RatcliffeBlog - Mitch Thinking Out Loud

Uncomfortable in ourselves?

I come down on David Weinberger's side of Virginia Postrel's comments at PopTech about our living in the Age of Aesthetics. It seems to me that mankind has always been concerned about aesthetics -- you can't explain much of any civilization without delving into its arts and crafts, the little things done to make life more comfortable, more appreciable, more special. Look at Lascaux. Look at the Parthenon. Look at Chartres Cathedral.

So, today's sales of hair color may be an indication that we are less comfortable with our human form than our predecessors, not an indication that we are more aware of aesthetics. And why are we uncomfortable in our own skins, one is compelled to ask? Yes, we've always modified and decorated our bodies, but in the context of specific cultural milieu and not in response to the need to be different, especially "different together." Maybe this is what happens when there is no frontier left? One simply begins staking out parts of their own body for aesthetic purposes.

The libertarian celebration of consumerism Postrel espouses as "choice" rings hollow, especially as a parent, because the impact of the constant need to choose is clearly visible in the eyes of our children. I'm all for appreciating change, but meaningful change takes far more patience than dying one's hair.