Consumption
There's an old saying that people like to say, "you are what you eat".
Der Mensch ist was er isst.
Fat people are cake and fried goods, and thin people are virtuous, fully paid-up members of the church of clean-eating.
Or at least that's how most people tend to use that saying (regardless of how often that stereotype proves untrue). There are fat people who eat like a renunciate nun, and thin people who absolutely slay at eating contests, with skills that would make a pelican jealous.
Scholars still argue about what Feuerbach originally meant when he first coined the phrase. But that's not important here, because reading is an interactive process that is just as dependent on the biases and perceptions of the reader as it is the intentions of the writer. Both are reality-creating forces, and the artful writer ensnares the reader in spite of their biases and perceptions in order to create a desired outcome.
Regardless of what Feuerbach intended, he failed to ensnare, and so I find myself free to use his phrase for my own purposes.
This is an easy phrase to boil down to cake and salad - to deploy as a weapon against fatness. But there is a better use here, and one that is far more helpful in the time of social media, hateful talking heads, and 24/7 news cycles.
Because there is more than one way to feed a person, more than one part of a person that may be fed.
Arguably more dangerous to both world and health is what we consume mentally. The things we read and hear affect us far more deeply and dangerously than what we put into our mouths. On the individual level, our mental health suffers. We become unhappy and anxious. We may even grow to hate other people (and in turn become a ripe candidate for radicalization). On the societal level, individual hate becomes widespread and an insatiable beast that may only be fed by increasingly greater acts of cruelty.
This is the kind of time we live in.
So we owe it to ourselves and the world to consume deliberately. To avoid the things that spread hatred and harm, and cleave to the things that allow us to dream of a more compassionate and expansive world.
This is not about burying one's head in the sand and hiding in privilege. No. We privileged ones owe it to the rest of the human race to know to the best of our abilities what is happening in the world and the challenges others face. Moreover, we should do our best to hear and uplift the voices of the marginalized. What we hear and see of these injustices should make us angry and build in us a desire to strive for change.
This is about cutting out the dross that helps no one and nothing, and only serves to make people angry and fearful. It's about figuring out what you stand for, the kind of the world you want to see, and consuming in alignment with your moral compass. This is the greatest act of self and community care that any of us can do in this time. Or at least, it is with the former that the later often begins.
Der Mensch ist was er isst.
(And then he/she/they carry it out into the world.)
Carry good things, my friends.
Der Mensch ist was er isst.
Fat people are cake and fried goods, and thin people are virtuous, fully paid-up members of the church of clean-eating.
Or at least that's how most people tend to use that saying (regardless of how often that stereotype proves untrue). There are fat people who eat like a renunciate nun, and thin people who absolutely slay at eating contests, with skills that would make a pelican jealous.
Scholars still argue about what Feuerbach originally meant when he first coined the phrase. But that's not important here, because reading is an interactive process that is just as dependent on the biases and perceptions of the reader as it is the intentions of the writer. Both are reality-creating forces, and the artful writer ensnares the reader in spite of their biases and perceptions in order to create a desired outcome.
Regardless of what Feuerbach intended, he failed to ensnare, and so I find myself free to use his phrase for my own purposes.
This is an easy phrase to boil down to cake and salad - to deploy as a weapon against fatness. But there is a better use here, and one that is far more helpful in the time of social media, hateful talking heads, and 24/7 news cycles.
Because there is more than one way to feed a person, more than one part of a person that may be fed.
Arguably more dangerous to both world and health is what we consume mentally. The things we read and hear affect us far more deeply and dangerously than what we put into our mouths. On the individual level, our mental health suffers. We become unhappy and anxious. We may even grow to hate other people (and in turn become a ripe candidate for radicalization). On the societal level, individual hate becomes widespread and an insatiable beast that may only be fed by increasingly greater acts of cruelty.
This is the kind of time we live in.
So we owe it to ourselves and the world to consume deliberately. To avoid the things that spread hatred and harm, and cleave to the things that allow us to dream of a more compassionate and expansive world.
This is not about burying one's head in the sand and hiding in privilege. No. We privileged ones owe it to the rest of the human race to know to the best of our abilities what is happening in the world and the challenges others face. Moreover, we should do our best to hear and uplift the voices of the marginalized. What we hear and see of these injustices should make us angry and build in us a desire to strive for change.
This is about cutting out the dross that helps no one and nothing, and only serves to make people angry and fearful. It's about figuring out what you stand for, the kind of the world you want to see, and consuming in alignment with your moral compass. This is the greatest act of self and community care that any of us can do in this time. Or at least, it is with the former that the later often begins.
Der Mensch ist was er isst.
(And then he/she/they carry it out into the world.)
Carry good things, my friends.
Comments
Post a Comment