Appearance is all deceptive

  • The word appearance actually means “the way someone or something looks or acts in a social situation”. For sure, we are all influenced by what we see and act accordingly based on our perceptions and personal judgments. It would be wrong to say that appearance is never deceptive as it is deceptive most of the time. An example of this would be that of water which appears to be shallow but is deep. On the other hand, we can also consider real life examples by referring to people we meet every day. People are often judged due to their appearances. For instance, if an individual appears to be religious, then it cannot be said that he or she does not sin. It is important to include perception and think deeply before making any judgment.  

    Moreover, it is true that the perception of appearance is subjective. It depends greatly on an individual’s thinking processes and train of thoughts that he goes through after intake of information through visual senses.  

    To fit in a society and due to the fear of judgment, people often tend to deceive each other through appearance. We become something that we are not only because of the fear of being judged, we lie to other as well as to ourselves. 

    As an adage goes “First impression is the last impression”, so according to this statement appearance is deceptive. All that glitter is not gold. Things are not actually the way they seem to be. There is so much more than the outer appearance. Appearance is just an outer shell, there are so many layers inside, usually the inner self could be completely different than the outer look.   

    According to an experiment “Halo effect” i.e. a cognitive biasness in which our overall impression of a person influences how we think or feel about his/her own character, supports the face that appearance is deceptive. Things should never depend on observations only but should also include interactions. You cannot fully know anyone unless you interact with them. 

    It is often said that face is the index of mind, so it is the appearance of the face that helps us in making judgments regarding personality traits and this is what we all do now a days. Fraud people often tend to deceive other people based on their appearance. An example of this would be that of street beggars seen around the country.  

    The appearance of a particular individual maybe deceptive unless we haven’t communicated or interacted with the person e.g. someone beautiful is not necessarily always smart, although they may look like one.  Appearance also denotes the way one acts and behaves in a public event. an exceptionally polite and sweet person on the outside maybe loathed with anger and destructive thought on the inside. You cannot really tell what's inside of a person by only looking at the outside.  

    Appearances can be called as deceptive because no one really shows his/her real self to anyone so we can say somehow at some point we all deceive others and get deceived by others. For example, a person is really sad and heartbroken, he would not necessarily show that to everyone but only his/her close friends would know maybe.  

    Ali Ibn Abi Talib quotes ‘Do not be misled by the appearance for these are apt to be deceptive’. It claims that appearances are deceptive in nature. People put masks on their faces to appear in such a way that they receive social acceptance. 

    We all have been judged on the basis if our looks If a girl is reserved and doesn't interact easily, she is labeled as rude, arrogant and we usually say that she's so full of herself. similarly, if a girl wears jeans, we think she does all the wrong stuff and is very outgoing. but the truth could be completely different as well!

    Therefore, judging someone based just on their appearance and looks isn’t enough. We need to interact and communicate to truly understand something or someone. Appearance isn’t deceptive every time but our past experiences may make us be more cautious and more judgmental in evaluating someone based on appearance. In this regard, it’s better to be neutral that to flowed by appearance. A person is always so much more than how they look, we need to stop making judgments right away.