In today’s society, perfection is the issue. If one has physical flaws, there is corrective surgery. If one feels there is an emotional or mental flaw in their psyche, there is counseling, life coaches or medication.
Very few are willing to admit to weakness, and very few will put in the effort to work through any of the above mentioned in order to build character, or become a stronger person.
Everything is for right now. It is unclear if it is because of our uncertainties and insecurities, or in spite of them.
One person who was the master of self-depreciation and humility had to be the late Phyllis Diller. She was a female comedienne in an era that was still largely a man’s world. She downplayed all her feminine assets and her intellectual accomplishments in order to make people laugh. She was the first and only centerfold for the magazine, Field and Stream, in 1973. She was set to be a playful, comical centerfold in Playboy, but the photos were pulled, because she really was a very attractive woman. The thought of a spoof was no longer viable and Diller enjoyed joking that she was the only woman deemed, “too sexy” to be in Playboy.
She had the most outrageous hair, and she dressed loud and tacky. Her self-depreciating humor won the audience over. Men and women appreciated her technique. She was the trailblazer for today’s woman in the field of comedy when there wasn’t a glass ceiling, there was no house at all. There were no competitors in her field other than those of the male gender. It was ground breaking and revolutionary for a woman to be so successful in the entertainment field without playing on being beautiful and accomplished.
The twenty first century is supposed to be a time when all with talent or skill are considered equally. A time when a woman has no more limitations, other than the ones she puts upon herself.
The twenty first century is a time of advanced education and communication. It is extremely rare for anyone to be in the dark about anything, what with 24 hour CNN, (et. al) and the Internet.
It would seem that with all these advances, that people would be more cultured, more refined and communicative with their fellow man.
However, the opposite seems to be true. People are rioting and protesting about various causes. The news reports one atrocity after another and that is not the worst.
The worst is that it seems impossible for two normal, educated people to discuss issues and disagree without being disagreeable.
It is a shame that if one speaks of a topic where another has a different opinion, there has to be complete and total agreement with one side of the other, or the relationship will suffer a major setback.
The day has come that some say Einstein so wisely predicted:
“I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
With society’s appalling lack of manners and civility, along with a determination to only see what or who it wants to see, or hear what it wants to hear, it appears the day has arrived.
Image: photo credit: Say No More via photopin (license); Feggy Art
