Comments on: The Self-Indulgence Question http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/ n. the principle of good order "Observe the strange inversion of all order and sense! Dignity debased; how vilely is the function of a consul prostituted!" ~The Craftsman Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:13:35 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: R Duquette http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8641 Sat, 19 Jan 2008 20:05:58 +0000 http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8641 <i>As Americans, our cultural responses to indulgence and restraint tend to veer towards extremes, and you find a generally humourless, puritanical lot crusading for various public health causes on one side and those who insist on their God-given right to kill themselves with smoke and fat if they so choose.</i> We can begin our return to sanity and moderation by exposing the big lie that we've been "fed" about fat. The health establishment, along with the Federal government, started its crusade against dietary fat in the mid '70s, which also dates the start of America's obesity epidemic. Gary Taubes exposed the lie that "fat makes you fat" in <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F04E2D61F3EF934A35754C0A9649C8B63" rel="nofollow">this 2002 article</a>. If you are going to nag Americans away from self-indulgence, you have to start by getting your facts straight. Unfortunately our health-obsessed public officials have nagged us all into obesity. As Americans, our cultural responses to indulgence and restraint tend to veer towards extremes, and you find a generally humourless, puritanical lot crusading for various public health causes on one side and those who insist on their God-given right to kill themselves with smoke and fat if they so choose.

We can begin our return to sanity and moderation by exposing the big lie that we’ve been “fed” about fat. The health establishment, along with the Federal government, started its crusade against dietary fat in the mid ’70s, which also dates the start of America’s obesity epidemic. Gary Taubes exposed the lie that “fat makes you fat” in this 2002 article.

If you are going to nag Americans away from self-indulgence, you have to start by getting your facts straight. Unfortunately our health-obsessed public officials have nagged us all into obesity.

]]> by: Daniel Larison http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8611 Fri, 18 Jan 2008 03:22:22 +0000 http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8611 I agree that the more important points in this area that he was trying to make could be obscured by what you're talking about. There were moments in the book that would tend to appeal only to "wine-track" conservatives, so to speak, but these were still the exceptions. On the "lingering over the meal" objection, I think what he was getting at when talking about meals was that meals shouldn't be simply some hectic, mechanical ingestation. There a kind of rhythm and sanity to regular family meals and the fellowship of a table that are valuable. It is the emphasis on fellowship, I believe, that was most important. I agree that the more important points in this area that he was trying to make could be obscured by what you’re talking about. There were moments in the book that would tend to appeal only to “wine-track” conservatives, so to speak, but these were still the exceptions. On the “lingering over the meal” objection, I think what he was getting at when talking about meals was that meals shouldn’t be simply some hectic, mechanical ingestation. There a kind of rhythm and sanity to regular family meals and the fellowship of a table that are valuable. It is the emphasis on fellowship, I believe, that was most important.

]]> by: James Kabala http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8610 Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:46:25 +0000 http://larison.org/2008/01/16/the-self-indulgence-question/#comment-8610 I always thought Dreher's warnings against self-indugence were somewhat undermined by his own rhapsodies about gourmet food. Indeed, he seemed unable to make up his mind as to whether the problem with non-crunchies is that enjoy the taste of things Rod regards as junk food or whether the problem instead is that they do not enjoy food ENOUGH, and perhaps (as he quotes Wendell Berry as saying) thay would prefer food being pumped directly into their stomachs. The chapter on food in Rod's book veered wildly back and forth between the two not-quite-compatible accusations, but in the end he seemed to come down more on the side of the latter. His main beef (no pun intended) with fast food seemed to be not with its nutritional poorness or inhumane derivation, but with the mere fact that it was fast, as if lingering over one's meal was a virtue in and of itself. I always thought Dreher’s warnings against self-indugence were somewhat undermined by his own rhapsodies about gourmet food.

Indeed, he seemed unable to make up his mind as to whether the problem with non-crunchies is that enjoy the taste of things Rod regards as junk food or whether the problem instead is that they do not enjoy food ENOUGH, and perhaps (as he quotes Wendell Berry as saying) thay would prefer food being pumped directly into their stomachs. The chapter on food in Rod’s book veered wildly back and forth between the two not-quite-compatible accusations, but in the end he seemed to come down more on the side of the latter. His main beef (no pun intended) with fast food seemed to be not with its nutritional poorness or inhumane derivation, but with the mere fact that it was fast, as if lingering over one’s meal was a virtue in and of itself.

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