Judging books based on covers (part 1 of many)

The crowd was skeptical. The judges were bored. She wanted to become a professional singer, but they laughed at her. She had no star quality; her age, her messy hair, her broad face, her cockney accent and peachy attitude. Then she held the mic and sang, and the jeers turned to cheers, then some to tears. She wooed the crowd with her beautiful voice. Though outwardly she wasn't beautiful, on the inside she was. Susan Boyle has reminded the world again why judging a book by it's cover is the most fucked up mentality you'll ever want to have.

Maybe it's the stereotyping. Maybe it's the belief that ugly people are bad, and the beautiful people are honest and kind. But watching Shrek would probably help us think again. The ugly people are good, and the beautiful people are bad. Yes, we grow up in a world where there are these stereotypes, whether or not based on race, religion, skin color, nationality, body build, gender, or whatever. Going back to Shrek, it's a good example to show the reverse of our initial perceptions on beauty and the beast. But then again, that doesn't prove that Ugly people are good and Beautiful people are all bad. It would be preposterous. It would be terrible to think like that. It's best to keep to the ideal mentality, which is to understand that there are good and bad people out there, ugly or beautiful.

A few years ago I went to the DVD store and saw one of those pirated "4 in one" discs at the "children's shows" category. They had Barney & Friends, Teletubbies, etc. Then there was a disc that had Finding Nemo, Team America, and A Bug's Life. Okay, that's cute, they have... wait. Team America? Isn't that an adult satirical comedy movie involving puppet characters? What is a mature movie doing in a collection of kiddy movies? Oh right. Pirates are idiots. They don't know what they're dealing with. The picture shows puppets, so it must be a kids show! Yeah! A show that has the word FUCK YEAH as part of its theme song!

A few months ago a student was robbed in college. She was approached by two men who were wearing classy student clothing, and from what I heard and interpreted from gossip, they probably wore ties. Interesting exaggeration, but apparently the guards fell for it and let these robbers cum students enter the building, giving them the chance to feast on their prey. They took her jewellery and ran off, and the unsuspecting guard couldn't catch them. I do not know what fate befell the poor guard, but I hope he learnt his lesson in judgement. Men in business suits are all crooks. No wait, that didn't sound right...

A few weeks ago I met a guy in college who wore cool, black, goth clothing, he decorated his shirt with pins. His fingernails were painted black. His pants had chains hanging all over them. His boots were high. He looked like he could take out a gunsword and summon the ancient beasts from god knows where. Yeah, he's THAT cool. And he has a cheerful personality, and was VERY open about his culture, which he calls "goth". Quite different from the stereotype one holds towards goths; they aren't the vampires and satan worshippers as portrayed in the media. That guy has a mission to prove to the world that we should never judge a book by its cover. I salute to that and wish him good luck. Alot of good luck. Because it's not easy, especially when it comes to stubborn hypocrites that exist in the world.

Just recently I pasted a new wallpaper on my new Asus Eee PC 1000H, a picture of the Joker. It looked dark, cool, and it complemented the black casing. But my family saw it, and boy, was I given a huge scolding. They considered it bad, negative, and it would affect my mentality and make me a bad person. Yeah, going all "subconscious mind" on me. They said it would also give a bad impression if others saw it.

So let me think, THEY don't like it, and they give me advice on what THEY think is right to them, and they generalise it with everyone whom they consider as ideal people. They are freaked out by the picture which I like, and they try to force it out on me on the basis that it will change my mentality to the negative. That it would be bad to always look at a "ghost" everyday. Well, I can say for sure it does have a bit of a stressful impact sometimes on the eyes, but man, I love it. They hate it. And to top it off, I was given advice to put more "jovial", "happy" pictures like Doraemon and all the fucked up cutsie stuff. While I LOVE Doraemon, the idea of putting up a wallpaper almost made me puke.

Let's look at this situation closely. They don't like it, they think others don't like it too, they think it will affect my subconscious, and they want me to put a picture that they like.

Now, I respect their advice, but I have the right not to follow it, because I don't think it suits me at all, as their ideals and my ideals differ in many ways. It's my life I'm leading, it's their life they are leading. Forcing me won't do it at all, and yelling at me for not following their advice ironically doesn't foster the good harmony that they have been looking for and trying to instill in me.

I got so worked up that I told them its not right to judge someone based on how their wallpapers looked. If I put a picture of a puppy, and the person behind me has a phobia of puppies, wouldn't that person consider it horrifying? Each to their own preference I suppose, but how I wish my family respected that. So I told them about the goth guy in my school, and boy, did I get worked up even more. My assumptions were right; they made a wild assumption that the goth guy harbours dark secrets and he is only cheerful in front of me and dark in secret. Is that even fair at all?

So, according to their ideals, a dark picture of the joker is scary and evil. They already gave their judgement based on my wallpaper. Now they want me to change to something more cheerful. Okay, what if i changed it to something like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_Star_Narutaru

It looks cheerful, it looks happy. But the storyline of this anime? Full of gore. But do they know that? I don't think it really matters, as long as it makes them hap- er, it has a "cheerful look" to it.

So let's analyse the next part, which is that the joker will give off a bad impression. So if other people were to look at my wallpaper, they will think I am a murderous bastard with harbours dark secrets. What!? No way! I don't harbour dark secrets! So they generalise what they think with everyone in the world. WOW, wonderful sampling with reliable validity! Okay, what would happen if I put up a picture of Doraemon instead?

For one thing, they don't know my friends nor the people I'm dealing with, therefore I have every right to disregard their ridiculous opinions. There, I said it, ridiculous opinions. They can give good advice sometimes, but too often than not those have let me down, and do not make much sense in the modern world.

It all boils down being biased. It all boils down to ideals and selfish opinion. I am selfish in a sense that I like these things. They are also selfish in a sense that they like the cutsie stuff. I'm stubborn, so are they. They want me to change, but I want them to change. The world works that way. I don't like to make too many compromises. I already make lots of compromise when I'm with my friends, and I certainly don't want to compromise too much at home. I don't want that to be controlled at home. I think that's why I find more freedom outside in the company of friends who are able ot make compromises with me too.

Its 10.40, I'm tired, I'm gonna just post this up.