You Aren't What You Eat
"All you can eat for $9.95! It's the American way!"
I was driving alone last night when I heard this ad on the radio.
I'm not sure when it happened, but consumption seems to be one of our biggest virtues. True, we don't have carte blanche anymore to buy and eat whatever we want (thanks a bunch, recession!), but we are way prouder about what we consume than we have any right to be.
For example:
This summer, it's my goal to watch a movie every three days. That's 60 hours, or 2.5 days of cinematic gluttony. Now, I love movies. In fact, I wrote this after coming back from a bargain showing of Terminator Salvation (spoiler: things blew up). But watching this many movies is no great accomplishment. I'm still just consuming.
Along the same lines, I'm proud whenever I manage to finish the entire massive bowl of udon at a Japanese restaurant. But why? I just ate what they put in front of me and the only lasting effect is that I have to pee out 3 quarts of broth. Even if the food's delicious, consumption is still too easy to be a virtue.
When we decide if something is "good" we try to consume a lot of it in the hopes that it will make us good.
Our consumption has a very real effect on us, but on its own it's not the best basis for a life.
Besides, no matter how you cut it, a life dedicated to consumption produces pretty much one thing.
I was driving alone last night when I heard this ad on the radio.
I'm not sure when it happened, but consumption seems to be one of our biggest virtues. True, we don't have carte blanche anymore to buy and eat whatever we want (thanks a bunch, recession!), but we are way prouder about what we consume than we have any right to be.
For example:
This summer, it's my goal to watch a movie every three days. That's 60 hours, or 2.5 days of cinematic gluttony. Now, I love movies. In fact, I wrote this after coming back from a bargain showing of Terminator Salvation (spoiler: things blew up). But watching this many movies is no great accomplishment. I'm still just consuming.
Along the same lines, I'm proud whenever I manage to finish the entire massive bowl of udon at a Japanese restaurant. But why? I just ate what they put in front of me and the only lasting effect is that I have to pee out 3 quarts of broth. Even if the food's delicious, consumption is still too easy to be a virtue.
When we decide if something is "good" we try to consume a lot of it in the hopes that it will make us good.
People feel good about themselves for consuming berries, because they have anti-oxidants. Or dark chocolate, because it has anti-oxidants. Or green tea because it has anti-oxidants. I remember a time when we consumed berries, chocolate and tea because we liked them, not because they were going make us live forever. (They won't. We're gonna die.)
You should not get points for making choices about your life that are pleasurable and beneficial. Infants get praised for taking care of themselves and doing what comes naturally; adults do not. If consumption is the main source of virtue in your life, it's time to accomplish something a little more impressive.
You should not get points for making choices about your life that are pleasurable and beneficial. Infants get praised for taking care of themselves and doing what comes naturally; adults do not. If consumption is the main source of virtue in your life, it's time to accomplish something a little more impressive.
And unfortunately, abstaining from something harmful doesn't make you good either. So no more handing out trophies for being a vegan, a Luddite, or a teetotaler. If that's what you want to be, awesome, but as history tells us, that doesn't necessarily make you a good person.
Our consumption has a very real effect on us, but on its own it's not the best basis for a life.
Besides, no matter how you cut it, a life dedicated to consumption produces pretty much one thing.
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