Every Tuesday, step by step, I’m walking with my readers from A to Z, last week we had “T” (visit tagged T), so this week we have “U” – I’m sure you’ll find a story or a short reflection tagged with “U”! Feel free to add in the comments below the link to your personal interpretation of the letter “U”!!! Myself I’ll feature “U” for discussing the term UGLY:
Ugly
Question: what is ugly? Is it forbidden by “political correctness” to talk about what could be ugly? Houses, cities, faces, clothes, certain behavior or opinions, a four letter word, a hate speech?
team of female designers, discussing a shop window design in Berlin; photo by frizztext, click on the picture to enter his galleries on flickr
comments by some of my readers at https://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/what-is-ugly/:
1 – Rita Banerji, Calcutta: I think that aesthetics is a subjective issue and there isn’t any reason why it can’t be discussed. However, because of the role it has played in the cosmetic industry, and fashion etc. and has become a tool of control of women’s images of themselves, women’s and girl’s low self-esteem, that the concept of ‘ugly’ and ‘pretty’ does need to be challenged. I personally have never found anything visually ugly, unless it touches on a certain feeling I have for that person or thing. Like for e.g. my sister and her friends used to find Tom Cruise very good-looking! He never visually appealed to me — because i just always thought he was something of a misogynistic ass-hole!
2 – frizztext: we don’t like Tom Cruise in Germany because his strange engagement for the scientology sect; nice and courageous: that his wife managed to escape that brain washing community!
3 – Rob: I agree with Rita about aesthetics but there’s a whole different set of meanings for ugly relating to sexuality. Sexual attraction relates to suitability and health for breeding, so ugly could mean unhealthy or unsuitable for breeding.
4 – Madhu: Totally with Rita on the subject: Beauty has become big business!
related: America’s Next Top Model:
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/05/the-tyra-banks-matriarchy-a-scholars-take-on-i-americas-next-top-model-i/276027/
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http://francescannotwrite.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/ugliness-as-a-requirement-for-beauty/
P.S.:
Near to the term UGLY maybe is “AFRAID OF”; for example I’m afraid of spiders, mobbing, loud noise on a party … – or to focus on positive emotions: I feel comfortable with my cat, my guitar, my computer – could you explain your definition of ugly or “afraid of”?
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actually very ugly for me:
neo-nazi-trial-in-germany
Flickr Comments 
Pingback: [Photo Journal / A-Z Photo Story] U is for Underwater |
Hi Frizz, they do look a tad displeased, don’t they? Coming to terms with the aesthetics of ugliness, mayhaps? Or the definition of beauty (even more difficult)? 🙂
Here’s my contribution for the week: U is for Underwater
http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/photo-journal-a-z-photo-story-u-is-for-underwater/
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hello Myra,
I always like the aphorisms,
which you decided to feature!
This time:
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“Whenever I look at the ocean,
I always want to talk to people,
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but when I’m talking to people,
I always want to look at the ocean.”
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― Haruki Murakami, Hear the Wind Sing
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frizztext, inspired by you:
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“Whenever I take pictures,
I always want to talk to people,
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but when I’m talking to people,
I always want to take pictures.”
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🙂
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do you know the cruel question
of Churchill to the waitress?
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“If this is tea, bring coffee.
If this is coffee, bring tea!”
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Churchil was cruel some times, …But very intelligent always….
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for me, ugly means he/she/it has no appeal at all.. and ‘afraid of’ is more of not wanting a feeling in a deeper sense.. like afraid of a certain situation like heights, water or an insect.. it’s something that you don’t want to feel…
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rather late again .. here’s my tagged U http://starlight427.wordpress.com/2013/05/28/tagged-u-upside-down-umbrellas/
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hi Elizz,
I have an upside down umbrella as a lamp at the ceiling in my bureau …
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i remembered seeing them as lamps in one of the big restaurants last christmas and their high ceiling is full of white upside down umbrellas with lights on top and they are awesome..
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I also find spiders ugly, but people not. If it crosses my mind that a person is ugly it most likely means I am the ugly one.
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you wrote about some ugly yellow aliens:
http://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/a-nightmare-in-the-garden/
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I think it’s a very good subject for discussion. If there is beauty, then there is ugliness, which is the opposite of beauty. And if beauty is in the eye of the beholder… then ugliness is too. But in this age of political correctness, we often go out of our way to avoid anything negative… and sometimes end up with a very gray mushy view of the world around us. Nice picture. I like it.
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Shalom Shimon!
“…if beauty is in the eye of the beholder… then ugliness is too…” – the same about the opposite city vs. country: it is in the eye of the beholder…; I like your photo “cat, crossing the street” very much: what a dignity! And because I saw satisfied CATS in the megalopolis Berlin as well as in the country in Greece, it’s even clearer: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
P.S.:
I liked to read your article
http://thehumanpicture.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/living-in-the-city/
your frizz
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Pingback: Tagged U ~ USS Midway Museum | The Eclectic Eccentric Shopaholic
a great subject 🙂 beauty is very subjective. people often find “beauty” in things that they don’t have / physical characteristics that they don’t possess / features that they don’t see very often in where they came from. (not always though) perhaps it’s springs from man’s inherent discontent, the constant dissatisfaction with things
http://theeclecticeccentricshopaholic.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/tagged-u-uss-midway-museum/
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maybe there is a “constant dissatisfaction with things” – though philosophy and religion, politeness and psychology, political correctness, good manners and etiquette try to teach, that we should put our focus on the beauty. But a basic rule of philosophy (Hegel) is, that thinking developed by comprising opposites, unsuccessful attempts, i.e. ugly things:
more about ugly NAZI things, inspiring philosophy:
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französischer strasse 😀 for Ugly, it’s funny….and it’s about “mode” and “haute couture” for this women. I remember a very good article about beauty in art in a french art-magazine. There’s something about our culture. It’s the same thing about your svastika up there….different meanings between germans and indians.
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Perhaps we need to find the beauty in ugly (and vice versa) to expand our range of consciousness…
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I agree with ShimonZ…Beauty and ugliness are in the eye of the beholder…May be because they are not absolutely facts…They are influenced by our own feelings towards that person or place or situation…
And also by our culture… And by fashion…How many things are considered ugly today and tomorrow beautiful?!!! IIf Rubens had had to relay on Twiggy, for instance, for working with her as a model for his “Three Graces”…Would he consider her as a beauty?
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“If Rubens had had to relay on Twiggy, for instance, for working with her as a model for his “Three Graces”…Would he consider her as a beauty?”
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🙂 I think I prefer Rubens´s
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How often is beauty used as a mask for the ugliness beneath yet how often do we attempt to look beyond ugliness to discover beauty within?
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Pingback: UNUSUAL PERSON | Francine In Retirement
Nice take on ugly. Here is mine. Unusual Person http://wp.me/p23TG1-2Ir
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
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Oh yes there is ugliness in the world. I perceive it more in the behaviour or attitude of a person or group of people than in their physical appearance. And we know that ignoring it for whatever reason can have disastrous consequences. .
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dear Madhu,
I heard a lot about the fact, that there is often too much disrespect for women in India, so I am supporting Rita Banerji with her campaign – and we’ve managed a parallel website in German language …
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What an eloquent tableau, Frizztext. How true – “Ugly” and “pretty” are totally subjective. To me, something is ugly when an unpleasant behavior comes with it.
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When I stop to think about it, is there anything ugly…other than behaviours?
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no stylish design can make a person better,
if the behaviour remains always ugly …
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Pingback: The Letter U | AngelineM's Blog
And on a much lighter note, http://angelinem.wordpress.com/2013/05/21/the-letter-u/
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hi Angeline,
thank you for:
“…umbrellas: the ones for sun, not rain”!
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FT, I didn’t want to repost it, but this one http://travelsandtrifles.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/weekly-photo-challenge-unique-sunday-post-hope/ is a great example of ugly that’s actually fun and lovely. U for unicorn :-). Enjoyed your post and the many interesting comments.
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dear Tina,
now I remember, that I once answered, when a little girl asked me, that no unicorn exists. Then the little girl cried a river, I felt very bad. Oh if I had your photo already as a document!
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Pingback: U is for… Umbrella | Travel with Intent
I’m in sunny Spain today and here is my Umbrella post: http://travelwithintent.com/2013/05/19/umbrella-venice-barcelona/
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metal sculpture of former umbrella shop on Las Ramblas: made for eternity – a following shop owner cannot delete this, even he is a baker and sells software like cake …
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Pingback: Story Challenge: Tagged “U” | Across the Bored
I think my last round of tagged U was about undergarments! Please have a look at
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your poem with congenial
illustration amused me much:
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Uri, Uri, look Up there
it’s Ulla in her Underwear
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Ultra heels Unlawful high
Unkempt adolescents sigh
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Umpteen grannies look in awe
Unbelievable what they saw
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Here’s to U!
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To quote the late, great Redd Foxx: “Beauty is only skin deep. But ugly is to the bone”.
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Pingback: Upper Penninsula | A New Day
Tagged U was timed perfectly for my trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Here is my post.
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hi Pat,
“No one seemed to be in a hurry…” – you made a wonderful tribute to “Escanaba in Michigan‘s Upper Peninsula, on the far north shore of Lake Michigan, almost to Wisconsin”!
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Pingback: tagged U | maxidiehexi
I do not get enough time to blog properly, but this one I was waiting for and almost forgot again!
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Pingback: U is for Urracas! | Zeebra Designs & Destinations
ya! here’s the post for u.. these late nights have caught up with me, but today i couldn’t even get an email to send! ah, there are problems even in paradise at times!
z
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