Appearance matters. More than anything else.

       I’m confused. I hear and read strong criticism of the focus our society places on appearance. Yet, with equal frequency and passion, some of the same sources bombard me with reports of obesity and anorexia. The same television channels and magazines offer documentaries on the dangers of image promotion one day, and makeover shows and articles the next.

       People with fast metabolisms wrestle a choice between forced gluttony and anorexia intervention. Their counterparts must diet or hide. Few escape criticism, yet the public groans about the constant focus on appearance and blames the media and Hollywood.

       So, what do these groaners do to combat the problem? They continue to buy the magazines, the movies, and the products that support the networks, and decide it might be a good idea to expand the focus into every area. Why omit one industry when there’s plenty of shallowness to go around?

       It’s not enough that an author craft a great story, master language and technique, and put it together on paper. We expect that author to also be book signing and talk show attractive.

       Dennis Kucinich had a clean record, detailed platform, honorable voting record, and impressive history, but American didn’t want a short president who ate weird food and didn’t have a wife to insult. Al Gore might be the most intelligent man on the planet, have a heart as deep as the Grand Canyon, be tall and attractive, but can he chug a mug, cut the rug, or whip out a joke at a barbecue? He bored us with budget details and foreign policy instead of jovial rhetoric, so he’s out.

       The messages seem mixed, but America speaks through dollars and votes. Appearance matters. More than anything else, in every aspect of our culture.

       I’m grateful this trend waited as long as it did. I can’t imagine my world without Janis Joplin, Bob Dylan, Meatloaf, K.D. Lang, Bobby Womack, Elton John, Barbra Streisand, or Willie Nelson. By today’s marketability criteria, none of them would make the cut, and I need them to cope with everything else.

       I think I just expanded the significance of take back our country.

Sandy Knauer