After reading the “ugly things” rated by netizens in 2020, I actually fell in love so little

"Give me that ugly thing!"

"No, it's my favorite ugly baby, don't want to take it away!"

Recently, Douban's "Ugly Group" Taobao jointly organized a "2020 Ugly Selection" contest, claiming to "select and protect the ugly."

After visiting the contest page, I thought of a song, "Weirdly Beautiful" by Jolin Tsai.

Ugly, how ugly is it?

Don’t say much, let’s take the "ugly" picture first.

Surprisingly, the sales of these "ugly things" on Taobao are pretty good, and some have even become popular. The comment area has also formed a cultural phenomenon of "uglier than anyone else".

Some shops have simply started the "ugly business". The goods on sale are ugly and ugly. They are warmly welcomed by buyers. Many people feel that they wear shit (slippers) on their feet, wear dragon fruit green hats, and play drugs. Mushroom silicone decompression toys are very novel and exciting.

Ugly? Hard to say

After climbing hundreds of floors, I think most of the "ugly things" are strange and not ugly.

These "ugliness" do give people a very shocking visual and psychological feeling, but in terms of color matching, material and line processing, all reveal that the "weird" is carefully designed, just looking for an unconventional effect in appearance. Not really to make people feel ugly.

Of course, some products are really ugly…

After reading these products, I became more firm in my opinion. What is really ugly is really ugly, and most of the products called "ugly" are actually difficult to equate with ugliness , but they are just using more forms to express " The diversity of "beauty".

What exactly is beauty?

The controversy about "beauty" has never disappeared in human history, and the standard of beauty has been changing with the development of society, showing unique characteristics of each era.

According to popular understanding, the connotation of beauty refers to a common essential attribute of objective things that can arouse people's beauty. It is a subjective feeling in itself.

There are many definitions of beauty in human history. Some people think that beauty is the harmony of form, while others think that beauty is perfection, beauty is happiness, beauty is relationship, beauty is the perceptual manifestation of ideas, beauty is life, and so on.

This shows that beauty is both subjective and all-inclusive .

Into the modern society, the explosive development of economy and technology has generally built a human society with more abundant material life. The competition between people no longer mainly depends on the form of "life and death", plus the Internet, especially the mobile Internet With the promotion of, more and more individuals have the basis and environment for expressing their opinions, and people’s definition of beauty has begun to shift from a centralized, commonly defined, and standardized one to a decentralized, individual, and inclusive direction.

For the definition of "beauty", perhaps there is only one absolutely objective standard, and that is: beauty is subjective.

Only by insisting on its own subjectivity can "beauty" be no longer defined by a small group of people with prejudice and stubbornness, and instead be shaped by the public.

Subverting beauty ≠ appreciating ugliness

Beauty is beauty in beauty is contradictory, both opposites and unity, pushing itself forward.

However, when shaping beauty, some behaviors are subverting beauty and want to have a deeper contact with the core of beauty, while others are "appreciating ugliness," trying to confuse beauty and ugliness, and forcibly turning ugly into beauty.

In addition to the controversy over the standards of beauty, there are also huge cognitive differences in whether the act of exploring beauty subverts beauty or judges ugliness.

In June of this year, CK released a huge open-air poster. A model named Jones squatted in the center of the blue poster screen, matching the hairstyles and headscarves that black women often comb, and wearing large sports underwear to face the camera. As the posters spread on the Internet, huge social controversies followed.

People's opinions are divided into two schools. Some people think that this advertisement breaks the inherent perception of beauty. The standard of beauty should not be narrowly defined as white, thin, tall nose and neat teeth. Ordinary people can also be beautiful. Some people think that advertising is designed to cater to some people, confuse beauty and ugliness, deliberately examine ugliness for commercial purposes, and do not hesitate to promote unhealthy lifestyle habits and attitudes such as obesity.

What do you think?

It’s difficult for me to define this matter alone, but I think subverting beauty does not mean looking at ugliness, just like a person can wear "shit (shoes)" to pursue weird cuteness, but can't really be full of feet. Stools are everywhere, and we must argue that this is artistic beauty.

No matter how the external form of beauty changes, it cannot violate, harm or shake the foundation of human society-public health, fairness and justice, and right and wrong.

Only by understanding human development can we understand beauty

Before talking about beauty, let's talk about the two flavors of "bitter" and "sweet".

In life, it feels uncomfortable to taste bitterness, and it is very pleasant to eat sweet things. In fact, if you put it from an absolute rational point of view, taste is a kind of taste, and there is no difference between bitterness and sweetness.

Why do bitterness and sweetness give people completely different feelings?

Some human historians have analyzed that this is because humans have accumulated experience over the course of evolution and have developed a sense of disgust that seeks advantages and avoids disadvantages. They equate "bitterness" with toxic, health or hygiene problems, such as most bitter plants. There are toxic and side effects after eating. Food that rots and deteriorates is bitter, and human excreta is also bitter. "Sweet" is equivalent to energy-rich, fresh and undamaged, such as fresh fruits (especially considering that human ancestors depended on sweet plants Fruit survival), this feeling of disgust continues to deepen, and the sense of taste is associated with the brain to form a conditioned reflex.

So bitter things are bad, and sweet things are good?

Not necessarily. For example, coffee is bitter and will not kill you if you drink it. Some chemical compounds are sweet, but a little bit can poison many people.

Therefore, both bitterness and sweetness are the external manifestations of things, and what really determines the quality of things is the essence of things.

Beauty and ugliness, as well as sweetness and bitterness, are both derived from the conditioned reflection formed by the experience of human evolution. At the same time, they are constantly removing the interference of external factors and getting closer to their essence through practice.

In ancient times, fat and strong were regarded as beautiful. This was because oil and protein were scarce at that time. Only high-ranking officials and people with higher social status could eat fatter. If during the war, the obese people had enough tonnage and had a lot of fat. Survival advantage, so fat and strong are gradually defined as beauty. Historically, Anlushan's potbellied poop was powerful, which was one of the reasons why he was appreciated by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty.

In modern times, the social structure has changed. In most countries and regions, oil and protein are no longer scarce products. Everyone’s time freedom is linked to health and wealth and social status. Obesity can also cause a variety of very expensive cash. As a chronic disease, obesity was once again defined as ugly, and the word "weight loss" was popular all over the world.

Later, when people understood the core of beauty, they realized that there are many reasons for a person's obesity, such as love of food, genetics, or certain diseases, or even sequelae caused by drugs, etc. Obesity does not mean that a person is obese. Laziness or low income, so obesity is gradually not used as an indicator of ugliness.

This is the proof that typical social changes affect the judgment of beauty and ugliness. What makes people think that ugliness is not a feature. Beauty is just a summary, and the social judgment standard behind it is the core .

The evolution of beauty is more tolerant

It can be said that beauty is a subjective feeling, but the logic behind it is biased and objective. The process of exploring beauty is actually to let the objectivity behind gradually peel off the prejudices.

What is the standard of beauty? Beauty is not shaped unilaterally, but the defining party and the defined party should work together to reach a more inclusive reconciliation.

Worryingly, two extremes appeared in the exploration process.

The first extreme is familiar to us, and that is the stubborn belief that only things that meet certain characteristics are considered beautiful.

For example, stubbornly believes that white is equal to beauty, Michelin-starred restaurants are equal to delicious restaurants, and can even be extended to a deeper level. English is equal to beauty. As long as it is Western, it is beauty, and forgot to explore the essence of why these things make people feel beautiful.

From the perspective of rational human development, the high nose and deep blue eyes of white people do not mean beauty. The science, rationality, and rigor that make white people generally rise is beauty. If white people give up these beautiful cores, it will only be sooner or later that they will be considered ugly again. This year's black swan incident should have made many people perceive an obvious change in the concept of social beauty and ugliness.

The second type has emerged in recent years. People who think that ugliness is reasonable and beautiful are guilty. Whoever judges things by beauty and ugliness will be "incorrect" and put on a hat to mobilize the whole society to criticize.

The most typical performance is that due to various reasons, some groups have developed the habit of liking for leisure and work, and the rate of illegal crimes remains high, forming a common feature. When facing the judgment of social beauty and ugliness, they turn a blind eye to their own bad habits, refuse to reflect, and refuse To improve, it is an attempt to confuse beauty and ugliness or even completely eliminate the concept of beauty and ugliness through the coercion of public opinion , and intensify the negative impact of one's own behavior on human society.

This extreme also ignores the objective core of beauty. Some people think that they look ugly, not because of their physical characteristics, but because of their social behavior. If their bad habits continue to improve and show a positive and enterprising side, their physiological characteristics will no longer be defined as ugly.

It is not advisable to use extreme methods to resolve the contradiction between beauty and ugliness. The evolution of beauty should be more tolerant, no longer judging by those superficial features, but instead judging the core of beauty. In the collision of opinions, those who know the core of beauty will help those who have not yet clearly seen the core of beauty, and those who have seen the core of beauty, strive to change themselves and eliminate the prejudices entrained in objective judgments.

Subverting beauty is not to eliminate ugliness, but to eliminate prejudice in the right way. Covering your ears, responding negatively, and confusing right and wrong are all undesirable.

Looking forward to the continued development of mankind, the future will only be left to judge the beauty and ugliness of objective laws.

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