Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Oh really, how nice!

"When you describe something as nice, it suggests that you can't think of
anything good or bad"
~Mark Vernon

The BBC is doing a really interesting commentary on niceness. I'm intrigued by it. Should we really aim to be 'nice'? To me nice is bland, lifeless. Niceness embodies apathy.

Considering how often we use the word 'nice', it is amazing that we are not offended more. Especially when we know that when someone says "that's a nice outfit" they are really saying, "you look like a spastic clown who got dressed in the dark while high on LSD." And "he's a nice guy" really means "he looks like the love child of Quasimodo and the Elephant Man, after he lost the fight; but he has a great personality!"

So really, what is so nice about being nice? It seems like a mediocre achievement to me.

What's the point of niceness?

NICE DECADE, NASTY DECADE Changing times, charted by the Magazine
The governor of the Bank of England says it's been a nice decade, but is niceness really something to strive for, asks Julian Joyce, in the first of a series of articles about changing times.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

haha; this is amusing. I know I have lived in India too long, when I turn pink w/ pleasure when someone tells me i am "nice". Brutal honesty has been such a core part of my desi experience. I have told this story many times. I went home and cried after my first day at Sangama. Two people asked me if I was an MtoF trans, and atleast one was distracted by the pimples on my chin the entire time I was introducing myself. After two years of this (I have manyy stories), my skin is very thick. I am happy to say that I get a huge kick out of people thinking I am a Hijra, and when my pimples are pointed out, my only thought is, "oh really. okay, gotta wash my face more." And when someone says "nice", I know they mean it.

Florizel said...

So my refrence goes back to theater and lyrics...

From into the woods:

"You're so nice.
You're not good,
You're not bad,
You're just nice.
I'm not good,
I'm not nice,
I'm just right.
I'm the Witch."

This is the excerpt specific to being nice, but it goes on about how nice is really nothing.

dit said...

nice = unsexy