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juliaoceania -> RE: Character Corruption (2/17/2007 10:58:37 AM)
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quote:
I do not think that it is the beauty or power itself which corrupts the person. I think that beauty/power allows for two things: A sense of entitlement in the individual which combined with the adulation and relaxed set of standards applied to them by others, nurtures certain less than savory character 'flaws' like narcissism, apathy, selfishness, elitism, etc. (or that which does the corrupting of character).
I also think that beauty/power is a 'standard' which allows for factors to corrupt the character of those who worship it in others by inspiring that something inside themselves that eagerly allows for the sacrifice of what they would otherwise consider more worthy and genuinely admirable traits in a person on the alter of shallow superficiality and the desire to acquire the shiniest trophy.
What age group of people are we generalizing with this? Most people that are shallow enough to be so swayed by someone's beauty or wealth would be spiritually immature in my mind. We are programmed to try to find a mate that can care for us and our offspring if female and the best fertile match if we are male. I do not think that this is automatically a corrupted sort of motivation, but in my experience younger men looking to pee in the gene pool tend to be more hung up on the physical beauty of their mate than men who are older. Men that are older that allow themselves to be corrupted into using money as sexual power are snickered at by most people I know... the label "sugar daddy" and "buying youth" tend to come to mind. Is this corrupt? Hmmmm, I do not know. It is a preprogrammed behavior. I love Woody Allen movies because he really looks this in the face in many of them.
So we have these predisposed behaviors to use beauty to attain resources, or to use our resources to attain beauty, is this the norm worldwide? I mean in other cultures is beauty and wealth cultural capital? Are other cultures as shallow as our own? Is it because they have social mechanisms in place to curb shallowness that they are not as shallow as we are? In many other cultures a woman's beauty is capital of sorts, but not for them...does this make a difference?
I have been doing some thinking about entitlement, and I am changing my views on that word. I think we are all entitled to certain things, but we have to believe we are entitled in order to be so. Perhaps it is not a corruption to know that one is entitled to things? I think that it is only when one thinks they are more entitled than other people that it becomes a corrupted behavior.
Of course someone with wealth and someone with beauty will experience the world differently than someone without these things.
My question if you choose to answer it is this, do you think age changes how people perceive beauty, and is it truly the great equalizer? You know most older men do not throw out their wife because she got a little old, and most women would not leave their mate solely because he lost his financial ass-ets. Do you think that age makes most people less corrupted into valuing shallow things?
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