Magazines and Image

Have you ever read one magazine for about 15-16 months to find that it is repeating itself? I love to read magazines. Okay, sometimes I'm ashamed, I go off and buy a secret issue of, you guessed it; Linux Journal. Some of the articles are a little over my head, but cool, I'm in there with the real geeks.....or am I? While there are many exceptions to what I'm about to say, I think people often buy magazines for the sake of bolstering their image to themselves. Sort of like driving a SUV to say that your a big outdoor type of guy, even though you have not been camping, fishing, boating or off the Interstate High way in a significant way in a couple of years. The expense and being seen in the rugged vehicle tells not only the world who the guy behind the wheele is, but also is pretty convincing to one's self. In regard to magazines, I see people reading magazines that does not quite fit what they do. Guys who don't work out reading exercise magazines, gals who don't take care of themselves reading Glamour, guys who drive heaps of junk reading Road and Track seems to be more than a common occurance. Since the content is repeated every few months, and the photographs are variations on the same thing every month, and the main thing that really changes is the date of publication what is really sold to the consumer. I think it is image. Image that the kind of person who reads this magazine is the kind of person I'm hoping to become. So instead of reading a new issue of Linux Journal perhaps I should finish that database project using PHP and MySQL. Instead of checking out the latest issue of Backpacker magazine, perhaps I should plan a hike with my five daughters. Instead of borrowing an old issue of Christianity Today from a co-worker, I should actually do something to help someone who is struggling financially so that I am living out my faith in both the public and private sector. Maybe the real answer here is that someone needs to put out a magazine about people who transcend image and actually are the type of people they would like to be.