Instagram vs. Reality, and the Commodification of Perfection

[Wunderstrafanstalt]

A combination of:
1. Narcissistic human pyschology
2. Well-paid psychologists and digital/system designers
3. Corporate greed

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Pressure to present a “reality”, that is not reality at all but many don’t question it. The desire to influence, gain popularity and followers. Perhaps to mean something, even if that meaning is a fabrication. IG is merely a mirror of the larger world. And that’s a bit sad if you think about it.

[Borovan entered the region as he]

It's fine that people want to beautify themselves I go to instagram to escade from real life

[Highever]

These instagram models are a bunch of Bradberrys I'd you ask me.

[-Ocelot-]

So instagram is the devil for fulfilling it's intended purpose too well?

Excluding professional models whose job is to look perfect, why would the rest not want to look good and happy? Would you rather have instagram promote ugly, sad people instead? Or is it a problem because it happens on the internet? Do you perhaps feel intimidated by women (models or not) expressing their sexuality?

Maybe it's just not for everyone. What a concept! If good-looking people on instagram are such a strong, devilish force for you, maybe don't use that platform. Nobody's forcing you to do so. I don't and I'm not missing anything. I'd also recommend not watching something as shitty as H3H3 but that's your choice as well.

Social media in general is a cancer that has harmed younger generations in more ways than one.

Le phone bad.

A combination of:
1. Narcissistic human pyschology
2. Well-paid psychologists and digital/system designers
3. Corporate greed

Beautiful people are narcissists according to NS.

Instagram has become the absolute peak degeneracy of our time.

Screams of jealousy and envy.

[Ostroeuropa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX_Bini29kU

I would like to thank my boy Ethan for this exclusive, breaking news story. Shout-outs to all the Hila Kleiners out there.

So, long story short: Instagram people like to photoshop themselves to be more "beautiful" to absolutely impossible standards.

While you can talk about that all you want, what I'm more worried about is why, and no, not why they commit the unspeakable crime of elevating themselves beyond their status as lowly peasant peons... But rather why they feel the need to. Who decided that it's really necessary to do this? Why is it that people want to be Greek god levels of beautiful?

Frankly, I don't think Instagram is the problem itself, but rather the culmination of this glorification of perfection. Not only are they wealthy and powerful, they're also... Bangable, because when I'm a rich powerful person, I also want people to want to have sex with me at the same time. They're American success stories... And that's what really bothers me. This? This is American success? Being an Instagram model? Being rich for no reason? Being credited as smart for mass-teasing people sexually on the Internet?

And that's not even getting into their attempts at politics, from Tana Mongeau's brand of hypocritical egalitarianism to Coby Persin's brand of pedophilic fearmongering to goddamn Joey Salads setting up a fake Trump/Pence hate "experiment".

Is Instagram a disease all it's own, or a symptom of a larger issue in America? What should be done about the fabrication of perfection? Is perfection really worth it? What is perfection, even?

Edit: at the request of His Holyness, The Rictus Erectus, Conserative Morality, an article has been procured, confirming that it isn't just "Instagram models" engaging in this activity, it is also actual models employed by actual corporations.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/arti ... mages.html

Stage 1 was romantic escapism where you get the absolute perfect partner and obviously they're hot as fuck. Prior to this trend in cinema at its hey dey you got all kinds of weird looking actors and actresses. You do in fact even get media sensations and hysteria over some really weird looking guys because they play a romantic role and were charming, women were still doing the whole "heath ledger omg" stuff. But the "Absolutely perfect" partner trend emerged, one of lazy character writing and totalizing escapism, and that kind of killed that dead.

Stage 2 was the exporting of that trend to other genres with Ubermensch protagonists (Unfortunately the norm). The hero had to be dashing/beautiful because the language of cinema made it clear that this made them better than everyone else. A return to the old school greek principles by implication (Beauty is a virtue, strength is a virtue, ugliness and weakness a vice.). Perhaps for the same "Just world" reasons, a decision that if things are unfair there must be a reason for it, even subconsciously, and the powerful projecting this mentality into society because to question it might question everything about their power base. You see this in greece a lot, showing its not just a capitalism thing. Why are some people ugly and others beautiful? Ugly people are bad people, that's why. Don't make us think about changing society to be fairer.

Stage 3 was the normalization of this for secondary characters in order to cover your bases. You'll notice the "Hot as fuck" trend in productions where you're SUPPOSED to identify with one particular protagonist? They're the hot one. Maybe two if you've got a breeding pair. If this isn't the case, it will be explicitly mentioned, I.E, remarked upon as abnormal when in fact the opposite is true. The rest will be normal folk. However, in long running shows and so on you've got a problem. What if people don't like the main character? Well you have an ensemble, and you make them all hot. This also means that people with screen time? Are either bad people, hot, or basically a punchline sidekick. Everyone else milling around? They don't matter, they get ignored.

Soon enough everyone gets a warped view of reality. Especially as the actors and actresses themselves use camera tricks, professional make up artists, and so on to obtain the otherworldly hotness.

Capitalism seizes on this to sell people perfume and exacerbates it, making it even worse, actively pushing it to sell product.

Because of holywood and the tv industries nature as a business, they are going to rely on cheap garbage productions for their stable revenue stream, even if this does allow them to experiment on occasion and create actual art. That means asking questions like "Well what if we had complex and interesting characters with flaws instead?" is in vain. No, the characters have to be flat and boring because the script is cookie cutter, but look at those boobs/abs and that should distract you from this fact. We can't go back to what we had before, this all happened for a reason.

You could argue that the problem is the conflation of Power with Virtue, and Beauty with Power. But perhaps the beautiful will always have a kind of power. In which case, Power = Virtue may well be the element which has gone off the rails and is causing widespread problems.

You want to be a good person, don't you? Then why don't you look like one?

[Risottia]

So, long story short: Instagram people like to photoshop themselves to be more "beautiful" to absolutely impossible standards.

Amateurs.
They should be paying professionals to do the photoshopping.
Professionals like me.

[Tetradimensional Overworld]

You know, irl those instagram models are 10 bajillion times less attractive than my gf.

[Hammer Britannia]

Jokes on you, I think Instagram chicks are (usually) ugly. Even with all the Filters and Makeup

[Nakena]

Instagram has become the absolute peak degeneracy of our time.

Screams of jealousy and envy.

I dislike its culture and its memetics it has given birth to.

Quite interesting btw that you rush to defend Instagram here.

Le phone bad.

Plebijan phoneposters are the worst.

[Andsed]

So instagram is the devil for fulfilling it's intended purpose too well?

Excluding professional models whose job is to look perfect, why would the rest not want to look good and happy? Would you rather have instagram promote ugly, sad people instead? Or is it a problem because it happens on the internet? Do you perhaps feel intimidated by women (models or not) expressing their sexuality?

Maybe it's just not for everyone. What a concept! If good-looking people on instagram are such a strong, devilish force for you, maybe don't use that platform. Nobody's forcing you to do so. I don't and I'm not missing anything. I'd also recommend not watching something as shitty as H3H3 but that's your choice as well.

Social media in general is a cancer that has harmed younger generations in more ways than one.

Le phone bad.

A combination of:
1. Narcissistic human pyschology
2. Well-paid psychologists and digital/system designers
3. Corporate greed

Beautiful people are narcissists according to NS.

Instagram has become the absolute peak degeneracy of our time.

Screams of jealousy and envy.

Way to miss every single point and criticism we have. This kind of beatification bullshit is actually harmful to young people who see these apparently perfect models and begin trying to live up to that impossible standards. This is not us being intimidated by models. That is nothing more than a bullshit strawman. We are worried about the false standards these modes are giving to young impressible people.

Please if your going to try and accuse us of being sexist try and actually address what we are saying.

[Costa Fierro]

Why is it that people want to be Greek god levels of beautiful?

Vanity.

[Valentine Z]

I was honestly expecting this to be another one of those “inevitability of communism” threads.

Instagram vs. Reality, and The Inevitability of Communism.

-----

Jokes aside, gone were the days when I would post some shots of myself. Nowadays, I just have a "business" account so that I can post my hobbyist shots, all for no profit, and sometimes spending a dollar or two to promote them if I took something pretty noteworthy in my eyes.

My primary account is... well, a bit empty now. I don't really follow most of the famous Instagram accounts, because sometimes, beauty doesn't have a single standard to me. People are beautiful in their own ways.

Rather than looking at perfected beauty, I think we should just spread a little positive word to those less well-known people, or even your friends. Nothing too cheesy if you don't want to, just something along the line of "Hey, man, looking great today! Have a nice day!" would cheer people up. ^^

[Frisbeeteria]

Instagram vs reality

[Page]

Honestly I find it pretty absurd to criticize a zoomer for using a facial blemish removal filter on Instagram when it's entirely normalized in our society to make millions of men wear suits on 100F degree days and make millions of women wear painful high heels all in the name of looking good.

[A m e n r i a]

It gives us more ladies to simp for support, so it's a net positive for me.

Don't simp or get finessed. Just take a look and move on. Being a transhumanist, I support a growing desire for perfection. I just hope this desire grows so widespread the Party has no choice but to legalize gene modding.

Jokes on you, I think Instagram chicks are (usually) ugly. Even with all the Filters and Makeup

Go to China. Every time you turn your head there's a guaranteed 7 standing there. And a 7 in China is probably an 8 in other parts of the world.

I was honestly expecting this to be another one of those “inevitability of communism” threads.

Instagram vs. Reality, and The Inevitability of Communism.

-----

Jokes aside, gone were the days when I would post some shots of myself. Nowadays, I just have a "business" account so that I can post my hobbyist shots, all for no profit, and sometimes spending a dollar or two to promote them if I took something pretty noteworthy in my eyes.

My primary account is... well, a bit empty now. I don't really follow most of the famous Instagram accounts, because sometimes, beauty doesn't have a single standard to me. People are beautiful in their own ways.

Rather than looking at perfected beauty, I think we should just spread a little positive word to those less well-known people, or even your friends. Nothing too cheesy if you don't want to, just something along the line of "Hey, man, looking great today! Have a nice day!" would cheer people up. ^^

Why not both at the same time? Idols do that all the time, I'm pretty sure Instagram models can too. As for myself, my private account is 90% cats because I'm an ugly southerner. Stray cats, pet cats, stray cats adopted as pets, you name it.

[Farnhamia]

Instagram vs reality

The reality is, any thread that has not has a new post in more than four weeks is dead. Leave alone. If you really, really, really think it should be revived, ask for permission in the Moderation forum.

Farnhamia, NationStates Game Moderator