On Image

[cosmolinguist]

Walking through the city centre today, Andrew said, "If we lived in a sane country, stores with signs that said 'Image is everything' would be fire-bombed as soon as they appeared." Or something like that. I smiled a bit.

He continued. "I can't think of anything less important than image." I nodded.

A moment later, he said, "Except herpes."

Comments

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Herpes...the gift that keeps on giving...

[(Anonymous)]

Yes,but it's LESS important than image which makes it relatively insignificant and that's the way I like people thinking about herpes.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

I think you misspelled 'itching'

[hilker.livejournal.com]

He’s just a Todd McFarlane-hating comic-book snob!

[cosmolinguist]

Yes, he is.

But when I read this comment to him, he got all confused (as well as excited) and decided he had to read my post right then, because he didn't get what you were talking about. But after glancing at it he did; I could tell because he clapped sarcastically.

And the sad thing is, even I got it then, so he didn't have to explain it to me, because he's just gone on a rant about how much he hates the guy a day or two ago.

Far, far too much of his geekiness is wearing off on me ...

[stealthmunchkin.livejournal.com]

Worst. Pun. Ever.
But yes I am. Even Moore, Gaiman and Sim's issues of Spawn couldn't redeem that character...
But McFarlane is a veritable Kirby next to Rob Liefeld...

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

Would you infer him to mean that there is not anything less important than image, aside from herpes, or that he did not, at that moment, feel like image was less important than everything except herpes? I would take objection to the former, on logical basis; the latter is un-offending, but is quite weak, as assertions go.

[cosmolinguist]

I'm not entirely sure I've got this right, but if you're asking if he was expressing his opinion that herpes is less important than everything except image or if instead he was saying that it's an absolute fact that herpes is less important than everything but image, definitely the latter. Andrew always thinks that his opinions are his opinions because they are right, and poeple who disagree are silly.

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

Well, I at least hope he doesn't think that they are right because they are his opinions. It is one thing to believe that everything one thinks is right; it is quite something else to believe that things are right because one thinks them.

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

I have later lamented using the word like in that post; it is a little too colloquial, would you not say?

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Or worse, an image concious soft-drink company with the logo 'Image is nothing, thirst is everything'

[cosmolinguist]

Oh, I'd forgotten about that. Their ads don't still say that, do they? I hope they've moved on to something else by now. Yeah, I'd say being in denial about image is bad—perhaps we should've applauded the store with the "Image is everything" sign because at least they were being honest about their philosophy. :-)

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

That's my take on it.

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

i am an absolute anti-image snob as you no doubt guessed from our meeting. my housemate calls my cd collection decadent but when he spends twenty quid on getting his hair cut i have very little time for such arguments

[cosmolinguist]

Everybody's decadent about something (or they would be if they had the means). I've never understood expensive haircuts, either. I think the cheap ones are too expensive, when I know I could cut my hair to my satisfaction ... if I could just see the back of my head.

I'm something of an anti-image snob too; when I was younger I made a point of telling my relatives what not to get me if they insisted on buying me clothes for Christmas, because they'd want to get me Calvin Klein and Nike and all that, but not only did I feel bad about them spending the money needlessly, I didn't want to be seen in such things!

[irkthepurist.livejournal.com]

well my housemate spends - what - twenty pounds on a haircut which is what i like to spend on my hair in a year. i mean i take care how i dress and i like to dress well, but i also like to not stand out too much doing that (although when i was a teenage i did dress as an old man, with peaked cap, bow tie, waistcoat and walking stick but i was one confused individual throughout...)

i'm actually probably rather shallow about appearance in the opposite way to the "norm". if someone obviously takes care on how they look then i tend to dismiss them as shallow which really isn't very fair on them at all. hair particularly annoys me. there is no justification for spending more than five minutes on your hair each day if you are a man and anyone who looks like they have spent anything into double figures on it is likely to incur my wrath

but then i am easily irked about such things