Rational Insanity
This murderous society
Karen Carpenter, a legend, was killed by the country that she brought to fame through her songs. Technically, this is not true, but if we look at circumstances indirectly, such a supposition could actually be quite accurate, not only for the eternal diva, herself, but for millions of other people, not only in America but all over the world. Anorexia nervosa which was the illness that sapped the life out of Karen is a psychiatric disorder that may result from abnormal self-esteem or personality problems. Where do these kinds of problems come from? You ask me? I would say they come from glossy magazines that feature seemingly perfect models with bodies that fall just a little bit short of cyber existence -- the commercial sector would contradict this by saying that even without their promoting the exaggeration of beauty, victims of these psychiatric disorders would suffer the same illness, nevertheless. However which way we put it, the truth is that psychiatric disorders result from a combination of different factors and it cannot be denied that the environmental aspect is one of those factors. This environmental factor being a peer commenting on how huge or fat someone is, pushing them to seek to possess the bodies of those on paper celluloid, leading them to take diet supplements and whatever other poisons there are and no sooner turning them into skinny vamps and freaks, opening the floodgates to various eating disorders, not only to anorexia nervosa.
On the other end of the spectrum, there is teen suicide. All these gory deaths and wastes of young energy are results of teens looking at themselves in the mirror and asking themselves, 'Am I too thin or too fat?', 'Am I too dark or too pale?', 'Am I too ugly to be loved?', 'Am I too tall or too short?', 'Am I too undesirable for my mate?', or 'Does my family not love me enough?' These questions pervade the minds of many young people nowadays who eventually succumb to meaningless deaths, why, if not for the Disney channel that shows our kids 'feel good' shows, we would probably be a society of senior citizens by now.
It is society that pushes our young ones to do these unthinkable acts to themselves. Society drives our young minds to the edge with its exaggerated portrayal of social ideals for the lame and empty objective of selling a pair of jeans, a new kind of facial cream or a new shade of lipstick! Society and its penchant for greed indirectly leads to the corruption of the robust ideals of the young members of society, consequently resulting in our youth succumbing to miserable methods of exit from this twisted earth – a razor blade, a noose, or some shameful eating disorder. Pathetic!
It is very easy to corrupt the impressionable mind of young people and so who else would be the easiest target for green eyed commercial marketers and a society that could care less if a dirt-faced, rugby sniffing, 'sonoy' jumped off some overpass? We don't seem to be seeing where the real problem lies here. While part of the problem is in how parents bring up their children to fortify their values systems, parents cannot be watching the children the whole time, this is where the social environment comes in. Society should be responsible enough to regulate, analyze, or even censor the ideals that it floods a community with, with the accompanying knowledge that the community is not composed totally of adults, but also of teenagers and children who could not understand what an internal crisis is and would usually opt for an external, painful, or terminal solution to complex feelings that they may not readily understand.
We, as responsible adults, should remember that we have a commitment to the ultimate growth of our young ones. While it is true that Karen Carpenter was already an adult when she suffered from her illness, let's put it this way, artists remain children forever, and as such, are forever vulnerable to the bully that is society. Karen is no different from the children of every generation. The innocence of our young ones all the more makes them easy targets for a society that cannot get itself out of the muck and yet seeks to exult the entire country and liberate it from its cancers – what a humongous pile of sh—t!
Be rational; be insane…every once in a while! TTFN!
I love you all! Byers!