Monday 4 June 2007

What is the tinsel effect?

What is the tinsel effect? I don't know if exists outside of my own head. I'll have to Google it later and see whether it matches the dictionary inside my brain. I doubt I've coined a new term or made up something original, but I needed a name for my blog and since I'm late in jumping on the blog bandwagon, all the other good names were taken...or at least the good ones that came to my mind.

The tinsel effect is what people do to cover up the things they (myself included) don't want others to see. Similarly, a Christmas tree or a store window can be covered in tinsel to the point that you can only see the tinsel. The tinsel effect might also be used to describe what we do to cover up the truth about things. False optimism and blind allegiance are strands of tinsel. Lack of critical thinking about subjects is another strand of tinsel. Dishonesty for the sake of preserving someone's feelings is tinsel - although I still do a bit of tactful truth-bending, at times. All these tactics we use to make ourselves feel better, all the while we're neglecting the substance underneath. The store window without tinsel becomes another shop selling possibly unnecessary items (except for Muji, in which all the items are probably unnecessary but highly desirable). The Christmas tree without tinsel becomes a plant that probably would have been nicer to look at in a garden or in the woods. I'm not trying to be pessimistic here, but separating the tinsel from the object underneath is quite liberating - I believe it returns a basic, more truthful identity to that object. I don't have any answers with this blog and I'm sure that philosophers have explained the Tinsel Effect in more eloquent and accurate terms. This is my blog and I'm just trying to see what's under the tinsel. Thanks for reading.

5 comments:

Janet Kincaid said...

Yippee!

I can't wait to see what's under the tinsel...

May I add a link for your blog to my blog?

Janet Kincaid said...

P.S. I'd call it Hilary's Tinsel, btw.

hm-uk said...

Ooooh, linking blogs is a bit scary for me. Will you give me a bit of time to sort out the 'personality' of this thing? I'm a bit scared of this getting too big, too fast and my bailing out...

hm-uk said...

By the by, ta for stopping in. The only things under my tinsel are...baubles. Ha! I don't normally go for sexual innuendo - maybe it means I'm loosening up. Hey, hey not like that...keep it clean!

Janet Kincaid said...

Duly noted. I'll hold off until you're ready. (Now why did that sound nasty? Hm. Subtle thing, that innuendo.)