Okay, I know I promised an update yesterday, at the latest, and I tried, I really did. By the time I had a chance to sit down and write, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore (literally). I don't know how my summer suddenly became so full of stuff to get done. Also, Blogger is giving me huge amounts of trouble with this post, for some reason I do not understand, so that's not helping. I do feel bad for breaking the promise, for the record. I don't like to do that, on principle. Anyway, I'm finally posting the update I talked about last time. But first! Pictures! I'm posting two pictures for Saturday, because I went to a friend's wedding, and felt the need to share the attire with you all. Yes, that would be a dress, jewelry and Chuck Taylors (I know, there's some debate over whether low tops are still considered Chucks, but just go with it for now, please) I'm wearing in that second picture. The bride is actually wearing them, too, you just can't see that in this picture. It was their request that everyone who owned said shoes wore them, but wore normal wedding attire otherwise. It was a lot of fun, really. Most people participated, including the parents and grandparents of the bride and groom. On with the update!I've recently become a fairly regular reader of ModBlog, which generally updates at least daily with all sorts of modification related stuff. For the most part, it's a little blurb about a convention that happened, someone in the community doing a performance (generally, said performance is somehow related to their mods), or just especially neat or interesting pictures from sister site BME.
Once in a while, though (generally, about weekly, but sometimes a little longer), they do a news post. This is generally a collection of things of note, relating to modification. It's pretty much all stuff that has made the news in some way, whether it be stupid things people have done, charitable people things have done, or celebrity mods. It's usually fairly light-hearted, but there were a few things in their most recent post that were frustrating for anyone annoyed by the stereotypes and prejudices endorsed by our society, but especially frustrating for anyone who is modified.
First, there was recently a man arrested for trying to run down his landlord with his van. Now, this is a pretty negative story either way. However, the way it was reported, in most cases, completely changed the focus of the article. When the story was covered by his local paper, they actually did a great job, journalism-wise, at reporting the incident. The offending incident had nothing to do with the modifications this guy was sporting, and neither did their article. They merely covered the facts, and left it at that. However, the story has been picked up by many other places as well. And pretty much no one else did as good of a job at reporting it. Every other article written on the incident focuses entirely on the fact that this guy is heavily modified, as though to suggest that it should be obvious that someone of that state would have criminal tendencies.
The second bit connects with the first, in a way, in that it's just as ignorant in it's assumptions and assumes fairly similar things. In this case, CBS did a story on modification, being sure to point out that many consider it disfigurement, and that some doctors even believe it to be a symptom of mental illness. It's especially infuriating to see this on such a major news outlet, given the size of it's audience, and therefore, it's influence. The story itself isn't so terrible, and it's clear that they at least tried to not show much bias, though they clearly failed. However, if you go on to look at the pictures they included, many of the captions include ignorant statements on par with the suggestion of mental illness, such as questioning the ethics of any doctor willing to do certain procedures. And most of the reader comments on the story are even worse. Though, there were a few modified people who took the time to comment, and hopefully straighten out some uninformed assumptions.
While I am modified myself, I have to say, I would probably be just as infuriated with both of these stories if I weren't. It's frustrating to see our society struggle with issue after issue, creating stereotypes based on superficial things like this. While I realize that being modified is usually a choice, and many other things of (past or current) controversy are not, it still doesn't say much, if anything, about a person's personality. There is just as wide a range in the personalities of those who are modified as there is in those who are not. Not to mention the fact that such practices have been in place in many cultures for hundreds of years, and many times even considered the norm. People who have been chosen to become modified are in no way hurting others (in the act of obtaining the modification) and are exercising their rights to express themselves as they see fit. And as far as that goes, how is it more socially acceptable to express yourself or your opinions by starting fights in bars and harming others than it is to quietly modify your own body? Why do we need to continually find scapegoats to blame for the negative parts of society? Why can't criminals be faulted for their crimes, rather than their modifications (or skin color, religion, etc.)?
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