Column: Youth culture held hostage by superficiality

Do you look in the mirror on a frequent basis, checking out how good your hair looks or the way your jacket looks over your sweater? Do you predominantly shop at JCrew, Abercrombie or Banana Republic? Do you find yourself often judging people based on their appearances, namely the clothing line they choose, the brand of bag they tote or how good their fake tan is? Do you go to the gym and then look in the mirror afterwards asking yourself why you just can't have the body that will make you happy? In describing someone you are dating, do you frequently find that you lead the description with something to the effect of, "He's in Kappa Sig," or "She's in Tridelt." If you aren't dating "people" in these groups, do you wish you were so that you could tell all your friends? If you can answer "yes" to more than one of these questions, then congratulations, chances are you are a member of Duke's "pop-culture brain-washed superficial" problem.

You are also part of America's growing epidemic of a worthless youth class that cares more about image than ideas, social status more than spirituality, appearing happy more than actually learning to be happy and going through the motions of higher education more than actually engaging oneself in academia and real causes.

I write this column because I myself have struggled with the battle against pop-culture and the ills it has brought us. It's so easy to get caught up in appearance, money and sex, because they permeate nearly every aspect of our culture. They entice our most destructive human motives and stifle true intelligent life. Living in a bubble at this rich private university, it's so easy to assume that the world is as happy-go-lucky as the images we find on television or the voices we hear over the radio. We need to break from the shackles of superficiality that have oppressed our minds. A revolt is necessary: In fact, if I ever had a clear sniper shot, I'd take out the Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Britney Spears, Joe Millionaire, Carson Daly and many others. Did anyone else notice how Joe Millionaire talked like a Neanderthal? All these losers make me sick to my stomach.

The problem I see at Duke and America stems from the effect of pop culture on our society. The stupidity of recent popular music, the ridiculousness of most television programming, and the human tragedy known as TRL on MTV speak to the horror of America's problem - American culture is dominated by superficial, shallow bullsh--. Why do we worship a Hollywood wallflower whose intelligence rivals that of a jackrabbit? As a people, why do we have so much plastic surgery, take protein shakes, purge ourselves after eating and feel guilty after we have a hearty meal or an ice-cream sundae? It is so ridiculous that in the most developed country in the world our culture is so image driven and shallow.

Watch popular TV shows, commercials and music videos and it's obvious that we have a culture that is image-obsessed. Television and most sentiment demonstrate that to be happy you have to be rich, have sex and power at your fingertips, drive fancy cars and have an impeccable physical appearance. Since 90 percent of us fail to live up to these ridiculous, superficial standards, many are unhappy and even those in the 10 percent are usually worthless and unhappy.

If we happen to have some of these qualities, we ostracize the people that don't and avoid learning from people that could offer so much to our lives. Everyone wants to be part of the "beautiful people" - this gives rise to eating disorders, depression, and constant anxiety about appearance, just because we fail to realize that the true beauty of human existence is love, community, intelligence and spirituality. Did you know that America is statistically the most depressed country in the world per capita? Makes you wonder whether we really have created the best society.

It saddens me that one in four girls at Duke has an eating disorder. One of my best friends suffers from one and it pains me every day seeing this person suffer through the disease that our culture and this person's peers have egged on. If you count the number of calories you eat every day methodically, if you feel guilty when you eat a slice of pizza if you have frozen yogurt as a meal or just a piece of dessert as your main course, then you have a problem. If a guy doesn't like you because you don't have a supermodel body, then he's a prick. The point of having a partner is, believe it or not, someone you can sit for hours with and talk to about worthwhile topics. Stop assuming people will judge you based on your appearance and focus on not judging other people for theirs - and the problem will slowly dissipate both for yourself and others.

The depression we suffer has led to escapism as well, the most popular forms being alcoholism, drugs, sex, video games, and instant messenger. I'm tired of seeing the guys on my hall playing video games 6 hours a day and wasting their intelligence on something so worthless to the world. We need to awaken our social consciousness and address the social injustice that occurs abroad and domestically. Why are we such an inactive youth class that seemingly doesn't care about much other than appearance and transient joy?