Friday, August 05, 2005

Deny Yourself Something

Cathy Seipp, a Silver Lake writer with a highly entertaining blog about LA social circles and much more, inadvertantly made a most profound statement about the current state of our postmodern culture:

A few weeks ago I came across an old World War I poster that announced, "Deny Yourself Something: Eat less of the food fighters need." Deny yourself something. What a curious and forgotten concept. The poster might as well have been 1000 years old instead of less than 100, so bizarre was its message to modern eyes. Contemporary citizens are far more likely to deny reality than deny themselves anything. (emphasis mine)

She's absolutely correct. You hear that sort of denial all the time. Lefty liberals would rather deny that the Iraqis are better off now than under Saddam, than deny themselves the satisfaction of hating Bush for waging "a war for oil". Men and women would rather deny that random sexual hook ups affect their soul (meaning their spiritual, mental, and emotional selves) and their bodies (STD's, abortions, sterility), than deny themselves momentary gratification. Many parents would rather deny the detrimental effects of full time daycare on the emotional and physical health of their children, than deny themselves a fancy home in a prestigous neighborhood.

1 comment:

Uteng said...

I thought i was the only man one planet earth that does not loathe Bush, i reackon he's the man. Secondly, you said something about momentary gratification, which reminds me of a "rhyme" i once wrote, and it reads...
'...yet the things we see are overrated; this life's full of temporary highs our demise in disguise...'