My message keeps getting rejected due to the subject line...am I on the TIPS fecal roster or something?
Anyway Dr. Cultural Sensitivity wrote: "One characteristic of the American personality is the ambivalence about values especially as it pertains to choice and environmental influence. One the one hand we yield to environmental influences like fast food asnd the other advertising gimmicks but we say that we are free to choose what we want to be because of an array of presentable choices." Funny talk coming from the list's self-proclaimed culture-meister. Culture plays a substantial role in dictating what we like to eat. Fast food is the American diet of this era. The food industry is as manipulative as the cigarette and alcohol industries. I think it takes more strength than we like to admit to resist these persuasions. "Lets face it we do not have to eat fast foods.Nither do we have to succumb tosmoking. It is true that environmental conditions do influence behavior,but it is also true that if the environment stimuli fails to elicit behavior,it could be rendered ineffective." I supposed that we don't have to become aroused when we look at pornography either...but we do, and we often act on that arousal because nature put these mechanisms in place for survival purposes - to keep us alive and reproducing. Americans are surrounded and bombarded by this stuff. The stimuli (advertisements) are very effectively designed. It is so easy to get holier-than-thou about it but it is not JUST a matter of "insufficient willpower." One would have to isolate themselves quite radically to avoid the pressure. BTW I for one have no problem labeling the nicotine pushers what they are - drug dealers who just happen to have the government's blessing. They do the same thing that the fast food industry does. "I am sick and tired of people blaming companies for their lack of personal control.My suspicion is that those people seek some sort of realistic as well as imaginary vicarious reinforcement that emanates from a culture that extols the values of freedom without boundaries." Another part of the problem is how sedentary we are relative to humans through most of the history of the species...it is not just "lack of will" - it is complex and multi-causal. It is easier to point fingers at those who suffer the most from it (i.e. people who suffer from morbid obesity) than to think about how we can work to change some of the conditions that promote weight-related health problems. Nancy Melucci LACCD --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
