A new blog. A new sensation. A new year. A new way to say "hooray."
One thing that has really begun to bother me over the last year is the culture's obsession with "losing weight." Everywhere I look, I see advertisements for weight loss products in just about every conceivable form, and articles and entire books featuring tips on "keeping the pounds off." It simply reminds me that we live in a society full of gluttonous fools who follow a philosophy of materialism, consumerism, and excess and insist on buying into instant miracle remedies that would supposedly make up for their own terrible habits. Why bother with preventative measures when you can go in and have doctors suck out the fat you put into your body with a vacuum?
Shopping malls are the quintessential American symbol, for in these shamelessly gaudy climate-controlled monuments to consumerism people can gratify themselves with the two biggest American passions, shopping and eating, without even having to step outdoors or endure all the extra effort of moving their car into the drive-thru of a separate building. Any amount of calories burnt off through running around and buying a bunch of overpriced shit you don't need with money you don't actually have will be replaced and then some after five minutes of diving into that Big Mac, gooey cinnamon roll, or huge, heaping soft drink cup full of frozen sugary fat from Dairy Queen.
No one needs to go out and buy books or diet programs advising them on how to "lose that spare tire" or "the junk in the trunk." **rolls his eyes** Make the conscious decision to quit pigging out on junk food, force yourself away from World of Elder Assassin's Oblivion Duty Call for awhile, and get some regular exercise. I guess we live in a civilization of dimwits with little to no willpower, because by the looks of things very few people can help themselves. Anyone can learn to enjoy their traditional American fast food even if they get medium instead of large, substitute a bottle of water for 40 ounces of soda (or bring your own jug of water from home so you're not senselessly wasting money on maddeningly overpriced bottled water like everyone else), and limit McDonald's to once every two weeks. In spite of all the malnutritious food modern culture is constantly shoving in our faces, it's hard for me to understand how staying thin would be difficult for most people who have some degree of self-control. I know it's so much easier and more tempting to pass the blame for most things these days, but you will not pass the blame for being fat. The last time anyone else forcibly shoved food into your mouth was probably when you were a few months old, and it was likely much more nutritious than a breakfast of frosted chocolate chip cookie and marshmallow Pop-Tarts.
But I think what bothers me most is that in so many other regions of the world, people are starving enough to fight to the death over the last patch of berries. Here, people eat, eat, and keep on eating, then get all down on themselves when they begin to resemble something the media decrees as undesirable. "I detect that my gravitational pull toward the earth seems to have increased somewhat!" omfg. It's not at all hard to avoid being overweight, really, if one actually takes the time to think and plan. But thinking and planning requires time and effort, and it's quite clear many Americans are far too busy and self-important for that.
