As IF Times

link Photos: PETA protesters get nearly naked in Vancouver.

It’s been done. Showing some skin to get attention may have been a bold gesture when Lady Godiva did it back in the 1040’s and perhaps still risque in the 80’s when Madonna pranced around in pointy boobs, but in this day and age, it’s at best, quaint.  Speaking only for me, I can’t imagine that seeing ‘nude’ people would make me more aware of the plight of animals, or of the earth, of gay pride or of any other pop cause which seems to require nudity or near nudity to publicize. 

If anything, all these ‘radical’ displays seem to accomplish is to advertise the works of various tattoo artists.  The shock and impact aspect of this maneuver is way past the sell by date.  It’s like 8 year old kids acting out.  The first few times may be charming, but after a dozen or so displays of cuteness, it’s droll.  Even an icon like Pamela Anderson fails to move the titillation meter anymore in her PETA campaigns.  Having Pamela shed clothing in support of a cause is like having Michael Moore eat donuts in support of a cause; the so what factor kicks in.  It’s actually sad when nudity loses its shock value.  In theory, if protesters are willing to display lots of skin to prove their support of an issue, then the people at Wreck Beach and Kits Beach are giving away lots of free political action points.  Someone should stick some signs on those people and make them relevant. 

Shedding some clothing to make a statement pales in comparison to some of the extremes that some REAL zealots get to in showing their commitments to a cause.  As many may know, during Easter, some devout Christians in the Phillipines flagellate themselves with switches and even crucify themselves on crosses in observance and support of their religious beliefs.  I’d say they were pretty committed.  Notice that they are not flagellating or crucifying others.  They are not trying to tell others what to think or how to behave.  In this part of the world, the ‘shocking’ tactic of public nudity just seems lame.  If they are trying to make a point, as in all good marketing, at least hire professionals with bodies worth being shocked over….and without tattoos.

link Study: Attractive women overlooked for certain jobs – Yahoo! News.

Those damn glass ceilings.  If not for the rampant discrimination embedded in western culture, we’d likely have more attractive female tow truck drivers and prison guards. Instead, all these plum jobs go to privileged overweight fat guys characterized by their equal amounts of hair and tattoos on body areas not including head.   There’s no reason that a 110 pound Heidi Klum lookalike couldn’t keep unruly inmates in line, it’s only a matter of training.  Also, it’s well known that  most young girls, especially attractive ones, yearn to be tow truck drivers, but the prejudices of society prevent this from becoming a reality.  Instead, they are forced into stereotypical and dead end jobs in modelling, sales, law or medicine.

Perhaps the time is right for more affirmative action.  Young girls should be encouraged to aggressively pursue those jobs that have been off-limits to them just because of their comely appearance.  Who would you rather have empty your trash; Vito the unibrow guy, or someone resembling Katherine Heigl tossing the cans around? If plumbers looked like Carla Gugino, I’d be throwing sand in my toilet weekly.  But wait!  This article goes on to note the following:

“… Johnson (the researcher)  said beautiful people still enjoyed a significant edge when it came to the workplace. They tended to get higher salaries, better performance evaluations, higher levels of admission to college, better voter ratings when running for public office, and more favorable judgments in trials…”

So this is about plain greed and entitlements.  The attractive people (women) have advantages in most other areas of the job market.  It appears that they are trying to get ALL the jobs.  It’s not as if the non attractives have access to the jobs given to the attractive job applicants.  How many women who look like Michael Moore are featured in Got Milk commercials…or should?  The not so attractive had better start organizing soon or else their employment opportunity window will be just a small slit.  After all, there are only so many openings for daytime talk show hosts.