Dirty Pictures
Why do things that aren’t perfect (or perfectly clean) catch our attention?
Take a look at the vehicle above. When you first glanced at it did you notice that is was a rather mundane mini-van or did you notice the “Wash Me” message scribbled in dirt on the rear windshield?
Look at the young boy at the bottom. What do you notice first about him? Was it the striking striped polo shirt or were the finger print dirt streaks across his face first to draw your attention?
The truth is, regardless of our temperament, we are fascinated by that which is not perfect. Whether we embrace it as a sign of the human kind or we yearn to clean or correct it, well that is a whole new aspect of our temperament.
I wonder what the mind tweakers, the mother earths, those who would make life great and the bloggers for business would make of this phenomena?
May 24th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
my very maternal side would definitely want to wash that lovely childs face, is that caring or is it perfection - I believe the child’s view would be hey I”m fine the way I am
for me it’s my desire to care for
i had a dirty phase in my life where I tried to get as filthy as I possible could — just because it seemed fun
parallel to being sortof grungy in HS - I did that too
hmmm what does that say about my temperment
mother earthy ??
the dirty vehicle? Wastes water to wash it - let it sit in the rain instead! Gave up on that one a long time ago!
May 24th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
I’d say we’re hardwired to notice things that are out of place, not quite right, not as they should be, and yes, dirt. It’s keyed into survival - in less privileged times, out-of-placeness can be cues to both food sources and dangers. I also remember reading some research last year about how the brain is wired to be repelled by contamination - and that intellect doesn’t over rule that wiring. Grocery stores cannot put toilet paper in the same aisle as canned goods, because the brain marks the toilet paper as a source of contamination, and therefore, food that’s close to it is “contaminated” too. Knowing that the TP is clean, and the food is sealed, doesn’t over rule the ewww factor. It’s more primal than that.
So.. as a mind tweaker… I’d say we notice dirty things because we’re hardwired to do so. What we do with the info depends on a lot of less solid sorting factors. Or something like that. Maybe. Kinda. Sorta.
(BTW… I agree with Mother Earth.. Leave the car dirty, wash the child’s face, and I’d add in… tell him its rude to stare!)
May 24th, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Dirty? No, not just dirty, but the negative, the nasty, the bloody, the messy — for most of us, anyway. We pass the same patch of flowers each day and hardly notice them, yet slowdown to look at an accident that occurred right in the middle of them. The entire evening news program is filled with negatively slanted stories — murder, robbery, annexation arguments — and editors/directors save one positive story with which to end the broadcast (remember “If it bleeds, it leads”?). Teachers have hundreds and thousands of students during the course of their career, but when tasked to remember them, the challenging ones rise to the forefront of our minds and we struggle to remember the good ones.
I don’t think it’s because we’re hard-wired for it. There are many people who still have that optimistic outlook, avoid the negatives in their lives and concentrate on looking at the good in every situation. They are proactive in keeping the negative out of their lives. I think the rest of us have been trained to be negative, trained by our parents, our peers, our environment and our media. When we are forced to see and hear the negative throughout most of our day, our brains then begin to filter for it. This, unfortunately, is a learned behavior.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:12 am
Well, part of it is that we notice different. For example a clean kid among a group of dirty ones would stand out too.
I think it’s more than just that, but that’s a big part. We been taught that clean is good, e.g. “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”
As a side note, my wife is out of commission, recovering from an operation for 6-8 week and I’m Mr Dad.
Kids are dirty than ever
But their hygiene is probably improved. Stains on clothes? Who cares. Eating or snacking? Wash hands.
May 26th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
Very interesting to think about Reg. Looking at the van, my first thought is “Dang, who owns this dirtball?” My second thought was, “That’s cute. Someone took the time to write Wash Me but didn’t take the time to actually wash the van. Nice.”
I don’t know if it’s because of, or in spite of, the imperfections, that I’m drawn to these pictures. They definitely do help the mind wander, and wonder, what’s going on.
May 26th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Phil, Ted, Bert, Tori & Karen,
All of you have lead me to look more deeply into the question.
In fact, I plan you incorporate your insights into my next post (with credits and links of course).
I appreciate you!
Reg