2014 – Most Philosophical 5th Grader in America

Ingrid Mundt, Minnesota.

Truth vs. Beauty

Human values, a curious thing. In our world people might value money over love, and power over peace. They might value religion, sex, and nationality over human rights, or cheap labor over children, people might even value beauty over the truth. It’s the sad truth. Not all people are like this, that is true. Unfortunately, so many people have these corrupt values that it starts to shape our world. Nobody likes this sad truth, but nobody wants to speak out against it. Sometimes, a couple of brave souls do and change many people’s lives, but that is rare. Though others may argue that the truth has more of an impact on society than beauty, I’d like to suggest that if you really look into our world, you’ll find that beauty, whether we like it or not, has a greater impact on our society.

One reason I think beauty is more powerful than truth is because of commercials. Commercials often times have a heavy impact on what we buy, and what’s in almost all of them? Beautiful models. We probably wouldn’t be nearly as compelled to buy the products their advertising without the lovely ladies and handsome men. We don’t spend the time to look at how effective these products actually are, or what’s really in them if we see models displaying them in a compelling way. Also, take a look at medical commercials. During the time when they’re telling the truth about the medical risks of taking it, people are too distracted looking at the lovely couple, doing cute things together. We’re too focused on what seems to be the beauty and perfection of the medicine to pay any attention to the truth about the risks of taking it. This is one piece of evidence that I think means that beauty has a greater impact in our world than truth.

Another reason I think beauty is more powerful than truth is because of more recent celebrities. In 2011 some celebrities including Jamelia, Will Young, and Monique Coleman started speaking out against violence against women. People most likely found out about it because of the press being drawn to it, and hung on to it because the people advocating it were beautiful and handsome. Most likely, other people tried fighting for the same cause, but nobody heard about it because nobody wanted to hear about some nobody. Also, recently some celebrities have been working to save the rainforests including Lily Allen, Pamela Anderson, and Ian Somerhalder. They are all well known, and considered beautiful and handsome. They’re fighting for a well known cause that lots of people get into, but more people are more likely to listen to them because of how they look, than to some scientists for their facts. These reasons also help support my thought of beauty being more powerful than the truth.
Now, some might argue that truth is more powerful than beauty. They might say, without truth being told, Hitler would’ve controlled the world, and without the truth being told about slavery, it could’ve gone on a lot longer. Also, they might argue that without everyday heroes speaking out against injustice, news of something terrible would never spread, and we’d never find out the truth about what’s going on;. Finally, they might argue that without scientists writing a ton of books and trying to spread the news about global warming, nobody would know about it.

Well, here’s what I have to say to that. For one, yeah the truth does need to be told, my essay isn’t about what I think should have a bigger impact on the world, it’s about what does (in my opinion) have a bigger impact on the world. Truth does need to be told, though sometimes, people listen more if it’s a beautiful person telling the truth. Also, in my opinion, looking at the beauty of the world around you and wanting to preserve the true beauty of the earth as well as nature all around you can convince you that you should preserve the natural beauty of the earth more than watching scientific shows as well as books about global warming.

In all truth, people pay more attention to beauty than the truth. Just look all around you, look at commercials and how the beautiful models compel you to buy the product, or how you listen more to famous, beautiful people about what’s going on more than the guy or girl across the street. I’m not saying I like what I believe is the truth, but I’m saying that it is the sad truth of mankind, whether we like it or not. You may disagree with me, you may not, so I’ll leave you with a question to ponder: In which ways to be see beauty and truth completely changing our lives and the lives of others around you?

Bibliography
“Ecorazzi.” Ecorazzi. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.
“The Pixel Project’s ’16 for 16’ Campaign.” The Pixel Projects 16 for 16 Campaign. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014.

 

 

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