Would everyone please start smiling in their pictures?

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You don't rule anyone else! Everyone can frown if they want to, and since it's their pic. you nore I get to decide what they look like. Deal.. with.. it!

I'm so tired of this "be a fake/I hate you anyway" @#!$%!

Last edited by LiendaBalla on 28 Jan 2009, 9:51 am, edited 3 times in total.

I can't smile. I am a vampire. Vampires brood.

... and may I add one tiny little example as of why this makes me mad? (as I have gotten this "Smile and be fake" ignorance all my life. Oh wait, alot of that is emotional invalidation isn't it? hmm.) I was relaxed and minding my own business in a deli shop when some random, stupid girl said "smile.." I said "why?" And she didn't give me an answer. What a shock...

Never mind that there were more then six normal people in the same room not smileing because they too were content. Why me?! You know what? It hurts for people to always hate you for who you are? It sucks to be told "do A and do B because I like it that way". People like that don't actualy give a dam about your feelings. Why again am I going to post a pic of myself with possible negativity. Uhm yeah.. 'sigh'

Some people strangly seem to think that saying "smile" is motivation and will sometimes instantly fix my supposed mood that they judged me as having. Nope, it does the opposite for me everytime.

Ok done with my rant here. I don't act fake unless you force me.

I actually saw this advice "Smile and you'll feel better. Try it, it really works!" printed inside a College diary. It doesn't work: any amount of smiling, I've discovered, cannot compensate for depression in an overcrowded, overworked and disorganised environment.

It's quite scary, but I have actually seen people who's smiles look "painted on". I look at them and think "This can't be right, there must be a glimmer of generosity and honesty in there", but there isn't. I get no "read out" by looking at them at all. Nothing: it's weird. It is a mask, but other people don't seem to see it as a mask. People like this can be very manipulative and often go undetected. That's why I tend to avoid people like this unless I have to talk to them.

I've seen the veneer crack on these people under pressure. The mask falls off and they look at me as if to say "Help me". I was surprised, these kinds of people project the idea that they are always happy, successful and self assured. They're not: it's all an elaborate act.

That's why I hate people smiling at me falsely when they are being critical or putting on a helpful "fascade". The truth of the matter is that these people hate their jobs and talking to me. Next time I meet someone like this, I'll "head for the hills". Any complaints I'll sort out by email or letter. I can see straight through them. I can't stand fake smiles.

I think you look great when you smile. Genuinely happy. With a broad smile like that I am sure you could get some good results. You are like me when you frown. You are capable of looking much more broody and glum than some. Much morose. I am the same way, when I frown I look far more morose than some people. Ever notice how some people don't even look unhappy when they are scowling?

I don't usually smile in pictures, unless it's a natural smile and the picture is being taking while I'm laughing.
When it's a posing picture I can't smile it looks really forced I just look daft not like a smile at all, I prefer to just do a serious face

My normal 'at rest' face looks like a scowl. People have asked me before what's wrong, but I'm not angry. I smile easily so I am usually smiling while I talk to someone but pictures are totally different. A picture smile is so forced, I usually look like I am in pain because it looks like more of a grimace than a smile.

So I generally prefer it when I make just a very slight smile so that I can look friendly without having a big huge fake smile. My icon is a perfect example of an occasion that I got it right. It's hard to find that fine line, though. I usually end up looking angry.

My brother asked me to get him a shirt for his birthday that said in large letters "smiling is for hypocrites," because my mom refused to get it for him.

I obliged of course, and it was one of his favorite things to wear for a couple of years.

What a horrible attitude. Maybe your mom had a valid point not getting it for him.

It was meant to be funny- it's from an existential comic he used to read. People who knew him knew he was a friendly guy, but didn't smile a lot. He has a great attitude, it was just his sense of humor.

Maybe it should be:

"Fake smiling is for hypocrites."


Genuine and warm smiles are wonderful.

For all you cynics out there: genuinely kind and understanding people do exist.

I'd smile if it wasn't such a strain and didn't look like I was w*king all the time.

I'd have to be genuinely amused to do so, so from eight-ish onwards I haven't really grinned in a photo. Bar one day when I was definitely put off for life—it was a photo of the year at school in year six (all 13 of us) and I remembered something hilarious the second the photo went off, and the result was of me with mouth agape with laughter. It then appeared on the front cover of the local paper the next week.

The statement is really not meant to be taken seriously, guys. That's why it's next to a cartoon.

A joke is not a laughing matter.

Depends on the joke.

It's the person taking the pictures job to try to amuse me if they really want a smile. I can't do a fake smile without looking ret*d.