Hyper-Romanticism

Cheetah Girl

When I was vacuuming last wednesday, it hit me... We live in the most romanticist era ever!
I'm sure historians of the future will agree that a big part of the world is stuck in this era.
Let me explain with some of the features of romanticism:

• If TV isn't escapism, than I don't know how to call it ^__^
  Back in the first era of romanticism only the more wealthy and artists could "escape" the daily reality, the common people would have loved to escape but they were too busy working 'till they dropped to be active in this practise.
  But now anyone can join in the "fun"
• Striving for beauty: every day you're confronted with this desire. Same as above: this is now available for everyone! What we consider basic hygiene is probably way more than the wealthy people had back than. Breastjobs are being done to anyone these days, it's not something anymore for only the wealthy of the earth.
  Anorexia and boulemia are just witnesses of this desire going out of control.
• Exotism: is any culture still pure? With all these desires to import other people's culture (feng shui, fushion cooking, ...) can we still say our own culture didn't get influenced by this behaviour? Maybe it's because I live in such a small country that I see the effect of this on our traditional culture. Some people don't even remember certain traditional dishes anymore... Also don't we all dream at some point to take this magneficient voyage to an exotic country, where everything is more pure...
• Religion: people want/need to believe! I don't say in what but I can't recall (in my life) that there were ever so many extremists in any religion! Maybe because science has discovered already most things that we encounter daily. There's still so much they don't know but not like in the days of the Enlightenment. Maybe it lost it's "magic" as we all know why we fall in love, or why when we jump we fall down,... I think people need some mystery in their life and religion is the biggest mystery we have.
• Internet is just feeding all these things: we come in contact with other cultures, we can become an 'ideal' personality, we can share our religion with fellow believers, our curiousity to visit the world gets stimulated with each new friend we make,...

Well my hubbie thinks I was in a former life a real philosopher when I told him this... also because I asked him if TV had influenced the way we remember things... (I mean how do you remember certain things in your life? Are those flashbacks, do you see it from a distance or from your point of view?... ) ^__^