I'm having a hard time deciding which is worse, here: the fact that BeautifulPeople.com, a dating site built on a set of arbitrary aesthetic standards, even exists, or that people join it. At any rate, there are fewer official Beautiful People as of today; according to The Guardian, the site was infected with the Shrek virus last month, disabling the screening application to allow just any old person in. Today, BeautifulPeople.com started culling those new members undeserving of membership, a move that the company claims is an upholding of standards.
"We have to stick to our founding principles of only accepting beautiful people -- that's what our members have paid for," BeautifulPeople.com's Greg Hodge told The Guardian. "We can't just sweep 30,000 ugly people under the carpet."
The website works on a system under which members are able to rank applicants on a beauty scale. The decision to reject 30,000 cost the company more than US$100,000 in refunds and Hodge sent a regretful email to the distressed dumpees.
Hodge said the company was investigating the cyber attack, adding he suspected a disgruntled former employee may have planted the virus.
The ugly members cull is not the first time the site has courted controversy, news.com.au reported. In January this year it asked 5,000 users to reapply after they posted pictures of themselves looking chubbier than usual celebrating the festive season.
And earlier this month it sparked controversy in Ireland by declaring that Irish men were among the world's ugliest.
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this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill
of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the
want of skill is." - Tao Te Ching
At least they are upfront and honest about their discrimination. Most of us aren't that honest with ourselves. We descriminate between beautiful and ugly and pretend like we don't. Remember that research that found that attractive women are less likely to be convicted of a crime than unattractive women. Even in the epicenter of our presumed "Justice" we cannot account for such discrimination.
Lao Tzu, however, made it explicit, if you look and say "Lo, there is beauty" then by your very looking you create ugliness. Because both are in the eye of the beholder. YOU discriminate between beautiful and ugly. YOU make them a reality, otherwise they have no reality.
Arbitrary? Blah blah. ffs I wish I could stop using the damn internet.