inxs

[sab]

Thanks to viggorlijah for the link; this is a Guardian article, excerpted from an American book about the so-called obesity myth. It makes a lot of valid points (and some disputable ones) about the US's obsession with thinness, but I found most interesting the whip-smart interpretation of this obsession as a way of deflecting embarrassment about our national excesses. Check it out:

For upper-class Americans in particular, it's easier to deal with anxiety about excessive consumption by obsessing about weight, rather than by actually confronting far more serious threats to our social and political health. We may drive environmentally insane SUVs that dump untold tonnes of hydrocarbons into the atmosphere; we may consume a vastly disproportionate share of the world's diminishing natural resources; we may support a foreign policy that consists of throwing America's military weight around without regard to objections from our allies - but at least we don't eat that extra cookie when it's offered to us.
-- From The Big Fat Con Story.

Comments

[hobsonphile.livejournal.com]

With all due respect to the author, the above quote amounts to pretty crap-ass mass psychoanalysis of the American public with no evidentiary support. And it's over-weeningly arrogant to boot.

That being said, the rest of the article raises some interesting questions that are well worth scientific examination. Clocking in at a generous, curvy 145 pounds, I'm no ideal model, but I think I'm relatively healthy. ('cept for the whole rheumatoid arthritis thing)

[gaeta.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link. It's another I might use in the "Obesity, Health, Body Image" unit of my Freshman Comp class, although it's perhaps a bit 'dry' for my students.

here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/trixiesfic/330729.html#cutid1) is a post of a similar article appearing recently in the NY Times.

I also posted a response there with a bit of my own take on this most recent national obsession.

Re: the objections of hobsonphile about the unsubstantiated cultural psychologizing--I agree that in this regard, the author is probably being a bit of a blowhard, but is't also true that this sort of thing is hard to "prove." Still, when facts begin to contradict a widely-held perception/obsession, it's not entirely unreasonable to start searching around for possible explanations.