"... those whom we classify as protected might not be willing to admit that they are ugly. But with the chance of obtaining extra pay and promotions amounting to $230,000 in lost lifetime earnings, there’s a large enough incentive to do so."
For enough money, you'll call yourself ugly.
Now, I see a problem in this line of thinking: It's easier for men to say I'm ugly than for women. The men are going to rake in all the money. Look at me! I'm so ugly! Imagine presenting that to a jury! Or do you think women have an advantage because they can appear in court without makeup and hairstyling?
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A lot of times, men don't look at a woman's face. So, there's that.
"For enough money, you'll call yourself ugly."
But what will it take for those falsely-nice WI folks to acknowledge and fix the "heftiness" of themselves and their folk?
Maybe they'd be less "husky" and more active if they new doing so would result in more dough.
Or, maybe they can't be w/o their Whoppers.
Is there any human condition that enlightened liberals are unwilling to meddle in?
knew or new
whatevaaaa
A discrete, insular minority? Naw. It’s clearly a majority.
"...why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals?"
Unfortunately, I still don't qualify. But I will get old eventually (I hope), and the Boomers will make the elderly a protected class.
For enough coin, I'll call myself fugly!
If it's a jury of one's peers, then it becomes an ugly contest. When screening for jurors they'll ask, "Are you ugly?" And only the really ugly people will say yes, because kinda-ugly people are usually delusional. Then at trial the ugly jurors will think, "Wow, she's rather pretty. She couldn't possibly know my pain. My pain, as an ugly. We find the plaintiff not ugly."
Imagine, if you were a really ugly disabled lesbian of color, you could get into to a top university with like 500 on your SATs. It would be the ultimate victory for social justice!
From the article: "A more radical solution may be needed: why not offer legal protections to the ugly, as we do with racial, ethnic and religious minorities, women and handicapped individuals?"
Would it ever once come across a liberal's mind that maybe we need to look at why we offer legal protections to so many "types" of individuals? Perhaps leading to the shocking conclusion that we have too many.
What would really be interesting is to have someone do an in-depth study of "extreme makeover" reality show contestants and see how their lives have shaped up in years since the show aired. It's been almost ten years for some of the first, hasn't it?
I'm guessing it's not gone exactly well for them.
It seems to me that men overestimate their attractiveness and women underestimate it. It could also be that women complain about their looks more around other women and men try to look self-confident.
Whether or not someone would claim to be ugly at work will not only depend on their appearance and their perception of it but also on their age and relationship status.
John Wayne's epitaph - "He was big. He was ugly. He had dignity."
It's all in the marketing.
This is one fucked up legal system..
Does an ugly personality qualify?
The comic possibilities are endless.
Will the Universal sign for ugly be a circle with the profile of a dog and a red line?
Seriously this is stupid writ large, which means it will become the law of the land.
I'd prefer to make the stupid a protected class. Assign them a "protector" who will make decisions for them. Okay, wait a minute...there are far too many stupid people...no, it won't work.
Never mind.
We need a name for the remaining class that gets no special legal protections, set-asides, or super accusatory powers.
Right now, I call that group "Me".
Will the Universal sign for ugly be a circle with the profile of a dog and a red line?
No. It will be the symbols for Omega Mu inside a do-no-enter circle.
"You're ugly!"
"Willing to put that in writing?"
Men are ugly more often. Women affected the most.
"I'd prefer to make the stupid a protected class."
You can't fix stupid (but you can provide compensatory remuneration).
When I was a kid there were ugly people but now it's just fat people. A fit girl these days has to be pretty ugly to be ugly.
The ADA reminds me of Pandora's Box. (Not the one you see as she's walking away.)
The government cannot protect us against all bad things. Life is just life.
When they try to 'correct' injustices, they usually just create new, differnt injustices.
The government really cannot solve all our problems.
I am packing!
Tits and Clouds, Tits and Clouds.
So much drama.
Tits and Clouds
The government really cannot solve all our problems.
Heretic!!!
"The government really cannot solve all our problems."
Link?
Note the underlying assumption that it's the legitimate role of government to remedy all inequalities.
Harrison Bergeron was right!
The leftlings have bastardized the English lanquage in their attempt to establish NewSpeak as the official language of the known universe. Political correctness and campus speech codes are already here, and laws against "offensive speech", another "crime" like "sexual harassment" defined solely by the victim, are on the way.
We can no longer even use the terms, "short", "fat" and "ugly" - now it's "vertically impaired", "gravitationally challenged", and "aesthetically underwhelming" or the lawsuits start flying.
So why do you bring this up, Ann? You must be a heightist, and a weightist and a looksist, or something.
I think most men prefer the natural look over the artificial upkeep.
Gwyneth Paltrow looked pretty damn goo au naturale.
Gwyneth Paltrow looked pretty damn goo au naturale
Well, she would look pretty damned goo after I got done with her...
You'd think ugly would be an adverb.
Would someone with something really ugly on 'em that is not readily visible qualify?
Could someone self-mutilate to qualify?
Don't get my hopes up, here. What sort of standards are we talking about?
The absurdity of modern politics continues apace.
How do you satirize the insane?
You can't. Swift's "Modest Proposal" would be seriously discussed as an alternative to abortion in places like the UN.
I think about 10% of the population is actually born good looking.
But sometimes? Age makes things better. Like they did for Eleanor Roosevelt.
And, sometimes? Well, it's a Joan Rivers world. Where surgeons charge fees to exercise their knife skills.
And, hairdressers ... work magic. Not just with hair dyes. But with "adding stuff in."
Take DSK's wife, for instance. Look at how wide her part is, now. And, how she's fighting female baldness ... with tufts of hair "undernearth." And, hairspray holding it all in place.
At one time?
That's why people wore hats!
Then?
Truman opened up a haberdashery store ... and gosh be darn ... he forced an entire industry out of business.
The question is...
Is being ugly something you born with, or is it a lifestyle you choose?
There's a Federal Judge in Madison who has a rather puritanical cleavage rule. So if you're an ugly woman but got a nice rack, your advantage is nullified.
Are we separating obese from ugly? I think that this is an important distinction to make.
If the source of your ugliness is obesity, I'd be less inclined to sympathy than if it were some elephant-man type ugliness.
Most people are pretty well aware of where they rank on the continuum from ugly to beautiful.
A funny story comes to mind, and true, too: In the 80s I worked at a hotel in Queens and we had several groups who met in our banquet rooms regularly (monthly, bi-monthly, etc.). One of the groups was "Parents Without Partners," a social group where single parents could mix and mingle with the opposite sex and perhaps make love connections. One evening they were streaming in through the lobby, and our switchboard operator, a smart but crusty old New York broad quipped, "'Parents Without Partners'? 'Dogs Without Leashes' is more like it!"
I'm sure my telling can't convey the humorous impact, but it was a killer line, delivered perfectly, and I still laugh when recalling it.
despite what the beauty industry is selling, natural youth (and even aging) is so much more beautiful than the effects of what the purchased products bring.
The vast majority of men prefer natural, healthy looking beauty. The super skinny models has little appeal for us. The beauty styles many woman follow aren't appealing to men but to other women.
Well, she would look pretty damned goo after I got done with her...
Excellent use of a typo, sir! I'll be laughing for a while over that one!
I heard a story that Abraham Lincoln was once stopped by a man walking down the street. "Mister" the man said to Abe, "Prepare to meet your maker."
"Why's that?" Lincoln asked.
"Mister I once said if I ever saw a man uglier than I was, I'd kill 'im on the spot."
"Well, mister" says Lincoln. "Go ahead and kill me. If I'm uglier than you are I don't want to live."
I used to have a retail job as a youngster. The first customer service manager was...lets just say she looked like the stereotype of a lesbian (not porn lesbian, but women's studies lesbian). She hired others who looked like her.
Later she was replaced by a younger guy who primarily hired cute younger girls with nice.....okay, I'll say it...boobs.
The German word for ugly is hässlich, which derives from the concept "hate-arousing."
The glorification of beauty and hate met head-on in the mid-20th century Albania. Enver Hoxha, post-war communist leader of Albania, created a "Cult of the Ugly." Link. Money quote:
'The beautiful was also condemned in our country, condemned as a foreign influence,' he said. 'This gave birth to the cult of the ugly. Body odor was glorified, while the scent of fragrances was condemned.'
It sounds to me like Hamermesh is either joking or else stoking some sort of resentment.
Mary, and on the older side to that.....I have worked with or otherwise known somewhat older women who are trying way to hard to look young. The longer stringy bleached hair. The clothes that are too young for them (and what's with the giant purses). The super trendy sunglasses.
I don't see how that is attractive over someone who just dress and looks nice, but not over the top.
Not sure if it is still this way, but Grandmas restuarant/bar/sports garden in Duluth was known to hire only cute females to work there.
I wonder how you would prove that if a lesser attractive group of people brought a discrimination lawsuit against them.
Make up for women, was developed solely for women who stay in the house. They can't go camping. They can't go out and do outdoor stuff. Too bad. Eventually, you'll be seen after a rain storm, and then, what?
Let's get to the nut.
The issue is no longer who belongs to a "protected" class. We're winnowing down the "villain" class."
Started out as simply white hetero men.
Then any self-proclaimed homo (or bisexual) man got an exemption.
So, the "villain" class got further winnowed down to "white, non-gay, non-bisexual man."
Now, we've narrowed the villain class down one further step. You get an exemption if you're ugly.
So, now the villain class is "white, attractive, non-gay, non-bisexual man."
Pretty soon, we'll know exactly who is the villain who is the cause of everything that is evil in the universe.
I can't wait.
This sounds like a relief bill for Plastic Surgeons.
Anyway it turns out the surgeon will be covered. He gets paid and if it makes the woman ugly instead, then she is happy because she gets a big government benefit.
Maybe we need more protected classes, so that everyone can be one all by themselves.
Wasn't there something in some really important Supreme Court decision about the uniqueness of individual point of view, or some such? Found in a penumbra or an emanation or one of those really important parts of the Constitution?
So, now the villain class is 'white, attractive, non-gay, non-bisexual man.'
Pretty soon, we'll know exactly who is the villain who is the cause of everything that is evil in the universe.
Iron Man! (Robert Downey, Jr., who coincidentally played opposite the lovely Ms. Paltrow).
Interesting. For a people who claim regard for evolutionary theory (not just a description of origin), they are certainly infatuated with artificial selection.
What's especially odd, is that the behaviors and traits promoted reduce the fitness of our species.
A society which accedes to its weakest links, while denigrating individual dignity and devaluing human life. Fascinating.
I asked the most honest person I know to assess my looks, and he said I always look beautiful to him.
I love that dog.
I love that dog.
See, now, there are at least two problems with that...
Well, everyone can look at my picture, and tell that I'm not that good looking. Doesn't matter to me. Once I get those penis enlargment pills that I ordered over the internet, then, it's like look out!
Imagine the police state it would take to suppress the natural preference for beauty and revulsion spurred by ugliness! Nothing less than total immersion and indoctrination in the New Dispensation would be required. Children would have to be ripped from their parents and given to the state almost at birth, for their own good of course. Lefties are creaming themselves at the prospect.
@Shouting Thomas:
So, now the villain class is "white, attractive, non-gay, non-bisexual man."
Don't forget to add "rich" to that list, too. So it's the white, attractive, heterosexual, rich man.
Those who take the "go ugly early" approach in bars will want to be compensated, too.
an ugly man is an ugly man, but
an ugly rich man is a rich man
Yesterday , in Venezuela, two discos were closed for refusing entrance to fat and to afrodescendant people
As my wife says. there are no ugly women but women without money to solve it
Holy Affirmative Action Batman!
If this catches on then ndspinelli
is gonna be our next President!
One can make oneself ugly by application of a suitable tattoo. The Japanese method of tattoo (One exemplar with that was Admiral Halsey, who got it done before WWII) extended to the face should do nicely.
Woman to Churchill: "Winston, you are drunk."
To which Churchill responded, "And you, madam, are ugly. But I shall be sober in the morning".
This is world class stupidity.
Wouldn't forcing ugly people to self-identify discriminate against those who, through no fault of their own, lack the ability to admit how ugly they are? And forcing them to do so would surely traumatize them.
So clearly the classification must be mandatory and done via an independent board.
And those who change - e.g. by exercising to look better, or by changing the way they dress, or just by getting old - would also need a mandatory reclassification and it could not be voluntary either for the same reasons as above, so really, we need to constantly review everyone, cuz we wanna be fair, right? Maybe a govt dept could be formed.
Short-term but important fluctuations in appearance, such as bad hair days, could be compensated for via CCTV and image recognition; that part's easy!
But the classification board itself would need to be mighty diverse cuz, well, let's be honest, some people go for a certain "type", don't they?, and that'd have to be balanced out across many sorts of raters.
And what to do about the feminists who say that beauty is just a social construct? Surely they'll oppose this, right? Cuz if perception of beauty has any innate components, then maybe other traits do too and we know that could never be so.
Actually, ugly fat people are discriminated against regardless of skin color, but I have been unable to find even a loony tune liberal who will take up our cause. Perhaps that is because we are not in the minority.
U-G-L-Y!
You ain't got no alibi!
You're just ugly!
That's the only reason the Lakers let the Bird-McHale-Johnson-Parrish Celtics win - they felt sorry for the Ugliest Team EVAH!
Ugoes declared victims. Women and minorities most effected!!!
Actually Ms. Althouse I should extend my comments to the extent that you may be right in terms of the aging of the sexes. My Dad always said that men age like fine bourbon, but women age like milk. So there's that.
For men anyway, I don't think being ugly is an overwhelming disadvantage. When I was younger, I would have cheerfully agreed to a few hairy warts on my face, if, in exchange, I were given a corresponding increase in athletic ability. Ugliness might even be an advantage. Most of us exist in the blah, bland range of normality. True ugliness is a kind of distinction, a way of standing out from the crowd. Charles Laughton is far more memorable than Franchot Tone. Of the many disadvantages a man can have, I would put ugliness pretty far down on the list.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVG9_m3DJzE
"If you wanna be happy
For the rest of your life,
Never make a pretty woman your wife,
So from my personal point of view,
Get an ugly girl to marry you."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh9ZZgDqzAg
The author Hamermesh is quite funny looking himself. Not a looker.
I'm so ugly, I'm cute!
Should I be happy if I don't qualify, or pissed cuz I lose out on the bennies?
Ugly absolutely is a handicap and at a certain point it dovetails with age-prejudice. It's a spectrum.
Tweak it to a "fuckability-index" and you're done.
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