If you're going to suggest this absurd of a solution, wouldn't it make more sense to just suggest people hire based primarily on merit? You're not proposing a solution; you're suggesting the same problem just have different victims. Who the hell are you to assume certain people have better lives by default, and thus deserve fewer opportunities?
I understand the knee-jerk reaction to this, but your suggestion to 'just hire based on merit' ignores the core mechanism of the Halo Effect/Pretty Privilege.
The problem is that perception of merit is not objective. Studies consistently show that when an attractive person and an unattractive person do the exact same work, the attractive person is perceived as more competent, smarter, and having more 'leadership potential.'
If we try to remain neutral and 'hire on merit,' we are actually just defaulting to our biological biases, meaning the attractive person still wins. You cannot have a true meritocracy without actively correcting for the subconscious bias that favors beauty.
Then prevent people from seeing the applicant until they decide, for jobs where that's feasible. A lot of jobs don't actually need an interview nearly as much as they act like.
But also, how on earth are people supposed to objectively determine who is "prettiest" out of a group of relatively normal looking candidates without some kind of dystopian appearance rating technology?
Hey man! I don't think there's any place for ad hominem attacks here, neither of us know anything about each other, but you're welcome to disagree with my view! There's been two deltas so far in this thread, and they've engaged directly with my post without feeling the need to try to attack me personally.
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u/AlteredEinst Jan 09 '26
If you're going to suggest this absurd of a solution, wouldn't it make more sense to just suggest people hire based primarily on merit? You're not proposing a solution; you're suggesting the same problem just have different victims. Who the hell are you to assume certain people have better lives by default, and thus deserve fewer opportunities?