The chic tragedy

Everything's image. We know beauty calls attention and everybody wants to feel pretty. If it wasn't for that, it wouldn't make sense taking a shower, brushing the hair, clipping the fingernails, dressing clean clothes, working out, etc. It's not only a matter of health, but is a matter of esthetic too. There's no problem in wishing to feel prettier or feeling attraction for what's beautiful; the problem is when someone has the beauty as its single talent, or when the beauty is offensive for people who are (or think they are) ugly due to their inferiority complex and laziness to take care of their appearance.

The attraction to the beauty is not only resumed to the physical of some people, but for the beauty in general. It includes richness and power too. Some of the recent tragedies have shown how much people are obsessed by the triad beauty-richness-power. We can talk about two kinds of TV shows very successful in Brazil: soap operas and reality shows. The competitors of a reality show are young, rich and pretty – the ideal standard of beauty – and the audience are, usually, the contrary of them. The soap operas and even the Brazilian literature focus, mainly, on a bourgeoisie family dramas.

Now speaking of an issue that the Brazilian media loves to sell (tragedies) even of the false people's commotion that pretend sadness to hide their fixation for them, we have several examples of what can be called “the chic tragedy”.

The case of Isabela Nardoni girl would have caused that national commotion if she wasn't a pretty girl from a middle class family? What it would be if she was a black, not very pretty and daughter of a poor family, thrown from a flagstone of the slum house, would she have caused similar commotion? Why the “handsome beggar” from Curitiba could mobilize the social networks to localize his family and “touched” these people due to his problems with drugs? Why the several ugly, dirty, drugged and drunk beggars that sleep in the streets couldn't touch these people so “human” of the social networks if it is some much easier to find them even in small cities? Why is it so common to see an U18 boy being treated as a condemned criminal in national network while he is just alleged, specially if he is black and poor? Why doesn't it exist a pre-condenation of the media when the criminal is a TV host that refuses to do the breathalyser test, when a group of young boys set fire to a indigenous man, or when middle class teenagers rape a girl? Why the violence against homosexuals causes revolt on the social networks only when the violated guy are handsome and masculine, while the ugly and queer one is a reason of laugh even for the gays?

And what about in the international level, would the 9/11 attacks have the traditional worldwide morbid annual highlight from the media if they had happened in a country that isn't very expressive economical and culturally in global level like Somalia? Why does the hurricane Sandy called so much attention of the international and Brazilian media if similar bigger and worse tragedies like this are used to happen every year in Southeast Asia? Why the recent shooting in an American school “touched” so much the people worldwide? The Realengo school shooting didn't touch the world in the same way and there isn't a sick tradition in the international media of speaking of the anniversary of the tragedy every single year.

The fixation of the society goes much beyond of the physical beauty. Even their brotherhood is conditioned to it. The “chic tragedy” shows how the humanity feeling is selective: what involves pretty, rich and powerful people or things, touches; what involves ugly, poor and powerless people or things, doesn't touch or is conveniently ignored. The chic tragedy shows how much people can be superficial and futile, even when try their best to hide it due to their obsession for their image face to society. The chic tragedy shows us how the evil got banal and how the people are hypocrite when trying to pretend sadness when, actually they are sadist and nourish a real obsession for other's pain and failure?