By DON J. PAGUSARA
The obsession for glamor and self-glorification has never been so pervasive as it is today. This is of course a companion of the abiding desire for the limelight — its more concise term: “showbiz mentality”.
Yes, never has the rage to seek the tinsel shine of show business become a viral phenomenon, it invariably ends up in one’s joining a beauty pageant or a “good looks” competition, or any talent show, for that matter, which profits oneself with a ticket to fame, a glamorous lifestyle and perhaps, money.
Outward appearance — a gift of handsome physicality or a rare blessing of female pulchritude — is given very high premium in our society today. The youth is fed with false needs (or values) of wanting skin-deep qualities of the human body. Every young boy or girl becomes pre-occupied with the desire to whiten his/her hide and the accompanying need to buy the appropriate lotion, or whatever concoction in the market, for a flawless complexion or the fairest skin condition. Vanity!
And it is not enough that one acquires good looks, everyone seeks for the glare of the showbiz world! And that is the end for which all the vain-glorious means for its attainment are justified. The dazzling light of the stage and the camera lens are feats in themselves.
These are all in rhythm with the marching advance of consumerism. Consumerist mentality is certainly not far behind the avalanche of consumer goods that swamp the market and bedevil the minds and hearts of the citizenry. The imperialist goals — the dreams of manufacturers and industrialists — of capturing the imagination of the masses of consumers to the magical wonders of their products have been successfully attained.
It is gospel truth that the capitalist classes are adept in creating artificial wants and needs of people or of society in general. It is a form of religion. It operates via the advertising and marketing schemes of the owners of the means of production to mesmerize the people to false wants, false needs, values, false notion of success.
The key trick to this art of people’s bedevilment is to psychologically prick the ego or tickle the individuality of the human person. A manifest form of individualism is an offshoot of consumerism. And it has become a pernicious phenomenon, synonymous to a social ailment that beclouds the sound direction and goals of human and social development.
And individualism flourishes under the system of “free enterprise”. Its premise re notions of “privacy” and “freedom of choice” and promises false hopes of prosperity. It ignores social awareness as a laudable quality of behavior necessary for social change and national progress. It engenders self-interest and self-glorification as pathways to personal aggrandizement. It is a quality of selfishness that posits itself as an antidote to nationalism and social responsibility.
Individualism, in its most pernicious form, is an artful propaganda scheme of the foreign monopoly capitalists and their local cohorts. The imperialists and capitalists never cease twisting the mental set and psychological framework of the people and reshaping it to suit their interests.
The desire for glamor and the preoccupation with vain pursuits for physical and personal beauty as stepping stones towards the beckoning glitters of showbiz stands as the extreme exercise of individualism. And it serves as a serious stumbling block on the road to societal transformation.
In fact, it is opposed to any movement that aims to alter the Status Quo. It is artful craftsmanship of American Imperialism and thrives best under the corrupt system of “free enterprise” which ultimately works for social decay.
As such, it perpetuates impoverishment of the vast majority. It is a disease that infects most everyone, and has therefore gone to epidemic proportions. The magnitude with which it has affected society requires nothing less than the determined resolve of every nationalist to harness his/her utmost capacity and resources to combat its flourish.
(davaotoday.com)
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