> Two Questions:
>
> How irrational am/was I?
> While I certainly think everyone there was a fascist, it was difficult to find someone who was, at least, subdued, and not dressed in some quasi-military/military garb, who did not get a thrill from the 50+ canon shots for each state... etc etc...
While your reaction may not have been "rational" (whatever that means), I would certainly say it was appropriate. I would have been nervous in a crowd full of authoritarian personalities too. Having grown up going to such events (although nothing near the vicinity of a military base) I have to confess liking them: I like the pretty fireworks, the loud booms, the day off, the way everyone seems to be in a good mood, the fact that everyone's just cooking out and drinking, kids getting excited about sparklers and other exploding things...
Because I am emotionally attached to these celebrations, I prefer not to see them as nationalistic (although they clearly are) and more as celebrations of the general principles in the Declaration of Independence, which I think are great. What kind of radical (except an anarchist) can't get behind a document that says "That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."?
> Friend suggested that my anger at obesity; the fact that I even looked/stared at people who were enormous, made me 'one of the people who cause people to be anorexic'. That I victimised 'fat people'... HUH!!! While I though the latter was bollocks? What's is up with this narrow analysis? Obesity is one thing! Anorexia is another! Whilethey're both social phenomena, they are caused by different pathologies.... anyway, we were both upset (by my self-rightous arrogant self)
This raises an interesting issue. I have to confess a prejudice against really overweight people -- and I feel genuinely guilty about it, especially in light of the fact that obesity and attitudes about obesity and food are thoroughly intertwined with class. The hoopla over America's "obesity epidemic" just seems like cultural class war from above -- snobbery disguised as concern about public health. At the same time, the U.S. obesity epidemic is clearly connected to capitalism: the way we tolerate fast food chains advertising their shit directly to children, the fact that suburban sprawl makes walking anywhere nearly impossible, etc.
BTW: I don't see how expressing disgust at obesity promotes a negative body image. Curves are sexy, but rolls of fat and bones are not.
-WD
__________________________ thevanitywebsite.blogspot.com