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(and feel free to comment! My older posts are certainly no less relevant to the burning concerns of the day.)

Wednesday, August 08, 2018

What's the Difference #8: Modesty and Humility

Basically, modesty is for suckers. No I'm just kidding!

Modesty just means you're not a show-off. Prancing around in all your glory - not your style. You prefer clothes. The outfits you choose are modest. Your assets may be considerable - but it's all well-covered. Much has been left to the imagination. People can still tell, maybe - but it wouldn't be polite to. In general, people respect that, and everybody's comfortable.

Then suddenly, all your clothes fall off! Even your unders. You're HUMILIATED! Humiliation galore!

Instantly, you've become humble.

This strange psychological fact is why some people seem to think it might be beneficial, even desirable, to find some clever way of stripping all somebody's clothes off unexpectedly. But surprise! Those people are bound to be embarrassed by the prison terms involved. Lesson learned, I hope: other people's modesty is their deal, not yours.

In the final analysis, humility is our natural state. Modesty is essentially, an affectation. But that's our business - a personal matter of taste and style, and nobody else's call.

3 comments:

VEG said...

Maybe this is actually what nudist beaches are all about. Less about exhibitionism and more about shedding preconceptions and expectations. I mean if it's all out there, there's nothing to be used against you right? Depends how you approach the scenario I guess...

dogimo said...

Damn right! Are people on nudist beaches humiliated? Not remotely! Are they even immodest, I don't think so! They're just naturalists.

No wait. Darwin was a naturalist. They're just naturists. They're just natural.

What's natural is not shameful.

They're just people walking 'round in the altogether not thinking a couple flimsy scraps of cloth somehow shield their basic human vulnerability. Clothes are totemic. By wearing them we envelop ourselves in the state of civilization, as if all our assembled tanks and arms were warding off harm from us, so long as we agree to abide by civilization's taboos. There's strength in not pretending such things!

dogimo said...

Mind you, I dig clothes. They're a sweet means of personal expression! Style.

But it's ridiculous the shock value and personal dismay attendant upon nudity. Clothes aren't important, just because they can be gratuitously and beautifully expressive. To say nothing of real physical comfort and protection. It's just the psychological protection that I think people get more into than they ever get out of.