A few days ago Leone in the office was telling us how horrified
she was when ordering her primary aged kids school photos online
(as you do nowadays) you had the option to tick if you would like
the pictures photoshopped. Yep, photoshopped!
Why would you want to look at photos in the future and have your
memories warped by having that stray hair, skin blemishes, wonky
smile or the like fixed up? More importantly, how can you
do the 21st wall if all your kids’ photos are glamour
shots? No fun in that.
I am sure there is some ‘expert’ who has decided that it is
better for a child’s self-esteem if they look better when they
look back, right up there with the no red pens or god forbid the
dreaded black cross on a kids work. My daughter is doing
senior at the moment and I look at some of the kids in her year
and really wonder how they are going to cope when they get out in
the real world.
Then again, if you look at the papers, not a hell of a lot of
that is reality either. If you believed all the headlines,
the most important thing in this country at the moment is the
terribly dangerous few hundred desperate people trying to seek
asylum here, or, the terribly stupid politician who may or may
not have misused funds in a previous lifetime.
Really? Reality is we have much bigger problems,
homelessness, businesses going bust, families losing livelihoods
& homes…
Leisure time, movies, dinners with friends, books or sport should
be our distractions from the dire or drudge of reality, not
newspapers, politics or the 6 O’clock news?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all we should hear should be
boring facts & figures (though a bit of the hype being
replaced by truth might be nice). The odd article that pops
up out of the blue that gets people talking and thinking is
good. The kid with the sign in Townsville had people all
over the country debating parenting techniques and parental
responsibility, which is a good thing. Even the Footy Fight
at Brookvale on Friday night had people debating what is
acceptable in a contact sport and for some, maybe even looking at
the darker side of human nature which actually gets a thrill from
viewing that sort of brawl, again, a good thing to be debating
and reflecting on.
We seem to always be told by ‘experts’, the media, or politicians
what we should be thinking and what is important, in fact, that
is just not true, the problem is that we are bombarded with so
much of it including advertising that we actually miss what is
important as we are distracted by all the messages we see.
You know what would be nice. I would love to see all of our
politicians just going back to their electorates, doing an old
fashioned door knock, having a chat and a cup of tea or beer with
people who actually live & work in their electorates, I think
they would find that they have much bigger and different concerns
then what is being debated in Parliament? News Editors
could benefit from that as well?
If you have 5 minutes today, please, just have a think, totally
disregard the news you heard on the radio this morning, or the
paper you read, just sit back & reflect on what is important
to you and your life?, the future of your family or your
business? I reckon what we all come up with will be
very diverse and quite different from what we are ‘told’ is
reality?
cheers
Noely
PS pull out some of those old photo’s, have a giggle, don’t be
offended when hit with a situation like mine with the daughter
looking at me going to a dance in high-school and asking what
‘Fancy Dress’ character I was trying to be. Ummm no Fancy
Dress, that was ‘reality’ and I was trendy LOL!. Hello, it
was the 80’s! I am sure many of you have had a similar
situation???? Sorry couldn't find that photo this
morning...
Original Issue #134: "What's so wrong with reality?" The
MSC Editors Desk 01 September 2011
