Better than Real?

Image credit: Lifetouch

Nowadays, children or their parents can pay extra money to have photographers digitally remove blemishes from their school photos. That's disgusting. Let me elaborate. Ever since high school, I've had a fair amount of zits on my face. On picture day of my senior year, I had the good fortune of having an enormous pimple on my nose. I could've paid more (or more likely, asked my mom to pay more, lol) to have it removed, but I didn't consider it seriously. I mean, the main reason for school photos and most other photos is to preserve memories, right? Why would I want to preserve a memory that isn't real? I had a zit that day, it's on the picture, and to this day, you can see that picture in all of its 8" x 10" pimply glory in my mom's dining room. That is a real memory. Unfortunately, we live in a society that seems to favor "fakeality" over reality.

I've already mentioned how digitally altered photos preserve fake memories, but there's something else I want to discuss with regards to photographs - the myth of the perfect body. Newsflash: in case the word "myth" didn't clue you in, there is no such thing as a perfect body. Every culture and time period has a different definition of beauty. To me, I can only find one thing in common with the various definitions: achieving beauty is painful, time-consuming, and dangerous. Today, individuals with a certain body type are photographed and celebrated as being incredibly beautiful, making the majority of people without that body type feel ugly. Further adding to this disgusting practice is the fact that models are also digitally "enhanced." Modern women suffer from body image issues and eating disorders. Some modern men have body image issues, but I'd have to say that they're biggest problem along these lines is porn addiction. They become addicted to looking at fake women. Who benefits from perpetuating the myth of the perfect body? Well, take a look at this video from a famous doctor of cultural commentary. So, yeah, in today's society, diet and exercise fad salesmen benefit.

Don't get me wrong. Not all diet and exercise fads are bad. A good diet and exercising are both healthy, especially together. But when you're looking at investing in such a fad, you should ask yourself, does this focus more on looking good or being healthy? Are you more focused on looking good or being healthy? If the focus is on looking good, don't do it. Also, be careful if the diet has you taking supplements and/or protein shakes. As it turns out, real food is better for you than both of those. Wait a second. Real food is healthier than fake food? That's weird.

A couple of weeks ago, I was working with a partner on a commercial for my radio class. He was telling me how to manipulate a voice to make it sound better. The voice in question was mine, but I wasn't offended. He's a nice guy and was careful to tell me that my voice is fine, he could just . . . tweak it. He said that his favorite part about working with audio is being able to edit it after recording to make it better. Honestly, I'm not very comfortable with that idea. What right do I have to change the voice God gave me? As far as music goes, I used to not mind auto-tuning very much. But there are lots of people blessed with God-given talent and a strong work ethic who can sound great on a recording without auto-tuning. It's not fair to them to let the singers with fake voices take over the industry just because they're physically "beautiful."

The argument could be made that anything man-made (artificial) is fake, and if I don't like fake things, then surely anything created by humans is bad. That's a good point. Here's the thing: humans are weak. We don't have fur or scales or tough skin to protect us from the elements, so we rely on clothes and shelter to survive. Human babies are helpless compared to other animals.We're not strong, we're not fast, and we can't fly. As far as I can tell, we only have two advantages over other animals; big brains and opposable thumbs. If you're a Christian like me, then you likely believe that God told Adam something like, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread" (Gen. 3: 19). I feel like at least part of the reason God made humans so weak is so that we have more opportunities to work and to create. So I'm not saying that fake things are bad, but there are some things that are certainly faker than others.

Hurricane Sandy this past week has been a sober reminder to me how powerful God is compared to man. New York City is arguably one of the most influential cities in the world, but there's not much humans can do against the force of a hurricane. In the the book Jurrasic Park by Michael Crichton, Ian Malcolm scoffs at the idea that humans could destroy the earth. Humans aren't powerful enough to do that. We can destroy ourselves and other species, but the earth would survive. Life would survive.

In the world we live in, the lines between "fakeality" and reality are being blurred. It seems like everything is going digital and scientists are trying to synthesize everything. I hope that we can make an effort to hold on to real things. And remember, something doesn't have to be tangible to be real. Faith, hope, and love are just real as our family, friends, the creations God has blessed us with, and the real creations we can make ourselves.