I'd agree with Peaches, and add about the TV verse -- I don't know if this is NC's intention, but I think that if there's a cultural culprit, it's the media (TV), and in particular the advertising that is constantly telling young girls they're not enough as they are, that their greatest commodity is their looks, and that being found attractive on the outside is the most important thing. The "blaring and angry" TV reminds them that they're not good enough, "as if [they] don't know" what's missing -- the lesson has been pounded in until it's second nature. And the logical conclusion must be that if you're not a superstar like girl X in the commercial, then it's your own fault and you should feel guilty. Guilt, of course, is the point, because if it's your fault, then you can do something about it, like buy those beauty products and those clothes! But the brains behind those TV jingles and enticing images never show themselves -- instead they hide behind the screen, immune to their own hypnotic spells, refusing to take responsibility for the influence they hold over young minds and emotions. "Those without sin" can then sit above it all, living vicariously, and then judge harshly while their victims suffer the consequences.
Anyway, diatribe over, and now I have to work out just who and where is this person that says, "Come chain yourself from my ankles"? Ankles? A girl who died on the abortion table? Or is my imagination just a little too worked up at the moment?
I'd agree with Peaches, and add about the TV verse -- I don't know if this is NC's intention, but I think that if there's a cultural culprit, it's the media (TV), and in particular the advertising that is constantly telling young girls they're not enough as they are, that their greatest commodity is their looks, and that being found attractive on the outside is the most important thing. The "blaring and angry" TV reminds them that they're not good enough, "as if [they] don't know" what's missing -- the lesson has been pounded in until it's second nature. And the logical conclusion must be that if you're not a superstar like girl X in the commercial, then it's your own fault and you should feel guilty. Guilt, of course, is the point, because if it's your fault, then you can do something about it, like buy those beauty products and those clothes! But the brains behind those TV jingles and enticing images never show themselves -- instead they hide behind the screen, immune to their own hypnotic spells, refusing to take responsibility for the influence they hold over young minds and emotions. "Those without sin" can then sit above it all, living vicariously, and then judge harshly while their victims suffer the consequences. Anyway, diatribe over, and now I have to work out just who and where is this person that says, "Come chain yourself from my ankles"? Ankles? A girl who died on the abortion table? Or is my imagination just a little too worked up at the moment?