(Image sourced from Google)
So, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard about #TheDressThatBrokeTheInternet. I’m not going to go into detail on the story; here’s a fun article from the Washington Post if you need the background.
I was was offline when the story first broke, and when I logged into Twitter on Friday morning, it was Dress Central. My feed was full of #whiteandgold and #blueandblack. I quickly googled, found the original image, and threw in my two cents. (For the record, I saw blue and black.)
Hubby and I had a fun, silly debate about the dress later that morning when we met up for a parent-teacher conference. He saw white and gold, but not to worry – our marriage will survive. I got some more good laughs out of the story over the phone with my BFF – she and her boyfriend both saw white and gold, but she got really into the dress phenomenon and texted me about the science of brain teasers the rest of the evening.
And that was pretty much it for me. At least, until I saw this opinion piece on Time.com.
The dress is (according to comments on the Facebook post of the article) everything that’s wrong with America? (Even though the picture originated in the UK?) We should all be ashamed of our lack of rudimentary scientific knowledge? We have to stop talking about it RIGHT NOW and only discuss real, hard, important news? The author says she’s not going to judge us because ISIS destroyed priceless art and Twitter was yelling “WHITE GOLD” and “BLUE BLACK” – except, look there, she just did.
Please, spare me the pearl-clutching.
I had a couple of thoughts in response to the Time opinion. The first thought, I’ll be honest, was, did someone get scooped? Just a little? No one likes a sore loser.
Okay, serious snotty response, though. (Complete with Downton Abbey gifs, for no reason except that it’s my blog and I like fun.) First of all, slow clap to the author for remembering everything she learned in sixth grade. We learned about vision in seventh grade, so I guess my education was inferior. And while I remember discussing colorblindness at length, I don’t remember learning that everyone perceives color differently. Maybe we did learn that and I forgot, because I was 12 then and I’m 33 now, and some of the trivia I learned in middle school has been pushed aside to make room for stuff I needed to remember in order to pass the Bar. BOOM. Drops the mic, walks away.
And what is so wrong with fun, anyway? What’s the big deal about someone photoshopping llama heads into the dress? C’mon, you have to admit, the llamas in dresses were funny. Is it a problem because Taylor Swift weighed in on the debate? (Maybe the writer saw white and gold and she’s jealous that Taylor and I totally saw blue and black, which is the right answer.) Is there a problem with taking five minutes off from worrying about the state of the world and chiming in on a silly online debate? Seriously, Time, why do you hate happiness?
Now, before you jump all over me, I do realize that the piece was filed under “humor.” So maybe it was supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, and just inadvertently came across as obnoxious and sanctimonious. I’ll extend a bit of the benefit of the doubt and say that was the intention. But it does grate a little – and I have to say, I’m tired of seeing “why is this news?” every time a news outlet publishes a piece of entertainment journalism, or “shouldn’t we all be thinking about the situation in [insert unstable region here]?” every time something a little bit silly goes viral. Believe it or not, it is possible to be very concerned about ISIS and also think it’s kind of neat that people see different colors in the same dress, at the same time. LET THE PEOPLE HAVE THEIR FUN. Soon we’ll all forget about the dress, and the llamas, and be back to our workaday lives and worries. Can’t we get a break, have a silly debate, maybe re-learn a little bit of science (for those of us lucky souls without perfect memories of the torture that was middle school, that is)?
It’s not “a new frontier in stupid,” for goodness’ sake. It’s a little bit of harmless, mildly educational fun, and it’ll be over soon enough. You’re clutching those pearls so tightly you’re going to snap the strand. Learn to let go and relax a little… can I interest you in a yoga class? Or maybe a llama meme?
covered in flour 
It was thought-provoking and I did learn a little something from all the fussing about the color. I did see an interesting article that showed how our brains perceive color, especially regarding how the color is perceived in relation to the background around it. Like you say, at least it’s been educational.
Exactly! Most things that go viral are far sillier. I’m wondering if there’s an element of sexism to all the complaining – if the picture was of something other than a dress, say of a male article of clothing or of something neutral like a landscape, would there be this “WHO CARES” outcry or these articles proclaiming the whole thing to be ridiculous? I learned something about color perception, too, and had fun while learning. What exactly is the problem with that? SMH.
Guess it all comes back to “there’s no accounting for taste”. Or in this case, viral.
True. I just thought it was strange that there was such a negative reaction to this particular sensation. I don’t remember the last somewhat silly thing that went viral (whatever it was) getting such a vitriolic response from some quarters… Bizarre…
I came late to the party because I’ve been down with the flu.
I saw white and gold first, and when I looked an hour later, I saw black and blue. I’m truly fascinated – and who is not a little bit in awe when seeing optical illusions, despite all scientific knowledge we might have?
Sorry to hear you were sick! I hope you’re feeling better now. I had stomach flu back in January and it was miserable, so you have my hearty sympathies.
I saw black and blue first, and still see it, but if I focus on the yoke of the dress I can see how it can appear white and gold. I agree that it’s a fascinating debate, and I am baffled (as probably came across in this post) by the negative reactions. Most things that go viral are much sillier – this is science! I thought it was really interesting and still do, and I definitely learned something about color perception. What’s wrong with a fun and educational online debate? I don’t understand why people are complaining so much. It’s cool!