[lit-ideas] Re: Fat Is An American Imperialist Issue
- From: andy amago <aamago@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 4 May 2004 07:10:16 -0700 (PDT)
The NIH I believe recently came out with a statistic that obesity is the
leading cause of death in this country, surpassing even lung cancer from
smoking, which heretofore had been the leader. The physiological pathway
behind the problem seems to be that fat irritates tissues (including blood
vessels), which causes an inflammatory immune response, which in turn causes
the damage and premature death. Inflammation has also been co-opted by the
those who exploit buzzwords and turn them into profitable books, not always
based on fact. Nevertheless, the real thing is real. One might argue that
since we're all going to die anyway, buying a few extra years with the coin of
significantly diminished pleasure is less than a good deal.
-----Original Message-----
From: Donal McEvoy <donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: May 4, 2004 6:12 AM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Fat Is An American Imperialist Issue
See:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,1200549,00.html
This line of argument, minus the rhetoric about American imperialism and its
sublimation of race and class conflicts into an obsession with 'obesity', was
stated well by the research shrink Martin Seligman over twenty years ago -
but the voice of reason seems easily drowned out by the voices of the
profitable health and pharmaceutical and 'self-help' industries.
My step-daughter, a med student, even bought this line that seems to have
become part of official medical ideology despite the kind of criticisms 'Fat'
Campos and 'Farty-Pants' Seligman have levelled - she recently tried to
convince me I was DSM "obese", class one afair. Fat chance.
Although I missed only by a thin margin, anything over a certain average
point quickly puts you in the "obese" category.
Also, as a sideline, without causing too much offence I think we could play a
thin/not-thin guessing game.
Who would have guessed that I am "not-thin" (though not quite enough to be
"obese" - yet)?
I guess that Robert Paul and Richard Hennige are "thin", and that Andreas and
Geary are "not-thin". Does my intuition deceive me?
Donal
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