You look in the mirror with your blue green brown yellow grey eyes (whoever you are) and think you are the best, so you thought.
A woman said to me the other day “it’s time to get serious at some point and I’m in the market for a husband.” A common quote for those who reside in LA or New York. The girl is on the make as they say. I asked a conservative lady the other day, “did you have an arranged marriage?” She replied, “yes, I arranged it.” Giggling away in her seat with a glass of champagne. Armed with a nice wardrobe, sex appeal, a bit of education and some etiquette, many women I have come across are willingly open about their intentions in capturing a man. They don’t just want any man, but the best man (in some cases after a marriage it could just be “the best man”, but that’s another story). If the guy doesn’t fit the bill, then they are well stocked and prepared to move on to the Next Best Thing.
I have come across people that try to convince me it is simply the “singles scene” and that people in relationships or marriage don’t go through this dilemma. Of course, their song changes once they break up or go through a divorce. Shocking right?
[info_box]Married adults now divorce two-and-a-half times as often as adults did 20 years ago and four times as often as they did 50 years ago… between 40% and 60% of new marriages will eventually end in divorce. The probability within… the first five years is 20%, and the probability of its ending within the first 10 years is 33%… Perhaps 25% of children ages 16 and under live with a stepparent. —Brian K. Williams, Stacy C. Sawyer, Carl M. Wahlstrom, Marriages, Families & Intimate Relationships, 2005[/info_box]
But let’s not discuss the obvious down side of love, life and liberty. It’s time to smell the roses (and wear the same colored glasses) and just enjoy the moment. The sun rises everyday, people aren’t out there putting horse meat into ground beef (latest British scandal) and everyone is fat, healthy and wealthy living to the age of 224 or do we just stop aging at 28?
So since we are all barely aging, what makes individuals (jaded and non jaded alike) think that they are entitled to the Next Best Thing or that THEY themselves are in fact the NBT? I shouldn’t use this example, but I’m going to anyway. Take a look at the all famous Facebook (some call it Fakebook, some call it Fuckbook, whatever your designee) and how everyone markets themselves. I have come across hundreds of men and women, but honestly a bit more women, that take photos of themselves or have friends doing it for them, in every piece of lingerie (in front of one of 100 mirrors in their home) and every part of their body. I could literally start another magazine where the content would be semi nude and lingerie, sell it in India or Ukraine and probably make a fortune. There is indeed that much raw content available. They are marketing themselves as the NBT. Some have their current lovers or boyfriends taking the shots for them, posting them to attract a future man as the current one is boring them (confession of a very bad bikini model). Like a factory, just keep rolling them out one after the other, NEXT PLEASE! As hot as these girls are (and I blurred the faces) I don’t believe these are modeling shots. Perhaps ONE might be – the erotic one.
DISCLAIMER: I have no problem with women marketing themselves in lingerie in front of mirrors either nude, semi nude or implied nude. In fact, I encourage more of it.
These may are may not be the NBT but there is certainly the undertone of “look at me, I’m quite possibly the NBT, see what I have here.” And the men? We see them often putting photos of their fine automobiles or only themselves on location at some international posh setting (so the women look better in the bathroom mirror right?) perfectly shaven with neat hair and sucking up their belly (hmmm, I better review my photos now). If they are young then they tend to go with the shirt off marketing their 6 pack stomach and not their lack of $6 million. Come on, it’s fake!! But people love it. It is working and everyone is Instagramming, Facebooking, Tweeting, Tumblring, etc., and they are doing it about their lives and marketing the most important thing in the world, THEMSELVES. I mean, is there anything MORE important than what you are wearing? Where you are vacationing? Who you are with? How you look? What secret person they vacationed with (usually to Dubai, who never appears in the photos) and when they came back to New York, Miami, London, Los Angeles, etc. they are on a shopping spree buying up Louboutin, Hermes, Chanel and LVMH like it’s bubble gum? Haven’t we all scene that and wondered, how did this bikini wearing big breasted wet lipped high school drop out become so damn successful? Ok, it’s the success of the NBT marketing program. Someone out there is a BUYER make no mistake.
Men also have great success with their marketing programs. On a socio-economic level there will always be a lower income debutante that feels she deserves the male NBT’s financial reserves (see: prenuptial agreement). But men have a different agenda. It’s kind of like dining out. Women, as an example, like to order just the right amount of food and drink, never to little and never an abundance. But men, we want to sample everything on the menu and order accordingly not worrying about if it is enough, because it never is enough! As ostentatious as the male may seem marketing his best assets, he is only fulfilling one side of the coin. Ultimately, yes, there is a BUYER of him as well. It takes two to tango…
It’s nature, using every tool possible to attract the opposite sex. But the tools may have been perfected to such a degree that the effort of attracting the opposite sex is sweeter than the actual finished product. Thus, we see the NBT trapped in a cycle of endless opportunities and perhaps the only escape would be to grab one “choice” (for lack of a better word) and move with that choice to a mountainside village of Montana where the nearest neighbor is about 5 miles away (and disconnect Twitter). So we see divorce on the rise due to infidelity and online sex? The constant reminder that the NBT is out there with or without a ring on their finger. We see marketing programs on Facebook, Instragram, Tumblr and all the other social media outlets. The solution? Self control. Good luck!!!!
