An interesting discussion over at Alas. Go ahead and read it.
posted by Soulhuntre on 03/21/2006
(note: I spell checked this version)You know, the most astonishing thing here is the idea that it is unfair to judge someone for not doing something that is hard.
Here’s the thing – achievement requires effort and often discomfort / sacrifice. All the class analysis, hand wringing and outrage won’t change any of this. Is it really a shock that being healthy is harder than being unhealthy? Is it supposed to thus negate the realities that health can bring?
* Is it harder to eat something you have to cook yourself instead of grabbing the 99 cent burger? Sure.
* Is it a pain in the ass to work full time (even with a second job) and still find time to do some exercising? Yes.
* Is it true that many people will have higher priorities than the two things above? of course.
But none of that changes that they COULD be healthier if they did those things. To try and promote the idea that we have little to no control over our health is very odd… it’s a lot like saying “well, since some people don’t have the time let’s pretend it doesn’t work”.
The revisionism of the realities around us to try and fit a political / social agenda don’t work. The never will. People can go on and on that diet and exercise are not going to have a profound effect on your health and it will in the end amount to all the words that tried to deny the Earth in motion around the sun. No doubt a “class” argument could be constructed for why a round Earth is a Middle class tool of oppression and thus we should deny it as well.
As a side note – though it won’t go over well here no doubt – many of the common beauty markers actually do derive from health cues. Obviously they are no longer as useful as they were for millennia thanks to make up and surgery etc, but in basic form they are indicators of health.