all about money and image, but cosmetic surgery, so far as I could tell, was not yet all the rage. Eyebrow sculpturing? Chee-rist.

The one good thing about my being a proto-lesbian (though I didn't know it at the time): I didn't have to try to keep up with all that shit. It meant I didn't date until college, but it was worth the wait.

It's all about the surface in this country. Beautiful skin on a poisoned apple.

:puke:

The Plaid Adder

[FlashHarry]

11. Sad, but true.

I hear that in southern California, breast augmentation is a very popular graduation gift! Boob jobs for teenagers??? Hell, I thought the whole point of getting your breasts done was to make them look like a teenager's--which, if you already are a teenager, would seem redundant! Christ almighty!

[Plaid Adder]

17. Put up a very long rant about this very thing...

http://www.livejournal.com/users/plaidder

If I might just hindleg this thread for a moment:

The really neat thing about breasts is their individuality. No two are exactly alike (yes, even when they belong to the same woman) and they move with a magic all their own. They have their own moods, likes and dislikes, and one of the joys of being with a woman is learning those. So why, WHY this conspiracy to make all female breasts conform to the same ridiculous-looking standard by stuffing them with silicone?

Because there is an entire industry making money off it, that's why.

Teenagers are, of course, at the stage in their life when they are least ready to appreciate or value their own individuality. Most of them will do anything to fit in, including this. IMHO the cosmetic industry is preying on these kids the same way the tobacco and alcohol industries do. Get 'em hooked before they know better!

OK, done now.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[bpilgrim]

12. man am i glad im not a girl comming up today...

but boy do i worry for my daughters.

it sure sounds like it's good for business though, but hasn't it always been this way?

i guess we got the kids our culture programmed for :shrug:

my oldest is into black everything right now... but no jewlery, cell phones, make up, cc, etc...

i can deal wit dat ;->

peace

[Wickster]

16. The all black phase passes.

My son was into that look too. All his HS pictures are horrible (in my opinion), but I never forced him to change. He did that himself after a year in college. He actually laughs about it now (phew!).

[slappypan]

14. you have to love the photo accompanying the article

Those two little misses, as jaded as a pair of hard-drinking, pill-popping, multi-divorced Republican country club matrons, at the ripe old age of fifteen.

[hedda_foil]

20. Oh my God, they're BABIES!

[Blue_Chill]

18. WTF is wrong? Better to ask what isn't wrong.

Pretty soon we'll throw out the bill of rights because it's too old and sooooo last century (yes I know). We'll replace it with one carved out of brushed platinum written by a Gangsta Rapper.

[lapislzi]

21. Wait a second, there! Deconstruction alert!

To WHOM is this article referring? Check your demographics. Tony NY suburbs? Family income level? Top 1%. Population? More than 90% white, 2-parent professional homes. These are isolated pockets of the population who are in the unfortunate position of having more money than sense.

Like the poor, these types are always with us, but don't allow them to skew your vision. They are over-represented. Rich people doing stupid things are always more interesting than poor people doing stupid things. And your pool of potentially stupid things to do increases exponentially the more money you have.

You don't have to worry about legions of teenagers going out to have boob jobs because the simple fact of the matter is that plastic surgery is extremely expensive. Most people would never be able to afford it, much less consider it. Like all forms of extreme behavior, this stuff is fairly uncommon.

[Alenne]

23. Exactly

I know a lot of upper middle class families and none of them do this stuff for their kids. These are extreme cases.

[maggrwaggr]

22. are y'all the same people who applauded the Brittney/Maddona kiss?

because if you are, you're a bunch of hypocrites.

This MTV culture, and people like Britney and Madonna and Christina Aguilerra, and the media buying into their publicity stunts and their bullshit, is contributing in a great way to this.

With power comes responsibility. The media has completely turned their responsibility on its head by appealing to the fears and lowest-common denominator of its viewers.

Get real. You can't complain about this and be all giddy about Britney/Madonna at the same time. It's all part of the same problem.

[htuttle]

24. Dear Prudence...

What I remember people commenting on re: 'The Kiss' was that people would be foolish to expect anything else from MTV (since some people apparently had problems with it being on during 'prime time').

[lapislzi]

26. The culture of vacuousness

Yes, the media loves this stuff. It's all about image and appearance. Pretty thin veneer, if you ask me.

[Alenne]

27. Please explain

because I think this has nothing to do with MTV and everything to do with parents.

When I was younger I watched TV and wanted almost everything I saw. But I had a mother and father who told me if you want it get a job and pay for it. Now that I have my own money, I am not that impressed with everything I see on TV.

[Raenelle]

25. I was raised around a lot of females, and (not to be too contrarian)

vanity was something of a virtue in my family.

Seiously, though, grooming, in most species, is a sign of mental health. Stressed out birds, cats, people, etc. are raggedy, frayed at the edges, somewhat grubby. But grooming (thing of gorillas here, or cats), preening, all signs of care, attention, serenity. If girls being concerned about being pretty is freaking you out, if you think this is the biggest reason to worry about our society, I think you-all haven't been reading the front pages. IF this is a problem, it's a very, very small one compared to the shit that Whistle Ass rains down on us every day.