Sunday, February 8, 2009

y'all, it's typical.

(Pre-Script: To fully reap the rewards the following post has to offer, you must first go down to the playlist, click on the song, "Not Your Average Girl," by India Arie, then come back here and resume reading. I'll wait.) (...still waiting...)
Today I was in the grocery store, because apparently it was the popular thing to do at 4pm on a Sunday afternoon, since the place was busting at the seams,(...but I digress...) and I saw on the cover of People magazine the picture of a fat looking Jessica Simpson with the title, "Jessica is proud of her body!!!" and under that, "Don't call her fat!" oops.
blink
blink
But wait,
they blast a picture of her that makes her look fat on their cover, but I can't call her fat? And really, that's what People Magazine needed to report this week? Because I really don't care how many pounds Jessica Simpson weighs. I really don't. I don't know the girl. I think anyone would look fat in that outfit, anyway...but that is beside the point. I don't think People magazine is stupid, either...
BUT!!
I do think they are passive aggressive, in politically correct ways that the mass population won't pick up on. "LOOK, we are going to pretend to applaud Jessica Simpson for her good attitude, so we are going to put up a picture of her in an unflattering outfit (what's with the 2 belts and super high waisted jeans, anyway??) then comment on her size, put it right out there, but tell you not to be a hater, and not to CARE about her size...if you people would stop CARING about Jessica's size, stop calling her unacceptable names, like 'fat,' then we wouldn't have to show you these pictures of her and document her every ounce gained or lost."
blink.
Um, excuse me, People Magazine, but the peeps of America didn't care about Jessica's size until you subtly-or-not-so-subtly told us that we should. The reason Jessica Simpson is on your cover is because she happens to be a naturally beautiful person. The validity of her music and movies may be up for debate, but she is a very physically beautiful person. So when Jessica gains weight, the magazine people feel better about themselves by putting it on their cover. They assume that mass America will also feel better about themselves by seeing such a cover."Look, she's more like us than she ever was. She looks less like a goddess we are intimidated by, and more like...a person we would not be quite as intimidated by."
blink.
"...But let's just pretend that's not true, so as to maintain our noble reputation. Slap some sympathetic sounding, even loving sounding, maybe, words on the face of our scorn and shame and send it to the presses. This is too good to pass up; Our ego's couldn't stand it."
blink.
blink.
blink.
And that is why they do it.
Think about it, peeps.

-XOXO,


3 comments:

Brian said...

The story behind the story. Very underhanded of them, but I think People is right to think the masses want to pull everyone else down to feel better about themselves. Evidenced by the fact that they sell lots of magazines. I hope you story causes people to look beyond words and see motive...thereby gaining wisdom, but i'm not holding my breath. Generally you have a much deeper meaning to your blogs, so please explain what i'm missing in this one...the things I mentioned above, I think were maybe just the surface of what you have to say.

Also, loved your song choice...about accepting yourself for who God made you to be. I think this last line should be posted on billboards to help people get their priorities straight: "Keep your silicone,
I prefer my own,
what God gave me is just fine".

Anonymous said...

It's so ridiculous because she is not even fat. I have felt bad for her all week. Can you imagine if that was your life? And people were just waiting for you to gain some weight or get a zit or flash your undies? I agree that People is ridiculous but the really ridiculous part is that they are just giving people what they want. And I am not being holier than though because I read Perez. I'm just as bad as the rest of them.

Michelle said...

I agree, they're giving people what they want. So sad.