So for those of you that don't go on Facebook -- The DontJudgeChallenge is yet another series of stupid videos circling around the internet. It usually starts off with the subject recording on the front-facing camera, made-up to look "ugly." Then, they put their hand over the camera for a second and then take it back off to reveal them looking "beautiful."
I've heard so many things about this and have seen it all over my Facebook Feed. It is being ripped on by the masses for its "reinforcement of beauty ideals" and the message it conveys about body image. Which is 100 percent true, there's no doubt it still reinforces something that we're trying to avoid.
But here's what we do have to remember: This challenge is right up there with people deliberately dumping ice cold water on their heads, people suctioning their lips to shot glasses to make them look puffier, and eating raw cinnamon. My point being that we can't expect much out of an internet challenge. We can't expect these things to be all unicorns and rainbows, that's not fair.
What we can appreciate is the fact that it does come from a good place (Much like the ALS ice bucket challenge to spread ALS awareness), given the name. It was the first viral internet challenge that actually tried to spread something positive, instead of watching stupid people do dumb shit.
Yes, of course it's still pretty stupid. But we really shouldn't be getting all worked up about this one. This is the one challenge we've seen that's actually trying to do some good, so the least we can do is appreciate that it came from a positive place.