"I wish she (Susan) would grow up. She wasted all of her school time wanting to be the age
she is now, and she'll waste all of the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea
is to race on to the silliest time in one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long
as she can."
- The Last Battle C.S. Lewis (p.168, End of Chapter 12)
There are billions of dollars resting on you being insecure and vain, sorry, there are. My generation went to school like yours are doing right now - eyes on the prize of some highly paid career if you’re lucky. Some of us became doctors, some bankers, some psychologists, some advertisers, some car mechanics, some teachers etc… Now your generation are encouraged to make all the same choices. In this pattern nothing changes. We continue to kill the planet by damaging ecosystems and disrespecting natural genetic diversity.
If you follow the same path as us (generation X) then some of you will learn how to trick your future children (and grandchildren) into feeling so bad about themselves that they will addictively buy products they don’t need even though they know that over-consumerism is bad for our planet. These children will feel empty on the inside since the adults in their lives are very likely spending so much time earning money that they have spent their lives being passed from one professional caregiver to another - a nanny if you are well off, corporate daycare if you’re not. They will be twice disadvantaged (as many of you are) in having a weak emotional base from “professional” care instead of love from a parent and being advertised at ever since they could focus on a two dimensional image and comprehend language. They will be easy for corporations to direct, easy for governments to control, living fodder for the global “economy.” To save your future children you must first save yourselves, and that is what this book can help you with, all you need to do is keep reading.
If we go back to a time before television the most beautiful person you know in your close circle of friends would be the most you ever felt like you had to “compete” against. They would most likely be the size of a regular person in your society just with more symmetrical features than the average person. There wouldn’t be many of them and likely being pretty would not be a significant advantage. Fragile and emaciated people would not be good at most tasks that needed doing, in fact, they would appear sickly and thus unattractive. The sexier folk would be the more robust ones - for both genders. So how would you get from that society to the one we have now? Let’s see.
For rich folk being less robust would not be a problem. A well-to-do man could take a small petite wife and not worry about his sons not being able to do the farm work. Soon, such a wife would be a status symbol (trophy wife). Whatever rich people have is quickly desirable. That’s why in suburbia we all have grass lawns, once upon a time they were a symbol of excess resources and time, likely a paid gardener. The same goes for white folks wanting a sun tan - tans were a symbol of those who could afford foreign vacations. Simply put, individuals in a population want to stand out in their local group as successful to enhance their breeding prospects (sorry, basic biology). This is just one of the known facts of human psychology that is abused by the advertising industry. One problem you have as a teen is that for anyone with internet access or a television set you aren’t comparing yourself to fifty people in a village anymore - it’s whoever is paraded in front of you to loosen your purse strings.
The average girl isn’t pretty enough to make enough of the population insecure, so who are our beauty yard-sticks? Supermodels and actresses, people starving themselves into the same clothing sizes as pre-pubescent girls and so facially symmetrical as to be freakishly attractive in any population. Just seeing them occasionally wouldn’t be enough either, human minds are quite resilient, to be affected you need to see the faces the beauty industry knows 98% of females can’t compete with daily - they must be in the vast majority of television shows, adverts and music videos. They are selected and paid vast sums of money to “entertain” us. Why? Because billions of dollars and an important form of population control ride on us sucking it up, enjoying it even, defending it, wanting it like a heroin addict wants their poison.
It isn’t easy to get resistant to the media, but when you do those shows you used to love, those adverts you used to let slip into your head (building brand awareness) will irritate you. I’m not saying don’t try to be healthy, do try, but when you stop allowing the beauty industry to make you feel bad about yourself you will make choices for the right reasons instead of the wrong one (insecurity and low self-esteem). When all that rubbish isn’t filling your head you may discover walking, cycling, swimming, gardening, looking after the neighbour’s dog - who knows what?
Building a resistance to the media isn’t as simple as just being aware of what they do. Most people are aware of it to a degree and it still controls their behaviour like good little “commercial zombies.” Try cutting adverts out of your life as much as possible for a week or more (the longer the better). See if you can cut out all television, radio, magazines… take a vacation from the dominant global “culture” because it isn’t a culture at all - it is how the corporations prey on you, get inside your head, make you feel crappy so they can redirect your behaviour toward a purchasing of their product. By stepping away you can reclaim your own mind, get to know the real you and what makes you tick. Is it saving the whales? Is it planting trees? Is it raising money for sick kids? Start to feel great about who you are on the inside - without all that nonsense streaming in you will form opinions of your own. You are a wonderful person, I know it, it’s time you knew too.
The take way ideas from Chapter One -
The beauty industry (includes fashion, cosmetics etc) deliberately harms the mental health of young people, especially girls, to make profits.
To build resistance to this harm you need to step away from all forms of media for as long as you can - news, adverts, movies, magazines, computer games, social media - and when you start to feel better (it comes after the boredom stage!) you'll naturally find things you enjoy doing, things that make you feel good about yourself.
she is now, and she'll waste all of the rest of her life trying to stay that age. Her whole idea
is to race on to the silliest time in one's life as quick as she can and then stop there as long
as she can."
- The Last Battle C.S. Lewis (p.168, End of Chapter 12)
There are billions of dollars resting on you being insecure and vain, sorry, there are. My generation went to school like yours are doing right now - eyes on the prize of some highly paid career if you’re lucky. Some of us became doctors, some bankers, some psychologists, some advertisers, some car mechanics, some teachers etc… Now your generation are encouraged to make all the same choices. In this pattern nothing changes. We continue to kill the planet by damaging ecosystems and disrespecting natural genetic diversity.
If you follow the same path as us (generation X) then some of you will learn how to trick your future children (and grandchildren) into feeling so bad about themselves that they will addictively buy products they don’t need even though they know that over-consumerism is bad for our planet. These children will feel empty on the inside since the adults in their lives are very likely spending so much time earning money that they have spent their lives being passed from one professional caregiver to another - a nanny if you are well off, corporate daycare if you’re not. They will be twice disadvantaged (as many of you are) in having a weak emotional base from “professional” care instead of love from a parent and being advertised at ever since they could focus on a two dimensional image and comprehend language. They will be easy for corporations to direct, easy for governments to control, living fodder for the global “economy.” To save your future children you must first save yourselves, and that is what this book can help you with, all you need to do is keep reading.
If we go back to a time before television the most beautiful person you know in your close circle of friends would be the most you ever felt like you had to “compete” against. They would most likely be the size of a regular person in your society just with more symmetrical features than the average person. There wouldn’t be many of them and likely being pretty would not be a significant advantage. Fragile and emaciated people would not be good at most tasks that needed doing, in fact, they would appear sickly and thus unattractive. The sexier folk would be the more robust ones - for both genders. So how would you get from that society to the one we have now? Let’s see.
For rich folk being less robust would not be a problem. A well-to-do man could take a small petite wife and not worry about his sons not being able to do the farm work. Soon, such a wife would be a status symbol (trophy wife). Whatever rich people have is quickly desirable. That’s why in suburbia we all have grass lawns, once upon a time they were a symbol of excess resources and time, likely a paid gardener. The same goes for white folks wanting a sun tan - tans were a symbol of those who could afford foreign vacations. Simply put, individuals in a population want to stand out in their local group as successful to enhance their breeding prospects (sorry, basic biology). This is just one of the known facts of human psychology that is abused by the advertising industry. One problem you have as a teen is that for anyone with internet access or a television set you aren’t comparing yourself to fifty people in a village anymore - it’s whoever is paraded in front of you to loosen your purse strings.
The average girl isn’t pretty enough to make enough of the population insecure, so who are our beauty yard-sticks? Supermodels and actresses, people starving themselves into the same clothing sizes as pre-pubescent girls and so facially symmetrical as to be freakishly attractive in any population. Just seeing them occasionally wouldn’t be enough either, human minds are quite resilient, to be affected you need to see the faces the beauty industry knows 98% of females can’t compete with daily - they must be in the vast majority of television shows, adverts and music videos. They are selected and paid vast sums of money to “entertain” us. Why? Because billions of dollars and an important form of population control ride on us sucking it up, enjoying it even, defending it, wanting it like a heroin addict wants their poison.
It isn’t easy to get resistant to the media, but when you do those shows you used to love, those adverts you used to let slip into your head (building brand awareness) will irritate you. I’m not saying don’t try to be healthy, do try, but when you stop allowing the beauty industry to make you feel bad about yourself you will make choices for the right reasons instead of the wrong one (insecurity and low self-esteem). When all that rubbish isn’t filling your head you may discover walking, cycling, swimming, gardening, looking after the neighbour’s dog - who knows what?
Building a resistance to the media isn’t as simple as just being aware of what they do. Most people are aware of it to a degree and it still controls their behaviour like good little “commercial zombies.” Try cutting adverts out of your life as much as possible for a week or more (the longer the better). See if you can cut out all television, radio, magazines… take a vacation from the dominant global “culture” because it isn’t a culture at all - it is how the corporations prey on you, get inside your head, make you feel crappy so they can redirect your behaviour toward a purchasing of their product. By stepping away you can reclaim your own mind, get to know the real you and what makes you tick. Is it saving the whales? Is it planting trees? Is it raising money for sick kids? Start to feel great about who you are on the inside - without all that nonsense streaming in you will form opinions of your own. You are a wonderful person, I know it, it’s time you knew too.
The take way ideas from Chapter One -
The beauty industry (includes fashion, cosmetics etc) deliberately harms the mental health of young people, especially girls, to make profits.
To build resistance to this harm you need to step away from all forms of media for as long as you can - news, adverts, movies, magazines, computer games, social media - and when you start to feel better (it comes after the boredom stage!) you'll naturally find things you enjoy doing, things that make you feel good about yourself.