Prompt 27: June 1, 2023
Whether you realize it or not, the way you present yourself signals incredible detail about your personality, values, character, and even history. Detectives and other people skilled with profiling can’t help but read people, but you and I may not realize how often we do the same thing. When Ethan and I had taken the women and gender studies course at university, we expected to learn about the ‘Politics of Appearance’ as was indicated in the name, but we were instead filled with a number of talking points on the postmodern doctrine of fourth-wave feminism. The name of the course however has intrigued me ever since as there may be a way of studying appearances that help establish truer connections to people as we meet them. Or, if you are as paranoid as me, studying the topic may help you craft your appearance as a disguise. (I recently shaved my head and grew out my meager goatee and immediately noticed how often people shirk eye contact!)
In this present age, there are forces acting in the zeitgeist which demand we signal our values and beliefs. Commonly known as Virtue Signaling, this pull on our public image damages our ability to see other people as our neighbor. Instead, each person carries with them a branding of their opinions on the hottest riffs in the culture war: be it climate, elections, guns, medicine, brand loyalty, the Ukraine conflict, education – you name it! I don’t like the term Virtue Signaling because it clearly isn’t virtuous. Though I partake in my fair share of hypocrisy, I respect what virtue actually is, and how hard it is to not live up to one. What I think may be happening is a society wide collapse in trust– that everyone is testing each other on how far they can be trusted, based on how closely their values line up. This is another consequence of losing Christ as the central figure of the culture. Without him at the absolute center, each line of thought must be taken to its root contradiction, and all of these hot topics of the day are stress fractures that indicate the underlying structures of our reasoning are compromised.
So…Do we need to size each other up? Do we need to trust each other? Do we need to find the much alluded to – “common ground” with everyone? I suppose it depends how we live. If we live as strangers, our appearances may not matter. But, if we are to live as neighbors, how else would we appear?
The thread is open. Create boldly, and may the Spirit guide us all