Ever since MTV stopped being about music, I have skipped that channel while looking for EWTN or the YES Network to watch sports on my off days. However, while on twitter, I noticed that "Catfish" was trending. At first, I thought it was referring to the fish. After clicking the trend to see what it was about, I saw that it had to do with the infamous MTV network. I checked it out and saw that it is a show about two guys who are contacted by clients seeking to verify people they are getting to know online.
The show seemed interesting, until they started going into detail about online dating behavior. It is nothing new that people lie online. The internet and computer screen offers a sense of anonymity. One can be anyone and anything. This can be dangerous especially when attempting to court someone via the internet on a social site.
What bothered me about the program is that human beings are degraded based on looks. Many of the people that are being investigated either use fake photos or lie about how they look. The one showing interest may think he/she is meeting a skinny or fit person and in reality the person is overweight and using someone else's photos.
I don't condone this act of lying about oneself; however, I find it troubling that these people are stigmatized to the point that they need to pretend to look like someone else -via fake photos- in order to feel appreciated or get attention.
All people are beautiful. There is no archetypal beauty in human beings. We must also not base relationships on attraction. Not everyone is going to have the qualities that we like. It serves no purpose to measure each partner using a made up mental "cookie cutter." The most important thing is to get to know a person. Our bodies age and break down. It is futile to base everything on looks. Lookism is a serious offense to God. We are all made in the image and likeness of God. No one is "ugly." All are beautiful and unique.
People dating online should not feel embarrassed with how they look. They should not hide themselves out of fear of being ridiculed or being rejected.
Unfortunately, this "Catfish" show fuels the shallow attitude of lookism. Society is constantly brainwashed into accepting a specific human form as beautiful, this is wrong. Whether skinny or fat, muscular or stocky; all are beautiful. We cannot be carbon-copies of each other, nor should we imitate the looks of another in order to "feel" and "look" beautiful.
It is no wonder why so many young people are suffering from mental illness in America. They feel they have to measure up to the standards of popular culture. If they don't, then they feel unattractive or like an outcast.
We need to change this culture of lookism. If people on "Catfish" fell in love with a person despite said person using fake photos, that can be forgiven. The love is already there - perhaps in a more pure form. The person fell in love with the other person's soul, since the physicality was not present. Via the computer, both experienced each other on another level that didn't require looks. This is how love should be. We must love the person, not base our love to them on how they look.
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