BEAUTY vs BRAINS
This is a typical beauty pageant question asked in most pageants you know..from big pageants to small pageants. Thus, it's been in my head for awhile. Somehow, I'm inspired to write more about my opinion on this because I just watched Miss Malaysia Chinese International (Miss Astro 2012) and one of the top 5 contestants answered :
" BEAUTY ..because if you are not beautiful, no matter how much you make up you will still look somewhat lacking somewhere" (In mandarin though lols XD)
She have a point there...but somehow her answer sound superficial to many (especially my mum who was like " omgosh..she so dumb to give that answer should pick brain !! * and starts telling me how she'll answer =.=) because : First, it sounds shallow. Second, it's too short !! I know you have 30 seconds to answer !! But make that answer worth the 30 seconds !!! and yeah..because of that answer she missed the top 3 placing (what mum said lols)..
So it's my turn to elaborate more on my point of view on this :
I choose...
Beauty of course !!!!
(Audrey Hepburn is up there because in my eyes, she is the most beautiful person in the world..even though she have been dead for 19 years)
*On a random note, she's a music major from Arnhem Conservatoire !!SO THIS PROVE THAT BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE CAN BE TALENTED AND SMART !!!!!
Okay back to the point :)
REASON 1: SAVE MONEY ON PLASTIC SURGERY AND COSMETICS
Plastic surgery is very expensive and certain surgery comes with risks and heightened possibility of complications arising from the surgery. For instance, breast augmentation can burst and some can develop malignant tumor years after the surgery. Eva Ekvall, Miss Venezuela 2000 who went on to be third runner-up in Miss Universe 2001 died from breast cancer arising from her implants she did when she was joining the pageant.
Plastic surgery not only cost a bomb!! After a procedure, here comes the long period of recovery (depends on what procedure) and you will look weird for a few weeks and people will talk about you! Not only that, the result of the procedure is not guaranteed. Sometimes, it differs from what you envisioned it to be! Eyelid surgery is one of the examples!! During recovery, you really hope that it turns out well etc (because sometimes I doesn't and you look worst)! and it's a lot of trouble !! e.g : cannot wash your eye area after an eyelid procedure for two weeks, blinking is quite painful for a few days...etc SO MUCH TROUBLE TO ACHIEVE BEAUTY !!!! and what I've said is only a mere non-suture double eyelid surgery..imagine those who needs implants, etc
Okay, so maybe you are thinking 'Hmm, plastic surgery is too drastic, I don't want to go through all that risk,time and pain just for beauty. Thus, I'll choose cosmetics! Painless, no risk and no pain'
Hey girl, stop there. Even though using cosmetics is 'harmless'. It is NOT. Imagine caking your face with foundation everyday, putting cheap contact lenses in everyday. Your skin will be more sensitive, more prone to acne and cheap contact lenses can cause many infections and can lead to blindness!!! Besides, make up is a skill!!! you need to be good at it so that you can transform yourself to be super beautiful and hot (like the picture above). Also, it's super tiring to spend so much time beautifying yourself and removing all those make up after you come home!! THAT'S TOO MUCH EFFORT!!! If you are already beautiful, you don't need to spend so much time on make up to cover up flaws. The REAL PURPOSE OF MAKE UP is to HIGHLIGHT YOUR FEATURES AND NOT MAKING YOURSELF LOOK LIKE ANOTHER PERSON.. (but there are some exceptions..to this though..)
Thus, here, I choose beauty because if I am beautiful, I do not need to go for plastic surgeries and can save lots of time on make up. Most important, I can save my money and spend them on USEFUL THINGS instead such as books, subscribing to informative channels (such as Discovery channel etc), pick up a new course or skill, go international examinations and obtain a certificate!!! Those are cheaper and can definitely last longer than cosmetics and make up! (because knowledge stays with you till you die). Gaining extra knowledge or skill won't harm you , plastic surgery and cosmetics will!!!!
REASON 2: MORE POPULARITY AND CONFIDENCE
POPULARITY IN A WAY LEADS TO CONFIDENCE...
Inner confidence and confidence goes a long way because it can impact you and changes your life in many ways. When you are beautiful, you WILL have confidence because people will assure you that are (judging from your countless admirers and how girls are jealous about you and how guys are so into you) !!! Also, When you are popular, many people wants to know you and you will have a wide connection which creates more opportunities for you grab!! I know some people will sulk and me and say "Ugh..popularity is so shallow". I dare you to ask those who are popular in high school and they will tell you that they had fun because it increases your self-esteem and it saves a lot of time when you are transitioning to college or university albeit some drama..but those drama are worth it when you are so well-known. When you are confident and outspoken, you are more likely to do greater things in universities. People who are not popular in high school (like me) can also do great things and gain tons of recognition in college, but through my own experience, it takes a lot of 'Getting used to' (the guys, the compliments, the recognition etc) before it finally sinks in!! So when you are already popular in high school, these things comes naturally to you...but if you are like me (I only started to become somewhat popular when I was in college), it took me quite a while to adapt to these.....Like how i'll avoid guys who like me etc...so I kinda look like a chicken in some ways haha..
DON'T DENY THAT POPULARITY MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD
Many people will say that if you feel good because of popularity, you are such a shallow person. But face it, when you get hundreds of likes on your pictures in facebook and instagram, you feel somewhat happy, self-satisfaction and feel more BEAUTIFUL! It IS superficial, but it makes you feel good...so why not? and of course, those who get hundreds of likes are those who are usually beautiful (well, unless you are some media personality..and that's a different case)...so if you wanna be that popular and feel good, beauty can bring you closer to that simple as that. Besides, away from the superficial part, I have friends who are so popular on facebook because they are beautiful and they get sponsors for hair, contact lens, products, star in music videos, scouted etc!! Even if you are not the superficial kind, free hair services for anything and free contact lens can save you TONS OF MONEY!!! You also earn lots of money ! (I have a friend who is popular and beautiful..and she models..and bought herself a Suzuki Swift!..Come on, even those who graduated from universities earn only 3k basic pay? but my friend is still a student!!) Also, when you are beautiful and popular, people will not accused you of being an attention seeker. Instead, they will SEEK FOR YOUR ATTENTION XD
REASON 3: YOU GET BETTER OPPORTUNITIES IN LIFE
Like it or not, studies showed that attractive people get better employment, better first impression, higher salary, higher chance or employment etc. Sadly, studies ALSO showed that their less attractive counterparts get lower salary and lower chance of pay raise and employment. Let's face it, when you want to attract somebody to watch your performance etc, they'll look at the person to see whether you are attractive or not. For instance, most girls will not even watch football and the Olympics if it wasn't for hot guys..
Many people will say that if the person is talented enough he will be recognized despite of his looks. But come on, if you are attractive AND talented, you will be recognized first because it is human nature to look at the person by their face first and judge his or her talent later. Some will also say that beauty if important only in certain industries such as modelling and entertainment, and there are many people who accomplished a lot despite they are 'not beautiful'. However, studies clearly showed that people vote for the more attractive and taller candidates in an election !! Barack Obama vs John McCain's 2008 election is one of the perfect examples of this. Those who are 'not beautiful' are perhaps the ones who is internally elected committees (those that voters cannot vote them to be in or out of their positions).
which all these stems from ...
REASON 4: PEOPLE WILL HAVE GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION OF YOU
This works to the advantage of attractive people because people usually associate beautiful people as having positive values (nice person, friendly, etc). Besides, when you are at a public place with a crowd, you will be noticed first when you look attractive. Here, it clearly shows that at face-value where you are 'judged' for mere seconds, your appearance are being judged rather than your inner beauty, talent and etc. This is good during interviews because when you are attractive and you give the smile etc, you already left a good impression and thus, convincing the employer will be an easier job and you will feel less stressed because people are more willing to talk to an attractive person longer and they'll have more patient on you (also, it increases your chances of employment). Also, you do not need to work hard to stand out (of course you need hard work) but a bit less because when you already gave a lasting first impression, usually it will work to your advantages (through experience).
REASON 5: SOMETIMES YOU CAN EVEN SURPRISE AND IMPRESS PEOPLE
This works because of stereotype. Many people perceived that beautiful people are not smart (dumb blonde stereotype) which is not entirely true because not everybody is smart. However, this is good because it is easier on your part to surprise them that you are!! Imagine when they see a beautiful person who get really good grades and engage them in an intellectual conversation. They will be impressed!!!! Usually, if an average or below average looking person do these things, they will think that it is expected and these people are geeks and nerds. But when you are attractive and are able to do all these, they will be impressed and it even up your value by a lot!! People love girls with beauty and brains!!! Like this girl below...
(For more information about this story, do read it here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2012/05/09/how-i-became-a-21-year-old-business-executive/)
Many will be interested to read this article because she is attractive and impressed like " wow!! she is so young , so pretty and so successful!!". But imagine if she is wearing braces, with average looking face and thick spectacles, many will dismiss and said "Ohhh...another nerd who have no social life and study the whole time...that's why she is so successful!!" See the difference???
Some people will say that " But cosmetics and beauty products are invented by the 'brains' not the 'beauty'?" Uhhh excuse me? By saying this, you are stereotyping that beauty cannot have brains...another bitter kind of stereotype. Smart Beauties can invent stuff too and can become doctors, lawyers etc. Who says professional jobs are exclusive to the 'Brains' bunch?
REASON 6: KNOWLEDGE AND 'BRAIN' IS FOR EVERYONE
Besides, knowledge is cheap. Experience in life is valuable but everyone will have experience regardless of your level of beauty. You can buy books, surf the same websites , etc . We live in a liberal...and you don't see websites which label 'This website is only for the brains only...please put your face in front of your webcam so that we can scan your face to double confirm' haha..
REASON 7: YOU CAN JOIN AND POSSIBLY ACHIEVE TOP POSITIONS IN BEAUTY PAGEANTS
When you are beautiful (and of course a height of at least 163 centimeters) , you can join a beauty pageant! Beauty pageant IS beauty pageant and no matter how much people say that beauty is not important in beauty pageant, I will always LAUGH!!! I always told my mother, beauty pageant they will look at your face first, but when it comes to top 5 and choosing the top 3 winners, questions will be tested to see how smart the contestants are!!! Thus, you need beauty to bring you that far, and questions are just to let the judges know how capable your are other than your looks!!
Ju Wei is perhaps the 'brains' answer that beauty is not enough for you to secure a top 3 spot in a competition because she is not really eloquent in her speech despite how beautiful she is. But when I mean 'beautiful' I also mean good body figure!! Ju Wei is very photogenic (which I still can fathom why Denise got the prize =.=) but her lower body is quite big (not slim enough..actually she is quite fat) that's why she was excluded from the top5. The two who got 3rd runners up and 4th runners up does not fit the top 5 because their answers were really weak, but because of their good figure (slim) and beautiful, they are in for the top 5. Here, it shows that beauty is important in a beauty contest (obviously).
CONCLUSION : Imagine if you already have beauty , and you are very knowledgeable and you have good inner beauty...CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU ARE NEAR PERFECT ALREADY and people will admire you a lot!!!!!
*Of course you can never be perfect because GOD is perfect are we are not.
LAST RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THIS:
I actually never know why when this question is asked, the 'correct' text book answer from most seemed to be 'brains'. Perhaps they think this answer is safe as it sounds more like some 'girl empowerment' speech or so. In reality, girls are judge by people but our looks are being judged first!
I CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND WHY:
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Those who choose brains will relate that with having inner beauty. By saying this they are indirectly stereotyping that attractive people are a mean bunch of people who are only empty shells. So, by implying this, they are saying that an average looking person is very nice? this is STEREOTYPING once again !!
GUESS IT IS...:
Human nature for a person to have only one because if somebody have both, that person will be hated and others will be jealous of the person because people in general do not believe that somebody can be perfect..they think it's simply unfair for them..
If I were to answer in a beauty pageant it will be like this:
I choose beauty because of several reasons. First, I can be beautiful and smart at the same time. Knowledge is not limited to those with brains only because it is free for all and there are no restrictions. Everybody can be smart but not everybody can be beautiful. There is make up and surgery nowadays but these are risky and bad for your health. Knowledge on the other hand do not have any risks. Also, when you are beautiful, it is easier for you to leave a good impression. For instance, when you are in a crowd, strangers will judge you based on your looks and not your brains. They cannot see how smart or talented you are unless there is some interaction. Being beautiful also opens more opportunities for me because of connections. When somebody sees that you are beautiful and with further interaction found out that you are smart as well, they will admire you as a person. Thank You.
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