“Rose tint my world keep me safe from my troubles and pain.” – Rocky Horror Picture Show.


Since the Bourgeoisie days of Romanticism, the idea behind “rose tinted glasses” has been freely flowing. People refer to rose tinted glasses when they refer to viewing something without the harsh light of flaws.

During the wake of Romanticism in the 18th century, people began seeing the world through “rose tinted glasses.” Romanticism intensified during the Industrial Revolution when pollution and environmental destruction was running rampant. Where were these modern political Eco-warriors then? It also seemed to be a rebellion against the bourgeoisie Enlightenment era and an attack on the scientific studies at the time. Romanticism seemed to be a gluttonous time of communing with deteriorating nature and peoples’ souls. Science was breaking down humanity and the “Enlightened” people were considering themselves above the riff-raff of humanity. The Romantics sat under trees reciting poetry, making love, painting and becoming in touch with their inner desires and artistry.

To quote another cliché the Romantics’ “rose tinted glasses” was similar to “pulling the wool over someone’s eyes.” Here were these sensitive individuals who loved nature and all mankind, but mankind was destroying the nature they reveled in. These were the first-wave hippies, the original tree huggers. But instead of protesting the destruction of the environment these folks put on their rose tinted glasses and resumed their Romantic ways unscathed by the pollution and suffering caused by man. Plus if they were to hug the trees it would probably blacken their pristine faces.

They produced marvelous works of literature: Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Macpherson, William Wordsworth, William Blake and many others. Their works of art are still hung on walls of museums and are pinnacle forms of skill. However, their desires to escape urbanity, science, and the strings of modern customs led them away from the strife of their own home. Romantics loved the exotic and far-flung realism of other realms of the world. They wore their rose tinted glasses and deflected their energy towards distant lands that seemed dare I say, “Romantic.” These lands were dreamy and quixotic. They were lands not doused in the pollution and dogma of their own countries. This deflection upped the sale of figurative rose tinted glasses. The Romantics were more concerned with free-flowing love than with the discord and dissension of their home lands.

Rose tinted glasses are still handed out at political rallies, among parents and even dog owners. People today can be filled with such a conviction of do-no-wrong that they miss the true horror happening before their eyes. We are easily caught up in daily life and forget in our maddened world that everyone is human and brimming with flaws. Animals too, have their flaws. We don’t want to know anything that doesn’t directly affect our everyday lives.

Our current humanity tends to wear their rose tinted glasses with pride as we brave the new world full of famine and wars, slaughter houses and childhood diseases. We wear our rose tinted glasses as we step out into the sun, but there is a warning label on every pair: Does not protect against UV Rays.

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