Good Looks Get You Further than a Good Mind?

[Kathryn]

If we have a look through history, you will note that all of the famous fairy tales involve famous men or princes falling for beautiful maidens. Can you really imagine Prince Charming wanting to kiss an ugly smart brain in Snow White?

Who did the public support in Cinderella – it wasn’t the Ugly stepsisters it was the beautiful Cinderella. Everyone wanted the Ugly duckling to turn into a beautiful swan in the Ugly Duckling. Real life is no different to these fairytales. If you are beautiful the world will fall at your feet and admire you.

Take our real life Prince Charles. Remember, he married Camilla after his wife Diana died. Most people loved Diana because she was beautiful. It didn’t matter that she was rather dim. Whereas the public does not view Camilla, supposedly the love Charles’ life, favourably because she is very ordinary looking, even though she does have a brain. If you have looks they will get you to the stars and open up opportunities.

Take Cindy Crawford, a famous beautiful catwalk model. In one year alone she earnt more money than Albert Einstein did in his whole life.

A recent study in Australia of 2000 women asked them how their life could be improved. An overwhelming amount of them said their life could be better if they had better bodies and had more beauty than brains.

On television when actors or presenters lose their looks, it doesn’t matter how many brains they have, if their looks go and they are no longer appealing on the public eye they are dumped. It is looks that matter not brains.

(This is an edited exert from a debate I did about 3 years ago)

Note: This is not my general oppinion, just the start of a discussion

[bbqsandwich]

Maybe I'm biased, but in my own extensive experience, it's almost invariably been the case that looks (with a minimal amount of stretching room allotted to a cheerful attitude) have more to do with how people think of one another -- and themselves -- than aptitude, talent, intelligence, or even hard work.

Many people prefer to interact with attractive people and subconsciously (or maybe even consciously) give them preference due to having a more positive impression.

This doesn't mean that attractive people are always getting a free ride; often they have higher self-confidence (and therefore better performance) by virtue of other people's displays of confidence in them and/ or higher expectations.

So, with the possible occasional exception of artificial affectation of an exuberant personality, few behaviors or traits are more important in determining the degree of an individuals success in life than physical attractiveness.

[ixthusdan]

kathryn, do you look good?

There is nothing wrong with good looks or appreciating beauty. There is something wrong if that is all one does is look for good looks and physical beauty. And there is nothing good about Hollywood, catwalks, or the concept of a woman being such things.

In my opinion, the culture has moved that way because we spend too much time being entertained by "the beautiful people" and not enough time experiencing our lives.