After reading The Libido for the Ugly, I realized several contradictions from the author's criticism, so I will talk about my feelings.
First of all,wealth and poverty. Westmoreland County was the very heart of industrial America,the center of its most lucrative and and characteristic activity. However, what the author actually saw is ”A so dreadfully hideous scene”. It is said that the wealth here is countless, but the living conditions are so poor that even disgrace a race of alley cats. At the same time, the author uses many metaphors in the text. For examle,comparing a crazy little church of Jeannette to a dormer window and the steel stadium to a huge rat-trap which shows that the design of this place is so bad. It seems to have hired an inferior designer and put the money for design into a more important part. So some abstract things show up. If you are rich, why do you ignore this? The author also said that not only this city, but also Newark, Brooklyn and so on. Instead,In some poor areas of Europe, peasants are very particular about the decoration of their bedrooms. East or west, home is the best.Only inner wealth can be really rich.
Next,advanced and backward. It said that the Westmoreland County is the boast and pride of the richest and grandest nation ever seen on earth. But the ugliness there gives people a feeling of backwardness.According to the author, it dues to the creatures there--dull, insensate brute,with no love of beauty. To some extent,this kind of contradiction appears in our daily life. The blind patriotism has blackened its own country’s reputation especially by some "keyboard men" who are raging on the Internet. I often give my seat to the elderly on the bus. My grandparents are in poor health. Even on the crowded bus for a long time is a challenge, so I understand them very well. However, among the fashionable and elegant people, it is rare to see the someone to give seats actively to the elderly. In other way, although it is a trivial matter, it also shows that material civilization has gone up, but spiritual civilization has not kept up. Isn't this similar to Lu Xun's "Cannibalism Society"? Seemingly powerful, actually backward.
At last,beautiful and ugly. Here once was a land full of ambition and aspiration. Then it showed its true colors--so bleak and forlorn that make all hope into macabre and depressing joke. It hits me that one story from TV series Ultraman Tiga when it comes to beauty. On the one hand, the original quiet village disappeared during the pocess of industrialization and urbanization, which was full of light pollution. On the other hand, the mentality of the original villagers also changed. It is obvious that no one went to worship in the temple of Obico again, which gave birth to a monster who hates light and likes to play tricks on people. But before the monster died, there was still a trace of concern for the village, so at the last moment of his life, he saw the former village again in his memory.
Thus, don't be silly, don't torture those good people with that deformed love.