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Cleofuss wrote:

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Sammy Sosa now (left) and back in May 09

Ex-baseball slugger Sammy Sosa is "not trying to be Michael Jackson," a Chicago Cubs employee who talks to the outfielder frequently said after pictures of a dramatically lighter-complected Sosa at an after-party following Thursday's Latin Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, surfaced online.

"He is going through a rejuvenation process for his skin. Women have it all of the time. He was surprised he came out looking so white. I thought it was a body double. Part of is just the lighting," Rebecca Polihronis, an employee of Sosa's former team, the Cubs, told the Chicago Tribune.

"He was doing a dermatological skin process after years and years in the sun," Polihronis said. "It did come out looking weird."

SUCH an interesting case; the sociological implications alone are staggering. The man was handsome before and now he just looks like the living dead. The party line may be "skin rejuvenation" yet this sort of major change is no accident. Word is that Sosa is so pleased with the results he may become a spokesperson for the skin product. The question is WHY???

Of course, it's none of our business yet as an admired public figure Sosa does indirectly influence his fans. Skin colour is a funny, complicated thing, especially in the developing world. A part of it is perhaps due to Western neo-imperialism and its subtle and not so subtle commercial denigration of ethnic beauty, but that gives cracker-ass crackers a little too much credit. The belief that lighter skin is more attractive and therefore desirable is deeply ingrained in the ethnic world. Sosa's from the Dominican Republic right? Such a hotbed of self-hate where African features such as darker skin, wide noses, kinky hair are openly regarded as unattractive. Asian countries prize light skin yet most think whitey is funny-looking. India's just plain fucked up when it comes to skin colour. Indeed, people with darker skin are regarded as products of a lesser race by those who are lighter skinned and therefore descendants of Indo-European Aryans. Clearly, these are prejudices that are thousands of years in the making.

Ahhhh, skin colour and hair texture ---> any discussion of these hot topics is hardly exhaustive. It is a very personal choice to lighten one's skin or relax one's hair, yet the effects of such actions are far-reaching. Thank the gods my skin is perfectly golden and my hair beautifully sleek so I can sidestep all this drama and focus only on my various mental illnesses.

I would love to see further discussion of these issues. Why, if I could start threads (FOAD FASCIST ADMENZ) I would start one on this very topic.