I agree. I think the mocking of the obese is really a message about distaste of appearance hidden under the guise of health driving trollies. There are plenty of over-indulgences that come without the external signals.
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Every year I look for the Baby Jesus in his stable with Santa on the roof. Every year I am disappointed in my fellow man.
Yeah, this is at least the second captivating story s/he has written.
Biologist here, and I have to weigh in on this side argument about the causes of obesity. Human health is not my field but Iâm at least moderately familiar with the primary literature (not just news reports) on this topic.
Basically: we still donât entirely know the causes of obesity. Sure, eating more calories than you burn off is one answer, but that really only addresses one of Tinbergenâs four questions. Research on obesity is still full of questions and unknowns, and stating authoritatively that obesity must be due to X is disingenuous. Thereâs still a big black box between genotype and phenotype in many areas, and weâre just starting to get a hint of the role epigenetics, development and experience might play. (Example from today.) Same with the role of mental disorders. Obesity is a very complex problem influenced by numerous factors, many of which are still not completely understood. As scientists, we learn to not overstate results, acknowledge what we still donât know, and be ready to revise our understanding as new facts are uncovered. Unfortunately the tendency of both the mainstream media and the public is to take whatever latest result has been published and run with it, as though it explains everything. Thus people develop overly simple belief systems, like âitâs NOT geneticsâ or âitâs all mental problemsâ to account for the phenomenon of obesity.
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âIâve found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much⌠because itâs the only thing thatâll make it stop hurting⌠I had thought â I had been told â that a âfunnyâ thing is a thing of a goodness. It isnât. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery⌠and a sharing⌠against pain and sorrow and defeat.â â Michael Valentine Smith
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If theyâre not into Santa, how about they just donât include Santa in their own celebration? Why waste time and effort on making him seem extra unappealing? Just to be a kill joy? Why do they need to waste time âexploring anti-santaâ instead of just celebrating in a way that makes them happy and letting others celebrate in a way that makes them happy?
Iâm not a biologist, but it seems as though there may be many possible contributory factors to obesity, including individual unusual disease conditions, metabolism, the nature or type of bacteria in the digestive system, the proliferation of plastics, and so on. Itâs difficult not to see, at least anecdotally, a familial relationship that extends beyond nurture. Itâs interesting that most people usually have no issues accepting that an individual can have a rapid metabolism handed down through genetics, but that it is so easily dismissed in the opposite scenario.
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Well, despite all the hand-wringing of Christians and atheists, Santa is still the central cast member of Christmas in America. Heâs the one who ostensibly manufactures and distributes Christmas gifts, and therefore he is an easy symbol to attack in the context of western overindulgence propped up by corporations/governments.
It does seem a little silly for a store operating within the confines of capitalism (and in one of the most expensive areas to live in America) to poke fun at such a symbolâtheyâre certainly not turning away customers and telling them to purchase less, share more.
Hell and death, does this mean corporations have finally coopted even our meager and humorless attempts to reign in American consumer culture? HmmâŚdoesnât matter, Kmart has a sale on Kopi Luwak coffee!!
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Iâm just gonna blame it on us moving less than people did prior and eating more, and our food being filled with junk that keeps you from reaching that satiation point. This is a reasonable conclusion as both of these things have happened.
I agree with you there, and you also bring up two very interesting angles. First, bacterial communities are undoubtedly extremely important, and we still donât know much about what theyâre doing. With recent advances in next-gen sequencing, all the -omics fields and increases in computing power for processing massive sequence data, this is a field that is going to explode in the next few years. Iâve been doing some sequencing of the microbiome (not in humans) and itâs just fascinating. Itâs also amusing to see medical researchers suddenly become very interested in concepts from community ecology.
Plastics are another interesting topic where there are more questions than answers. Different plastics contain various potential endocrine disruptors, etc., and we donât really know what many of them do. Personally I err on the side of caution with plastics and I know a lot of other biologists who do too.
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Is it ironic that a company that sells $200+ hoodies (including wool, pinstripe âexecutiveâ hoodies) is commenting on âexcessâ?
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Iâll just point you at the Junkfood Science blog, and suggest you do some reading about the âobesity paradox,â while also congratulating you on your lovely weasel words and utterly unsupported âconclusionsâ stated as inarguable truths.
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Dawdler, that word is dead now. âExcessâ is something that existed just prior to Bush & Co., and has since been replaced with the phrase âKeep Buyingâ.
My neice created the Santa the Hutt, you should see her Angry Flying Nuns hanging in some bar in Morgan Hills! Knowing her as well as I do, her Santa has nothing to do with human obesity and everything to do with art. What could be more shocking than to poke fun at one of our most enduring childhood lies! Sorry, you guys, itâs not about you this time!
Wait a sec, youâre replying to me, saying âsorry, you guysâ - I stood in opposition to the literal interpretation!
Your post doesnât seem to endorse my view while actually doing so, which is obviously a grave injustice : p
Your niece has considerable talent. The issue, for me, does not lie in the portrayal of a hugely overweight Santa (much fatter than the âchubby and plump⌠jolly old elfâ in Clement Mooreâs visualization) as a metaphor for overconsumption and overindulgence in privileged Western society during the holiday season. Even if that portrayal itself bothered me (and it does not), thereâs no questioning its validity as an artistic statement.
What bothers me is Chrisâ description of the sculpture. A few choice excerpts:
For centuries the paragon of virtue, Kris Kringle has now transmogrified into a vile Yuletide leviathan known as Santa The Hutt⌠After gorging himself on fruitcake and fortified wine, this slovenly mass of groaning, velvet-ensconsed blubber ⌠just wants to know if youâll run across the street and get him cigarettes and a sack of chimichangasâŚIf you get to meet him or â God forbid â sit on his vast, undulating lap, we recommend that you thoroughly disinfect afterward. Penicillin is also suggested.
I am also bothered by the use to which this sculpture has been put. Sure, itâs just a sculpture, a pile of plastic or fiberglass or foam or whatever medium your niece used to make him. Itâs not a person. But the fact that itâs described as âvile,â âslovenly,â a âleviathanâ contact with whom would require disinfectant and/or antibiotics⌠and all this just because heâs incredibly fat. We are invited to sit on his âvast, undulating lapâ (if we dare) and take pictures of our bad, transgressive selves because hey! Itâs Santa! And oh my fucking God look at how revoltingly enormous he is! I bet he smells awful, and heâs loaded with germs, and if he wasnât such an uncontrollable fatass who never met a temptation he could resist, demanding people get him cigs and chimichangas because heâs too goddamned lazy and enormous to do it his own fat self, if only he could turn down the cookies and milk so he can stop giving hernias to his reindeer, then maybe heâd be the jolly but still chimney-svelte St Nick of our moderate, temperate, and definitely not overprivileged childhoods.
âNothing to do with human obesity,â huh? Remind Chris of that fact if you see him, would you?
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Iâm very sorry as my thoughts were rambling and I didnât mean to sound so rude anyway. I think the fact that it is so lifelike is disturbing to people. It does seem so tactile and soft and Iâm sure it is a different experience touching it as opposed to just seeing a photo. Having art displayed in a retail store window as opposed to a gallery certainly changes the viewing context. He is disturbing and compelling at the same time.
Your niece may or may not be a bad person, but she should feel bad. And meet some fat people and talk to them and get to know them as human beings. I have it on good authority that Marilyn Wann, of the âFat! So?â book and 'zine, whoâs a local fat activist, would probably be glad to sit down and have a chat with your niece about how this display, intentionally or not, promotes stereotyping and hatred toward fat people. LMK if you want me to make an introduction.
I hate replies that are just like âyep, thisâ but you said it far better than I could.
The âstatementâ boils down to âugh, fatty, gross.â
Personally, I find Betabrandâs $200 âexecutive hoodiesâ and their âVagisoftâ fleece (no, seriously, thatâs what they named it) to be far more revolting.
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