The representation of beauty

Dr.Wachanga mentioned the phrase, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" in reference to the point that there are many different beholders with different eyes and different thoughts on what beautiful means. I would like to suggest an alternate meaning to another familiar phrase: "Beauty comes from the inside." Some may look at that statement and ask what that has to do with anything, clearly that is just a statement used to make ugly people feel better, right? I propose that it relates to the question of what is beautiful because I believe that the idea of beauty is an internal, personal evaluation and not a social construct. We are given a base idea of what is beautiful by society, but in the end we determine what we feel is beautiful. Sometimes we say that an image or a particular piece of music is beautiful to fit into a group, but we may not actually think it is beautiful or even remotely like it. I remember when I was younger, there was a girl everyone thought was beautiful. I thought she was attractive, but not necessarily beautiful although I agreed to fit in with the crowd. Beauty is a personal perception that comes from inside the viewer of an object. Although, it could be argued that ill-fitting glasses or contact lenses could alter one's perception of beauty.

Response to Post Cartoon

The New York Post published a cartoon some time ago portraying the creator of the economic stimulus package as a monkey that had been shot by police. I found that to be in very poor taste given the racist connotation that image holds, especially when Pres. Obama, an African American, was heavily involved with drafting the stimulus package. I am also disappointed that the Post, one of the older and more reputed news publications in our country, would lower itself to printing something like that. It could be suggested that the use of the monkey was suggesting ineptitude on the part of the government as a whole and not directed specifically at Pres. Obama, however the Post is not an amateurish publication and therefore should have better oversight than to allow something like this to be published.