In the case of addiction, it is no mystery that the addict is not the only one suffering. Families are torn apart and friendships are destroyed by addictions. The "non-addicts" are likely devastated by their own helplessness in the situation. In the unlikely case that the addict is socially solitary (family- and friendless from the beginning), the general citizenry is still at risk if this individual is addicted to any dangerous substance. Anyone can get hit by a drunk driver. Anyone can have a bad encounter with a drug addict in the throes of withdrawal.
The harm done by cosmetic surgery, however, is not so "dynamic." The court of moral judgment comes down hard on celebrities like Heidi Montag, who went from uniquely pretty to alarmingly Barbie-like, or Michael Jackson, who in 10 years looked so different from his "real" self that he might have been wearing a mask. It's wrong that I find pictures of Jocelyn Wildenstein strangely vindicating, but as a poor girl without the money to make herself beautiful there's just something about botched surgeries that soothes me.
For all the well-publicized botched surgeries, however, they are severely outnumbered by successful procedures, and not just in Hollywood. Wealth bestows everlasting beauty on people who were not born that way. If their wealth is derived from fame, it is these falsely-enhanced individuals who end up on magazine covers and in cosmetic advertisements, both surgically and digitally "improved." Clearly the media-driven ideals of beauty have influenced these individuals before, so is there a chance that upon seeing digital improvements they may go ahead and make those physical improvements? The more beautiful celebrities get, the more warped the standards of beauty in the common mind become.
Interestingly, however, it is people with an "obsession" (dare we say "addiction") to plastic surgery that appear to be ruined by it. As of 2010, the human body can only take so much surgical alteration before acting out. Donatella Versace and Joan Rivers could have aged gracefully, and instead they're...well...horrifying. Perhaps they feel confident looking in the mirror, but America at large is sniggering behind them. Unlike with "classical" addictions, like substance abuse, the only people truly harmed in this equation are those who go under the knife. And, perhaps, the doctors they sue.
haha your honesty about botched surgeries made me chuckle. I can relate with those feelings of vindication though. I tend to agree with your line of thinking that obsessions and addictions aren't as different as we'd sometimes like to think. Humans tend to find something to obsess about that they feel brings them satisfaction/purpose (despite the ever growing popularity of the concept of an essentially purposeless universe) and the object that they chose can determine their acceptance in society.
ReplyDelete