Who's beautiful?

Don't answer that. Because it's an evil question.

See, having ideals and preferences when it comes to beauty is not a bad thing. You can like this or that, just whatever you think is pretty in a partner or person. It's all okay. Your tastes can be impossibly niché or encompass every last one of us, it doesn't really matter. Humans come in all forms and shapes, and everyone is beautiful to someone. At least that's the theory.

The problem arises when we start discussing beauty. When we work out amongst ourselves, what is physically most desired. I.e. when we start projecting our ideals, and the ideals we've learned from others, into for example the media, or people in our circles. When we idealize so much, collectively, that someone becomes beautiful to everyone. Thus, our societal ideals in beauty are born, and everyone is worse off.

History shows, ideals change, hence they're not absolute. Anyone can be, and therefore is, beautiful.

The question of what, or who, is beautiful is evil because the answer doesn't lead to any sort of positive thinking. It can lead to superficial pride, critical self-consciousness, and jealousy. Obviously, if an answer has to be given, the best one would be "everyone".

This problem of self-consciousness is only exacerbated by the fact that beauty is so idealized in the first place. The fact that we hold physical attractiveness so important. Every day, people feel overwhelmingly bad about how they don't seem to fit into the parameters that the media describes as beautiful. And in the end, it means so little. 

This was today's rant. It was born on a hungry stomach, but it makes a good case. Sure, you were committing no crime when you tweeted about Ruby Rose being the sexiest person alive, just like everyone else on the internet tweeted last June. But you should also keep in mind that every day people loathe, hate, and harm themselves, because not everyone can look like Ruby Rose.

Did I even think that chick from Orange is the new Black was good looking before every other article on the webs told me so? I knew she was beautiful before I had even seen a picture of her. How plastic is a brain, and how malleable are our ideals? It's a valid question, and it's not easily answered.