I study politics and engage in human rights activism as a sort of dual-track career. As you may imagine these two choices are not wise for those who enjoy getting their way; I expend a great deal of professional energy only to be denied things I wish for. Clearly I have a broken cynicism/optimism regulators are broken, or more likely my stubbornness is the trump card that stacks my deck. I am however susceptible to temporary bouts of negativity. Know what I do about it? I sweepingly pontificate about some inane if ostensible trait of modern society. Try it. It’s good old fashioned fun that if orchestrated well enough can make you sound smarter – and appear a better cook – just watch…

We live in a global society where appearance is tantamount to capability. The veneer that one looks like they know what they’re doing suffices as good enough for most folks. That’s right folks it’s all about the window dressing now. How else are you going to explain the Republican presidential candidates? What other than illusion props up the career of the semi-tasty Sandra Lee? My brother might posit that this is to this, what this is to this. Oh sure, constructing an attractive image does take some measured consideration and thereby suggests some underlying skill. But does that capability make? Well these guys thought so.

This plays in our favor my foodie friends. Without risking sanctimony by becoming Sandra Lee we can bend this cognitive fixation with appearance to our benefit. The garnish on every dish you have ever eaten tells you this is true. Take for instance this piteous cake pop:

More akin to a rough hewn mud crater than anything approaching edible, its wretched, disfigured appearance suggests a life lived in a bell tower pining over the workaday existence of more normal confections. It’s brethren from the same batch strikes a far more regal appearance:

A crisscrossed swipe of a piping bag gave this cake ball the life its destitute compatriot may only dream of. This is what you pay $3.50 for at a tres chic bakery; the other one you claim your hyperactive daughter made in kindergarten while cranky. Let’s review:

Same ingredients (save one), same cook, same batch, same technique, same time. Which one would you rather eat? See, when it comes to decision time we choose on appearance. I unloaded about sixty cake balls using this human loophole so it worked for me. Appearance, more than skill, earned me gobs of praise. It just has to look good enough for us to think it’s the next best thing ever. And who knows, maybe it works on a grander scale. Mitt Romney is banking his entire campaign on it.