Fred's 2nd Jornal

Fresh cookie heads
Predictable as always, the media continues to do what it has always done: Setting the standard. But, do people buy more fresh cookies because they are fresh or fresh cookies are fresh because people buy them more? Or should it be: Does the media set the standard because we buy it or do we buy it because it sets the standard? Once again, another TV show tries to make us keep on thinking that looking good is so much better.

This time it is the Tyra Banks Show featuring America's Next Top Model 2 winner Yoanna House, a college student who was transformed into a beauty queen by the magic of television. The recipe could not be simpler than getting a cute girl, make her look even cuter and show people how cool she is.

Renato Russo in his street-wise Latin poetry once said that our parents are children, just as we all will be when we grow up. Infantile as it may be, we continue to feed the industry of the beautiful, the fit, the industry of appearances. Is it not true that no one would care if she were just of average intelligence ? Well, the idea is already imprinted in our very minds, after all who do we see on TV showcasing the products we buy? No wonder quick-slim shakes are sold by the millions and fitness centers are jam packed.

Tyra Banks with her role-model-they-need TV show along with, this time, Yoanna House are merely mainstream propaganda of a much larger picture: Look good or be out.