reality bitten

israeli culture is very much an "in your face" culture. Great value is placed on the concept of realness, but in actual translation the realness has a limit. I often question whether this emphasis is due to a lack of tolerance for the niceties that lubricate social interaction, a lack of energy for pomp and circumstance, or if it reflects a true desire to know the substance of a persons intent.

On one hand it's blasphemous to hold your tongue in a situation of conflict because your true emotions aren't expressed, while on the other, outward signs of wayward realness are acceptable. By this I mean that it's common to walk through the streets and see women with olive skin and bleach blond hair who have invested thousands into rhinoplasty, breast augmentation, laser resurfacing,inconspicuous behind the ear facelifts, permanant makeup, brazilian straightening, and so on and so forth.

I've long wondered why a society that has no patience for the lack of realness in emotional modulation or conventional manners can still heavily encourage the plastic physical facade that lines the pockets of many a plastic surgeon and his/her pampered pooch. There's an incongruency in the definition of realness here.

I do love those tiny little pampered pooches though, especially when they give soppy wet nosed dog kisses. I'm powerless to resist.