Self-consciousness is generally considered a sign of immaturity in America. I'm wondering if it might not be a bit like sub-morbid obesity, insofar as the obese are considered, if not morally suspect, pitiable.
Perhaps I delude myself, but I believe there are parts of the world where obesity is not seen as a moral failing or a condition one is necessarily unhappy about, where it is assumed one would want to change. I think part of the difference is in some parts of the world food is scarce, while in the West generally and in America particularly, food is plentiful and considered a nuisance or a vice.
Likewise, is it possible that the strength of our egos attenuates us to what has been true of ego historically for mankind? As many of you are aware, suminomA was posting about egotheism, egotruism, and later egotheology. It eventually turned out he was not American, and the idea that many Americans have been chiding him for apparent self-centeredness is ironic to me.
We talk of self-awareness, self-actualization, egotism, self-consciousness, and the differences in meaning are not readily apparent.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
I think there's a huge difference between self-consciousness and self-centeredness, and I'm not entirely sure which you're really talking about.
quote:Perhaps I delude myself, but I believe there are parts of the world where obesity is not seen as a moral failing or a condition one is necessarily unhappy about, where it is assumed one would want to change.
There definitely are parts of the world where obesity is seen as a sign of success. I recently heard a piece on this on NPR. It was about a country in Africa (I'm pretty sure it was South Africa, but I could be mistaken) where people are moving from poor rural areas into the cities, making money there, and changing their diets. They said it was very common for overweight city dwellers to visit their families in the countryside and have everyone be proud of how "fat and rich" they look.
The problem is, they still have all the same health problems as obese people in other parts of the world. In fact, they have it much worse because so many of them were undernourished as children their organs are less capable of handling the strain.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:Perhaps I delude myself, but I believe there are parts of the world where obesity is not seen as a moral failing or a condition one is necessarily unhappy about, where it is assumed one would want to change.
I saw something, either on the discovery or history channel, where this is the case. They showed a tribe in rural Africa, where the women went away for a month before their wedding for the sole purpose of gaining fat. They were kept largely sedentary, and were basically fed lard. This was to make them more attractive and successful looking.
The women did not become particularly obese, since they started out very skinny, but it was certainly an example of a woman being overweight seen as a good thing.
Posted by scholar (Member # 9232) on :
In the US, junk food is significantly cheaper then healthy food. So, poor people are likely to be fat. And we all know poor people are poor because they are lazy and stupid. Therefore, fat people are likely poor and therefore lazy and stupid. And if you are rich and look like a poor person, then there is something wrong with you and you should fix it.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
There is a difference between self-consciousness and self-centeredness. The self-conscious person is unsure of themselves, while the self-centered person is perhaps overly sure of themselves. I believe a person who is appropriately sure of themselves could be called self-confident.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
One big reason junk food is so much cheaper is that we subsidize the production of key parts -- corn, which makes high fructose corn syrup -- while not subsidizing healthier food nearly as much.
Some research suggests that the price difference accounts for a significant amount of recent American increases in body weight.
This is an excellent argument for reducing or eliminating agricultural subsidies.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
quote:The self-conscious person is unsure of themselves, while the self-centered person is perhaps overly sure of themselves. I believe a person who is appropriately sure of themselves could be called self-confident.
I think that you can be both self-conscious and self-centered. I would say that a self-conscious person is overly concerned about what other people think of them and a self-centered person cares too little about how their actions affect other people.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
quote:Originally posted by Enigmatic: There definitely are parts of the world where obesity is seen as a sign of success.
This has also been true for a good bit of Western European culture historically.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :