The Whole World is Photoshopped

One of these days I'm going to have a portrait taken.  Then I'm going to get the photographer to:

1. make my neck longer
2. make my cheeks less chubby
3. make my hair more lustrous
4. remove my jowls
5. "unpuff" my eyes
6. give me more defined eyebrows
7. remove the wrinkles on my brow
8. whiten my teeth
9. shorten my two front teeth
10. hide the grey regrowth in my hair

And what will this give me?  A totally false image of what I could look like if I just dieted, exercised, had plastic surgery, spent hours every day applying specialised make-up, oh, and lost about 20 years.  But I might look upon it as an aspirational portrait too, if I just applied myself enough.  And what I am saying is, that, basically that's what the media do to us.  If you don't believe me, just look below

This photoshop disaster was actually published.  Look at that ridiculous waist: - no human being looks like this.  It was actually a landmark oops in the world of publishing, but the truth is not too far away.  As I said in my e-course (yes, I know, it'll be finished soon) "even Jennifer Aniston doesn't look like Jennifer Aniston".  

What came across my laptop screen today reminded me strongly of a Dove commercial where they illustrate what happens to a photo once it's taken.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHqzlxGGJFo  And the tagline is "no wonder our vision of beauty is distorted".

The new video is equally compelling.  http://www.dailylife.com.au/dl-people/the-reason-why-we-have-ridiculous-beauty-standards-20131031-2wi7r.html Effie Mann writes about the unrealistic, unattainable, goals that come from seeing ordinary people look extraordinary with the help of a computer application.  No wonder toddlers are going on diets.  No wonder adolescents are anorexic.  No wonder teenagers are bulimic.  And no wonder the rest of us are always disappointed when we look in the mirror.  Time to STOP THIS MADNESS.  We are not just our appearance.  We are far more complex and ever-changing than our appearances represent.  Remember "you can't judge a book by its cover" - meaning  that when you have only seen the surface of something, you cannot know what is on the inside.