"Délit de sale gueule" - "Ugly mug offense" , by Erik Pevernagie, oil on canvas,], (100 x 80 cm)

Since we live in a world of appearances, people are judged by what they seem to be. If the mind can't read the predictable features, it reacts with alarm or aversion. Faces that don’t fit in the picture are socially banned. An ugly countenance, a hideous outlook can be considered as a crime, and criminals must be inexorably discarded from society.

Fear can be a source of facial discrimination because faces, which we are not used to, can be frightening, deviant, or weird. Since the human brain permanently processes countenances, it identifies “who is who,” who is a foe, who is a friend, and who could constitute an imminent danger. Only when the mind has become accustomed to various facial types can people drop their prejudices and fear.

In the 1850s, Irish immigrants were victims of a selective perception as they were mocked for their physiognomy when arriving in the US. With the influx of numerous settlers, we could expect discrimination of people's facial features or expressions in many countries. Only when the human mind has accustomed itself to many different facial types can people drop their prejudices.

Some people may have a very decent outlook and need not fear any discrimination. As they do not show, physically, any negative side or any dark side, they remain under the radar. They are adopted as law-abiding citizens without suspicion.

However, through their intellectual disability or mental illiteracy, some cannot free themselves from the imprisonment of irrevocable idiocy and feel condemned to find gratifying compensation by extracting the vilest qualities from the deep quarters of their dark self.

Anyhow, we should not fool ourselves. If some people say we are all born equal, this is partly true because some are ‘more equal’ than others.

PS Taiwan organizes a Facial Equality Day in May to attack prejudices.

Phenomenon: Facial discrimination, aversion, alarm

Factual starting point: Weird face