tsurara

Perhaps I'm old-fashioned, but I was raised in a time before the internet was a staple in every household. Incidentally, it also was far before the age of Myspace, internet dating sites, youtube and Hot or Not.

I was raised to believe that modesty is a virtue and that the best sort of people play their looks down: giving compliments to others, rather than fishing for them themselves. I was taught that making up stories, pouting, or flirting to gain acclaim, compliments, gifts or self-esteem is insulting to others' intelligence and your own.

I notice this is no longer the "norm". Little girls are making themselves up, shooting weekly video blogs and accepting gifts from their admirers. Girls are getting famous on Youtube for incredibly basic talents just because they also happen to have pretty faces. Internet dating sites now all require pictures. Myspace is a virtual shrine to egotism. Even Animeonline has users with over a hundred photos of themselves in the same 6 or 7 poses with slightly different hair or makeup (a lot accompanied with comments like "I hate myself" or "god I'm so ugly).

Meanwhile Paris Hilton is a hero to girls worldwide and celebrities like Lindsey Lohan and Brittany Spears make self-absorbed dysfunction look glamourous. In Japan, girls as young as 13 are dating 25 year old guys in exchange for brand fashion accessories and spend more time and money on their makeup than they do anything else in their lives.

BRATZ dolls are so popular that they have their own movie.

Is being shallow suddenly awesome?
Is it just girls?

What's gone wrong and how do we fix it?

arekandera

it's awesome(for some)because it's something that people see all this like there are normal things.i mean come on...why does a girl need makeup?gest because she thinks this makes her beatiful?well she'll distroy her health if she wants to wear makeup everyday,she is beatiful the way she is because natural beauty is something we shouldn't lose.they date older guys because they want to be cool and they want alot of clothes so they could be modern,but how many times do they wear those clothes?!and this isn't just about girls boys want to have modern clothes to.they think that the clothes makes them an important and respected person,but they're wrong i mean people don't have to judge someone for the way they dress,because what is inside matters.
What's gone wrong and how do we fix it?alot of things are wrong,people are selfish(maybe not all of them but a big part)and don't care about the rest of the world,they want to be the best in the whole world they don't care about friendship,love or onesty.maybe we can fix it by trying to do all we can:talk to people that want to be above everything and everyone,try to explain to them that they'll hurt to many people before they become famous and even if they don't care about that they have to know that when your up you don't have true friends,all friends that you have are false they want to be your friends because they're trying to benefit from you,the way you did with many peoplebefore being up.
i don't want to upset anyone i've gest said my oppinion

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Joe Mage

I understand, I'm very old-fashioned myself.I believe that since the advent of the internet, society has gotten a little vain. I hope that all of these things r jus' a fad and eventually will go away. Don' get me wrong, I believe in havin' self-confidence or good self-esteem, jus' not ta the point where one thinks that one is "all that and a bag of chips" so ta speak. As far as Myspace, if people wanna flood their Myspace page wit pics of themselves, then I say; jus' let 'em. It's not my Myspace page, so I'm not gonna worry myself over it.

As far as judgin' other people for what they wear, where they live, etc.; mankind's been doin' that for a long time; long before, even, the internet. Is it right? No. Yet do we do it? Yes. And we'll probably do it long after the internet is gone, replaced by some other, more capable, form of communication. That part of our behavior has little, if anythin', ta do wit the internet. Do I believe that we can stop it? I'll answer that ques. with this, I believe that u can only control what goes on within urself, (ta some extent) ur family, and ur home. What other people do is not, necessarily, somethin' that one can control. Nor should we, for that would make us no better that the dictators of the world. Individuality and free-will comes wit a price, it's up ta the individual ta digest, whether or not, it's worth the price. Yet either way, each person is an individual and is responsible for their own behavior.

Which brings us ta the celebrities, whenever I c somethin' come up on the news 'bout Lindsey, Paris, or Brittney, I jus' change the channel. 'Nuff said. They're doin' that stuff jus' ta grab attention and they get away wit it, not 'cause they're pretty or vain, but simply 'cause they're rich and famous. They're not what I would call "Role Models."

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"Believe in yourself, if in nothing else."
My myspace page: www.myspace.com/joemage

HolderOfTheDarkChalice

myself i agree with this saying because the world
is working backwards when it comes to morals and
attitude there not one person who can say they
are wrong or feel bad about how they make them
selves more*pretty* as most would put it.

i also have seen thing on a site like gaia online
that are really off because people are such beggars mostly the
girls they are always asking for things there to lazy to
get themselves , but back to what i was saying though
the world has become vain to the point of hating anything
that has the littlest flaw no matter what it is.

a perfect example of this would be this girl who was around
18 or 19 who had the dog that looked to be around 4 or 5
and she gave it to a friend of hers because she heard that
the kind of dog a guy likes is the German Shepard or maybe a
labrador .

its really sad to because people are just becoming self absorbed

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Namida Goddess

I cannot stand shallow people that think how they look or dress characterizes who they are and how popular they are. I think, while shallowness is becoming more common, it should not be the norm and children should be taught at a young age to be modest. I was brought up that way so my family values have taught me to be above that kind of thinking.

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Inuruto

I have to agree with you that modesty is a virtue... Lets be real life is just more
main-stream... Children these days are being taught more by the television & more influenced by music than usual in which they take in what they believe is right, cool, accepted, etc... With that being said modesty, honesty, patience, integrity, & many other virtues are not really displayed on main-stream like sex, violence, vulgarity, stupidity, drugs, etc... The parents are not to blame, but that is the start of it... They actually have to sit down with their kids & teach them decent morals, discipline them, & let them make mistakes in which they can grow & learn themselves to be able to have a mind of their own...

I can't say anything about flirting cause everyone does it... It is just a quality in human nature that they are being polite or just to feel like they are attractive, but to use it to get what you want from someone I don't condone it, but people did it way back in time & is going to do it until the end...

People are more visual beings then anything else... We love to see beautiful things & we say inner beauty is what counts, in which it does, but we know that outer beauty is just as important, if not more to some... It shouldn't be to the point where you have young children or even adults obsessed over it or that is all that matters... You should love ones' self, but that start with the individual him/herself...

Again it should of started with the parents with some of the celebrities... You have to ask yourself if, Lindsay Lohan would of had the stability family wise would she turned out the way she did.?. If Brittany Spears's parents was more "parental" to her would she be going through some of the things she is.?. If Paris Hilton didn't get everything she wanted & was disciplined more would she not have that I don't care attitude & I can get away with anything mentality.?. All of them had lack of parent guidance if you ask me, but I'm not here to judge their character, but just to state my opinion...

Todays society minds are being developed without the principles of morals, but they are being developed & most times by others that don't care or some thing they picked up off main-stream or just by themselves with all that there is a lack of guidance to virtues...