Consider Your Fucking Asshole Quotient
*Now with corn-syrup free comments to Amanda at the end!*
My friend over at Wide Lawns and I are the only two members of our exclusive mutual admiration society. I'd like to give you just one of the many reasons I like her. It's because she can write shit like this.
Almost every blog I've read written by a female has involved at least one post about dieting, and Wide Lawns is no exception. The difference is, she gives advice about how to avoid having a wide ass in a funny way. And it doesn't involve counting calories. Which personally, I find to be too complicated for my simple little mind. She also addresses criticism honestly, and without getting offended, which I find refreshing. People are too defensive these days.
Once upon a time, way before I was born, my parents were watching tv at my grandparent's house, when a commercial for an orange came on. My mother thought the orange looked so good that she went into the kitchen to get one, and her new mother-in-law made fun of her for it. Mom, don't worry about it. The Wide Lawns chick posted a picture of a fruit plate, and it looked so good to me that I was inspired to buy strawberries while shopping the next day.
Anyway, I'm nominating the post above for a Perfect Post Award. Because I think it's one of the most perfect posts I've read.
Amanda, I thought about what you said. Really. I consider most critical things people say, and this was no exception. I am no chef and I hate cooking. If I have people coming for dinner, they're either getting chicken or baked ziti. Mac & cheese was my dinner tonight. It's only because of where I live that I ever eat anything organic (mostly just milk and meat). Food snobbery is not my thing. At all. Cooking professionally? Only if someone wanted to hire me to cook scrambled eggs and make pb&j sandwiches. Standing in front of kitchen counters and at the stove for even 20 minutes is about 15 minutes more than I'm comfortable with. Really, I have no interest in cooking from scratch, especially when I can pay thirty cents more and eat something someone else cooked for me.
Honestly, I glossed over those parts of the post on the WL blog. The corn syrup? Good point. The are you being a fatty question? Good point. Fruit plates? Ehh, - I don't need a fancy looking fruit spread, I can just eat an apple or some grapes. I get her point, and it's good. The Barilla Plus? She's right. Green tea? Whatever - I don't drink tea. Reading books? I hadn't even clicked her links to be honest, but assumed one was to Fast Food Nation. Oh look - the last one is.
Yes, at the beginning she's trying to be funny, and I can see how it comes off in a way that could (and obviously did) turn people off. But are you really hurting Wide Lawns herself if you eat like shit? Of course not, and you know that. Don't let someone's delivery prevent you from hearing their message. Her intent was not to insult, but to inspire. Why not let yourself be inspired? It'll only help you.
My friend over at Wide Lawns and I are the only two members of our exclusive mutual admiration society. I'd like to give you just one of the many reasons I like her. It's because she can write shit like this.
Almost every blog I've read written by a female has involved at least one post about dieting, and Wide Lawns is no exception. The difference is, she gives advice about how to avoid having a wide ass in a funny way. And it doesn't involve counting calories. Which personally, I find to be too complicated for my simple little mind. She also addresses criticism honestly, and without getting offended, which I find refreshing. People are too defensive these days.
Once upon a time, way before I was born, my parents were watching tv at my grandparent's house, when a commercial for an orange came on. My mother thought the orange looked so good that she went into the kitchen to get one, and her new mother-in-law made fun of her for it. Mom, don't worry about it. The Wide Lawns chick posted a picture of a fruit plate, and it looked so good to me that I was inspired to buy strawberries while shopping the next day.
Anyway, I'm nominating the post above for a Perfect Post Award. Because I think it's one of the most perfect posts I've read.
Amanda, I thought about what you said. Really. I consider most critical things people say, and this was no exception. I am no chef and I hate cooking. If I have people coming for dinner, they're either getting chicken or baked ziti. Mac & cheese was my dinner tonight. It's only because of where I live that I ever eat anything organic (mostly just milk and meat). Food snobbery is not my thing. At all. Cooking professionally? Only if someone wanted to hire me to cook scrambled eggs and make pb&j sandwiches. Standing in front of kitchen counters and at the stove for even 20 minutes is about 15 minutes more than I'm comfortable with. Really, I have no interest in cooking from scratch, especially when I can pay thirty cents more and eat something someone else cooked for me.
Honestly, I glossed over those parts of the post on the WL blog. The corn syrup? Good point. The are you being a fatty question? Good point. Fruit plates? Ehh, - I don't need a fancy looking fruit spread, I can just eat an apple or some grapes. I get her point, and it's good. The Barilla Plus? She's right. Green tea? Whatever - I don't drink tea. Reading books? I hadn't even clicked her links to be honest, but assumed one was to Fast Food Nation. Oh look - the last one is.
Yes, at the beginning she's trying to be funny, and I can see how it comes off in a way that could (and obviously did) turn people off. But are you really hurting Wide Lawns herself if you eat like shit? Of course not, and you know that. Don't let someone's delivery prevent you from hearing their message. Her intent was not to insult, but to inspire. Why not let yourself be inspired? It'll only help you.
Labels: Florida, Interactive, Personally, Potential Depth, Whatcha Readin?
posted by Green at 1/26/2008 09:45:00 AM
6 Comments:
Thanks! I like you too.
I'm surprised. Oftentimes, I'm on the same page as you. However, on this one, I totally disagree. I found this post to be so completely pretentious and obnoxious that I no longer read that particular blog. While I understand and appreciate what she was trying to say, the tone was so offensive that I might be tempted to stop trying to eat healthy just to spite her.
Maybe I'm the one who's too defensive, but I think she could have written a powerful, helpful post without trashing anyone who doesn't happen to be a "former professional chef" or isn't obsessive about eating organic food.
I liked it. Thanks :)
I never trashed anyone who wasn't a former professional chef. Being that there are so few people that fit that description I'd really be trashing a lot of people then.
I also get that a lot of people can't get or afford organic food, so my criticism is more leveled at our government who subsidizes factory farming and will not make healthier food cheaper and more accessible. Purposely not eating organic just to prove some kind of a point can really hurt you, and eating poorly to spite me is only going to have an effect on you because really, how would I even know what you eat?
The chemicals in foods now can literally kill you. They ARE killing you.
If I made you uncomfortable with what I wrote and if you interpreted my post as "trashing" then you might need to reread it and try to lower your defenses a little. Try to examine why you became so angry. Maybe I scared you. Maybe you have some of the issues I mentioned and felt guilty or like you couldn't live up to the standards of healthy eating that I described. If that's the case, then just try to eat a little bit better. Take baby steps. Anything is better than nothing. Try reading some of the books I linked to and learn what's really in the food so many of us eat every day.
I wrote in a harsh tone because to me this is serious. I can't tell you how many people I know and love are dying of cancer and diabetes and god knows what else because of what they put in foods. I wrote this post not to talk about how great I can cook or how skinny I am or how much discipline I have, but because I wanted to jar people into awareness of what they're being fed literally and figuratively.
I used to eat crap. Now that I am feeding LN and me, I actually cook from scratch. Nothing fancy... just simple veggie stuff, tofu stuff, eggs... When I was eating crap, I was under no delusions - I knew I was eating crap... and I chose to eat crap because it was easier. Ah, good old days when eating organic was cheaper and easier than eating crap.
I wasn't going to comment, but I'll back up Amanda, since she's now being patronized. The fact that someone doesn't like a post does not mean that there is something wrong with her. Perhaps WL ought to reread Amanda's criticism and lower her defenses a little.
I didn't like that post either, and I, too, was really surprised, Green, that you did. (Which you have every reason to do - I was just surprised that this time we were pretty far apart in our reactions.)
My negative reaction was, essentially, because I thought the post was pretty hateful (eating like an asshole?? c'mon). I want no part of anything that judges someone as an asshole for how they eat. That's just not funny stuff, even if it's meant as a joke. The post felt like the same kind of judging and trashing of women that the culture at large does. I don't particularly think that's me being *defensive* so much as it's about that post being "offensive". And I think I'm intelligent enough to honestly be able to tell the difference. Clearly none of this was WL's intent, but that's still the message that came across to me.
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