Discussions
Smart or beautiful?
Posted by DaneMorgan • 9/19/07 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: beautiful, blogs, choices, choose, smart
I sometimes listen to Kidd Kraddic in the mornings. A few days ago he was on about something and the idea came up would you rather be smart or beautiful?
How about your kids? Smart or beautiful?
And since it always seems to come round to this with me, how about your blog? Beautiful or effective?
To really participate here, both isn't an option, you have to choose one or the other.
User Comments
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Kids = smart would be my 1st wish. Beautiful is just the icing on the cake. And inner beauty is much sweeter.
Blog = ?? in my case. Effective if humor is your thing I'd hope.-
I guess I'll have to agree. I just visited your blog and that's the first comment I've ever left on a humor blog.
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Sucked ya in, huh?...lol
Seriously, thanks for the visit and comment. Always much appreciated.
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heh, I do expect an answer.
Inquiring minds want to know. -
I'm pondering that one. Can't you smell the smoke?
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Oh, no not smoke...
Well, you got some time. I'm going to go crawl in to bed, much to the chagrin of Mrs. Morgan who currently has the whole thing to herself. -
Sleep well... and I did leave a response in my comment area for ya.
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Just read Dane's comment on Mike's blog. LMAO!!
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Nice dodge. But I understand that a pict has to have his priorities when it comes to small woodland creatures.
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1. "To really participate here, both isn't an option, you have to choose one or the other."
May I violate the rule and say about my point?
As far as I'm concerned, my blog is both beautiful & effective.
2. "How about your kids? Smart or beautiful?"
Here again, I have to violate and say I'm neither smart nor beautiful! (about myself!!)
Sorry for violating the set rules in the start itself.-
okay, but what is some divine being showed up and said you had to lose either the good looks or the effectiveness?
And the same divine being offered you either beauty or smarts?
Which would you choose? -
Good question. But, sorry, I may have argue with HIM too (can't help it) and try to grab both!
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A mixture of both is fine for me on both fronts, though I wouldnt be bothered if my daughter was ugly as ugly birds always get the blokes at the end of the night -
No kids yet, so I don't want to make up my mind now about how I would prefer them.
As for my blog, I would pick effectiveness over looks because I would rather read nice content from an ordinary blog than put up with not-so-nice content from a great looking one. -
Smart/effective
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I would choose smart & effective without being obnoxious about it. That goes for blogs AND kids.-
Obnoxious or .... Good follow up question in that I bet.
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Blogwise, if it's effective then there's probably enough appeal to it that beauty can easily take a back seat. So-- yes, effective is good.
And even having grown up a nerd myself, I'd still rather my kids were smart.
Though I like EavesdropWriter's disclaimer of "without being obnoxious about it"-- yup-- being smart/effective is one thing....
Trying to show everyone just how smart you/your blog is, is a wholly different ballgame. :-)-
I don't share this often, but in 5th/7th grade my favorite clothes we a pair of green corduroy pants, A white western shirt with horseshoes on the yoke and a blue denim cowboy hat, often worn together.
Incidentally this is also the period of my life when I learned to fight. -
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I always tell my students that there is no distinguishing between content and form on their papers. Sloppy writing reflects sloppy thinking.
Likewise, Dane, I believe the dichotomies you pose here are false.-
Well, in the case of student papers, Mark, I guess a more accurate parallel for the smart/beautiful discussion would be, a terribly written essay on gorgeous hand-made paper with a clean font and elaborate cover... Or a plain paper written in courier which espouses great ideas and is well written.
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Ah, but the latter would be beautiful and smart. The "gorgeous hand-made paper . . ." would be rendered ugly by the garbage printed on it.
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I submit the drudge report and craigs list as evidence to the contrary.
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I think I would view that more as a situation of, "I don't care that the report looks good. There's no substance to it."
Like an actor or actress who is attractive, but vacant. I guess I separate between the two. -
I used to be able to do that. Not so good at it any more. What normally passes for beautiful in our society loses its attraction with the wrong attitude.
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Balanced.
Both beauty and effectiveness requires work, practicality, and personality...
As for kids, I just want them to be healthy and happy. They'll find beauty and intelligence in their own unique ways.
journal.marisaduma.net -
Smart is always better...you can always have plastic surgery, lipo, etc if you're ugly. You can't change stupid. ; )-
EavesdropWriter has a piece about a teenager still in school getting implants. Horrible---the idea, not the piece Vienne wrote.
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ditto
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Definately smart.
Imagine being beautiful and being too stupid to know how do deal with it.
Blogging - effective. I'll always choose substance over style - always.-
Substance has style.
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"Substance has style"
I like that.
Or, one could say, "Substance is my style"
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I happen to be both so I can't answer this question...
Smart all the way, you can always date a blind girl.-
If you're smart, you'll want a smart girl.
If you have a smart girl, she won't be all that concerned about whether or not you appear beautiful on the outside.
Problem solved. -
Then too, there is the idea that beauty is created and exists in the observation of it rather than in the physical being of the observed.
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Now you're catching on.
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I want my child to be smart enough to know right from wrong and not only how to treat people with respect but also why it's important. Then it won't matter how the packaging looks, true beauty will shine through.
I want my blog to be effective. -
I want to give a contrary answer!
Beautiful, as long as they are mentally functioning (wouldn't wish retardation on a kid). Life is just easier for the dumb pretty people. S/he can make a good living off of reality tv! Intelligence has no practical application. In my country and my time, effective marketing and packaging is what sells, not the product inside.
As for blog - I'll go with effective.-
Ah, but wouldn't it be fun to change all that?
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I was kind of surprised it took this long to get this response. I really suspected that this would be the thinking of a good majority of people, esp. those in North America.
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I beleive in honesty Dane - as much as it may hurt. You want a kid to thrive in the US with as few problems as possible - make them good-looking and middle of the road intellectually. He'll be president some day!
Of course, money helps too. If you had said smart, beautiful, or rich but ugly and an idiot the answer would also be different -
I wouldn't want the same thing, but I hear you. Many teachers see smart children as a nuisance.
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My two oldest sons prove this theory wrong.
Son #1 is sooo handsome, built great, very athletic, but not smart enough to figure out the right way to treat people. He had one friend in school and we put up with him only because we didn't want our son to have no friends. His IQ was average but he just focused on his looks and made sure everyone around him were aware of his good looks, too. He barely graduated high school. www.mydandelionpatch.com/chris1.html
My second son was obese, extremely intelligent and a a generally "nice kid." He had more friends than anyone I know, and they were the jocks and cheerleaders and geeks and skaters and band members and everyone else. In his senior year, he joined me on the Atkins diet and lost well over 100 pounds. When some of his friends were here one day, they saw a picture of my son before he lost weight. They were amazed. One said, "I never knew he was that fat." They all agreed. No one noticed how he looked because he was just a terrific person. And that includes two very attractive, intelligent girls that he dated before he lost weight. www.mydandelionpatch.com/jesse1.html
Beauty may open doors and brains may earn you a high salary but simply knowing how to treat people will get you the farthest in life. And if a kid lacks the ability to think logically, he may never figure out that mom is right about how to treat others. As the mother of six very different kids, I can tell you that even when you do your best to teach kids this lesson, it doesn't always work. -
Thanks for sharing that.
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"I really suspected that this would be the thinking of a good majority of people, esp. those in North America."
Now you've got me curious. What made you think that?-
We tend to consume a lot of celebrity. What we consume is usually a good indication of what we value.
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I think, though, you're getting an unusual microcosm of America here, though.
You've got a lot of writers and educators in the group. So that's going to certainly sway the overall results. -
Actually Dane, I always wondered the order of that - do we become what we consume or do the markets cater to us and create (for our consumption) that which we clamour for? I'm no fan of these drugging hollywood celebs made famous for their actions, but if it didn't sell it wouldn't be all over the place.
But also remember:
'Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'
Intelligence is not truth, beauty is
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really, either way the corelation is there. For this purpos which came first isn't as important as that they are related.
And true,nothing scientific in this survey.
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Beautiful coz then they'll be dumb enough to not know they are dumb, whilst smart kids are smart enough to know they are ugly.-
Or more along the lines the other kids will point OUT you're ugly if you aren't already aware of it... :-)
Ah, so glad to be a grown-up now! -
A very practical approach.
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I'll go with smart and effective on all counts. Beauty may open doors but just like poor Miss South Carolina in Teen Miss, if you can't think effectively, you're screwed..:)-
So how about a smart kid and a pretty kid to open the doors for the other?
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Give me beauty baby (and a good surgeon.) Being smart is stressful (at least I am guessing it would be)..lol.. Ignorance is bliss..Besides that I forget so much stuff now that once I get older I don't have a chance.. So, if you have a magic wand wave it my way and lift up my bottom a little higher, smooth out some of my old veins, and do something new with my hair (because right now I am looking at neither.)
Beauty and no smarts doesn't always mean SAD or BAD just means dumb..lol Dumb and happy, I think/know I dated a few fellows like that.
Dora
p.s.
Things you shouldn't say online..hee..hee -
I guess I should also say that beauty of course can be found on the inside as well.. Maybe, just maybe that's where mine may be.. lol..
Dora -
I just wanted to thank Dane for being the inspiration for my post today. Thanks!
suburbqueen.blogspot.com/2007/09/skin-deep.html -
Definitely smart, hands down. Beauty fades and people who like u for your looks, wont like u much when their gone or lessened. That is what happened to my mom. (too much info, i know)
But im serious, good looks are superficial, and although helpful in many instances and highly coveted, it is too fleeting.
As for a blog, the same thing, im sure you know many blogs that look like crap but deliver the goods, in content.
As for kids, i dont have any (but if i ever do) again smarts, integrity, and character over beauty. Hands down, no doubts. Because you can just get farther (in life) with brains. -
"... would you rather be smart or beautiful?
"How about your kids? Smart or beautiful?
"And since it always seems to come round to this with me, how about your blog? Beautiful or effective?"
It's a no-brainer for me, as far as people are concerned.
Smart.
Beautiful is okay, providing one's highest goal is to be a model or the next superstar pop tart.
But, smart people can actually do things. Like think.
About blogs.
Effective.
I'm assuming that the "beautiful" here refers to nice colors, nice pictures, and the like.
"Beautiful" might also be applied to the sort of flowery, elaborate, and monumentally fluffy elocutory rambles that were so popular in the 19th century. You don't see much of that sort of thing now. Lovely language, near-zero information content.
On the other hand, "beautiful" blogging means correctly spelled words, coherent syntax, and ideas strung together in a logical (or at least meaningful) order, then I'd want a blog that was beautiful and effective.
Because, without that sort of "beauty," the blog will be more of a blob.-
Definitely smart. I've actually sometimes wished I were ugly so people would leave me alone about what I wear.
If I ever have kids I'd rather they were smart, too. It'd be just too hard if they were dumb.
And I'd like my blog to be effective. If it's beautiful but not effective what's the point? -
"correctly spelled words, coherent syntax, and ideas strung together in a logical (or at least meaningful) order"
How about two out of three? or just the last one? I can't spell to save my life (FireFox to the rescue on that score), and I know I violate just oodles of grammar rules (though I don't know what a lot of them are) because i've been told so.
[edit] I realize that post assumes that I do string ideas together ina logical or at least meaningful order, but perhaps I presume too much [/edit]
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I just had a baby. I would rather that he grow up to be handsome than smart. Good looks trumps everything in this world.-
So what your saying is that an ugly James Bond would have died before his story got interesting.
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Good looks without brains only works if your Paris Hilton, or some other starlet.
Brains get you jobs and help in school.
But if you really prefer for your kids to be pretty rather than smart that's fine.
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For blogs, web sites & anything graphic online (& the actual UI, user interface).. it's got to be beautiful first. Once you grab their attention, you can show them how smart you are, if they are willing to read, or listen. We are a visual society.
A balance between both worlds would be ideal!
Glad to be somewhat smart & decent looking ; )
DanaMite
Total Escape - California, Off the Beaten Path
10 years Online! ~ www.totalescape.com-
Again I would have to cite craigslist and drudgereport as evidence to the contrary. Perhaps they are exceptions to the rule, but if so they are only the most notable, as there are many more really ugly, but very effective websites out there.
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Well said totalescape:)
But given a chance to choose just one of the two,I'd rather have an effective & smart presentations at my blog.
Sober on the beauty but real smart & intelligent at my works!
meghamathur.blogspot.com/
lifeinthehealthlane.blogspot.com/ -
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I think we have a niche marketer in the house. Love the answer!
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having a smart wife will kill all your good times in a flash LOL smart kids will kick your butts as soon as they grow up too! another LOL but being beautiful creates both fame and shame LOL
i would choose a beautiful blog, smart people read them $$$.
but a smart blog, beautiful people does not read them LOL -
I've always thought of myself as smart... I don't plan on having kids, but if I did, I'd poke fun at them if they weren't smart (don't worry, it'd would be too witty for them since they'd be stupid, and their fragile egos wouldn't be touched), and since I have a blog, I prefer it too to be smart. Since it can't be smart all on its own, I try to help out and post to it. One day though, I'd like my blog to be so smart that it posts to itself.
I'd also like my imaginary kids, and my real blog to be a little funny. Because without humor, life just kinda sucks.
In a nutshell, I haven't been successful in this world because of my beauty, and my blog won't be either. I'd choose "effective" any day!
www.lubasf.com/blog
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