Why do we treat people nicer if they're more good looking?
I don't think it's difficult to find out quite generic, rational reasons, on the internet. I don't intend to try. Sometimes it's worthwhile to think it out on your own. What sort of reasons do I subscribe to, and what do I think of that sort of judgment, on reflection?
I guess the foremost reason is that I want a good looking person to like me. It's nice to have affinity with good looking things, of any kind. I'd like a sleek car, a shiny PC, a classic watch, a sharp suit of clothes, and so on. And I'd like to think that my identity consists, in appearance, of having tastefully adopted good looking things. Therefore, the good regard of a good looking person lends itself to me the idea that I have made it in some sense, that I have earned acceptance into certain station. I, having transposed certain ideas of beauty or ideal onto a good looking person, imagine that that person has also transposed those ideas on me, or perhaps is oblivious to my actual failings or inferiorities. He no longer sees them when he sees me; he does not look too hard at me to assume that I am approximately a social equal.
The foundation of this idea is that there are separate classes of people, and that each class more or less corresponds to their appearance, or perhaps how they are regarded. Needless to say, those are quite distinct facts. Imagine that - we intuitively think of individuals in classes, and the background scripts immediately start ticking off. The other funny thing is that there's a quote that goes "art imitates life", which Wilde recognised as ironic as he considered life to imitate art more. In other words I, with Wilde, think it to be oftener true that we mis-cast folks one way or another, and being blind to their faults or their fancies, hardly ever change our minds about them. So we see the poor-man tendencies easily in the man cast as the poor man, and the rich-folk qualities in abundance in the actions of a princeling. But think, is he the same man or not; is he so bred, so treated, and so asked to play his role?
I think the modern man (or woman) is fundamentally sceptical. In other words I think, were he not so busy, so pressed, distracted, or pursuing so many things, I think he would like to think himself the master of his own opinion, rigorously applied. At the same time, the modern man is, as a result of a long, hard education, and a tiring career life, quite cynical. He is out for himself, and his own. So I think being good, in the sense of being decent, is optional. It is more important to be wealthy than to be good. What that means, perhaps, is that shortcuts to wealth become quite attractive. Heuristics - there's a strange word. It means, in so many words, acquired patterns of learning - recognising sequences and geometries, applying analogies, making sense through seeing the inner matrix, if you will. Quite powerful, but at the same time, quite prone to error, compounded error even. Where I'm going with this is: I think the modern man tends to rely on assumptions or prejudices a little too much to his detriment - and personal appearance is one of them. It is very difficult to think bad about a good looking person, provided he or she is normal (if we do not talk about irrational jealousy). The corollary is that it is not easy to think well of a poor looking person, even if he is normal. We don't see it.
Perhaps it helps to think: why should we want to be nice to people if they're poor looking? The gods Zeus (of thunder) and Hermes (the emissary) were said to take on poor disguises, hence it was an essential custom for Grecians to treat travellers kindly. The story of Baucis and Philemon in Tyana is quite interesting, and pre-figures the bible's telling of Sodom and Gomorrah (angels in disguise). But I don't think we need external reasons to do so. To me it seems quite silly to want to understand one individual but not another, if we're truly curious about life; understand, appreciate or befriend. Of course, it's all optional - all our interactions are. What we do is completely up to us, leaving aside custom and norm. I suppose time matters. In time we inevitably become who we most want to be.
